The idea of the "runner's high" gets thrown around a lot in running and fitness magazines. The idea is that the further you run, eventually you get a buildup of endorphins and adrenaline and whatnot and you suddenly feel great, you feel high.
Personally I have never experienced this phenomena, in all my time running, the longer you run, the worse you feel. I think the runner's high is being confused with being fit. When I'm fit, I can feel great on a run, and run for a long way feeling fantastic. But when I'm out of shape, running sucks.
It might seem strange for a runner to say that running sucks, but most of the time everyone can admit that...it kinda does suck.
Being fit and running fast is great fun. But some of the time running isn't fun at all. Ignorant people always have some sort of witty comment, like: (whiny voice) "Well if it's not fun why do you do it so much?"
We do not do it because it is fun, there's something deeper than fun that makes us do it, something darker.
That's funny that posted about runner's high because I was thinking about it on my cool down today. I don't know how it crossed my mind. But I remember when I was in 7th grade maybe, at the very beginning of my running career, I was out on run with a few friends, further than I had every run before, I got a runner's high. It was great! I had never felt like that before, it was as if I could not feel my body at all. But ever since that great day 9 years ago I have never felt it again. And my I thought to myself exactly what you did. I can run for up to 2 hours and not feel a runner's high, you just get tired! haha. Although sometimes the final 2-3 miles of a real long run I do feel a little elevated, like I can't feel my legs anymore and just wanna keep running.
ReplyDeleteYou thought of it because we have a mental link.
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