Zack Morris was that guy that all the girls swooned for at Bayside High School. Kelly Kapowski was his hot cheerleader girlfriend, AC Slater was his partner in crime and Screech was the go-to scape-goat that got him in as much trouble as he got him out of. But WHO IS Zack Morris? Mark-Paul Gosselaar is the master-mind behind this great character. But where have you seen Zack—err I mean Mark-Paul since the crew went off to college and filmed Saved By The Bell: College Years?

The show began in 1989 and was a hit. I was only 2 years old when it began but I still think of Saved By The Bell as one of the shows I grew up watching years after the filming ended. I dreamed of sharing a milkshake with Zack at the Max after class, I wished I could hit the mall with Jessie and Lisa Turtle and cheer on the team with Kelly. I watched this show re-run after re-run and never realized that I was re-living what my 30-something year-old friends waited for new episodes for every week, though 10-years old, each episode was new to me.

Why am I writing about Zack Morris? Well, the fact that we all still refer to Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack is fact enough that he has clearly not been able to move on his image of the high school hot shot. He continued through his childhood stardom as Zack Morris and never branched out to act as another character in front of the camera. He didn’t strive to try a less deliciously attractive roll, he continued to be 16-year-old mischief maker Zack “Preppy” Morris.

Which is fiiiiiiine. If that’s what you’re into, he was good at it, I guess. But I wonder what would have happened if Mark-Paul had pushed his acting abilities a bit further and auditioned for a villainous roll—sitting in front of his mirror and training his laugh to sound evil, his smile into a vexing curl of the lip. Could he be evil to convince his audience of his abilities to go that extra mile as a true thespian?

Hmmm, training? Trying something new? Going the extra mile, extra few miles just to see how far we can go? I’ve run countless 5ks, a few trail races, a couple triathlons, River Bank 25K twice… yet I have not raced a 10K. Sure I’ve done the distance (6.2 miles) just as I’m sure Zack has played the roll of a dweeb in acting class, but never have a raced it. I’ve never asked my body to compete and push itself through the distance with hundreds of other runners all with a similar goal in mind.

This Saturday Gazelle Sports is putting on an awesome 10K race, Lakeshore Miracle Run. It’s going to be grueling, up the dunes, through the woods by the lake… sounds like the perfect time for me to try out a different running character. Join me while I try something new Saturday morning, who knows–maybe Zack will show up!

Oh yeah, and I met him last night…