"It's made me mentally stronger," said Zeigle, who just graduated from Bingham High. "I've been through a lot and when it comes to running, to me, it's just one little race. I think, 'this is easy.' "
Zeigle's battle with bulimia started in the eighth grade. She started to recover from it her sophomore year. At the height of the problem, she wasn't running to win. She was running for the exercise.
"She once weighed less than 70 pounds. She was on the teeter-totter of death," her father, Kevin Zeigle, said. "Compared to where she was to where she is now, it's a 97 percent turnaround."
Kit Zeigle says she is back to where she needs to be. In her junior year, Zeigle won the state Class 5-A girls cross country individual title. Last summer, she competed in the World Championships in Italy on the U.S junior team. Zeigle competed in an uphill 2.9-mile race and finished second among the U.S. team.
After competing in Italy, Zeigle returned home and raced the following week, then jumped right into training for her senior cross country season. Zeigle felt she needed time to rest.
"It basically fried me," Zeigle said. "I didn't get a break and that hurt me through the cross country season."
As a senior, Zeigle finished 18th at the state cross country meet. Feeling she needed a break, Zeigle decided not to run track. Since she had already signed in the early signing period in November to run for Utah, she didn't feel the pressure to compete in her final season.
Even though she skipped her senior track season, Zeigle was confident she could have done well at the track state meet.
"I went to watch and thought, 'Wow, I could have beaten them, anyway,' " Zeigle said.
Now, Zeigle is focused on staying motivated and preparing herself for her first year at Utah. She runs with her father and lifts weights on her own. When her father is away, he constantly checks in on Zeigle to make sure she doesn't skip a day.
"I love to run with Kit, but I can't stay with her," Kevin Zeigle said. "From running, she believes more in herself. She was in a prison of her disease. It was terrible. She's got freedom now."
More freedom is ahead for Zeigle as she prepares to move out on her own. Zeigle said she's not nervous or afraid about being away from her family. The thing she is looking forward to most is making her own decisions.
Zeigle's mother, Laurie, feels better sending her youngest daughter off to college knowing Zeigle has beaten her eating disorder.
"You breathe a little bit easier. We don't ever want to go through that again," Laurie said. "We can relax a little bit. She's been through enough things to the point where she can handle more. There are new challenges ahead for her. Who knows what the future will hold? We'll see."
