Runner's High

Am running 10 miles tomorrow morning. Have a strange energy in the center of my gut, and I can't decide if it's excitement or dread. How strange that I have started to look forward to long runs. There is something, hmmm, almost magical about the way running makes me feel. There's no other feeling in the world like the one I get after pushing my body to the limit (which, let's be honest, is rare). It's like an incredible drug, after the initial pain, and the pain, and the pain. But then there is the feeling, after the pain, that makes it worth the pain ten times over.

I've heard it called "runner's high." My mom, who has run 3 marathons, told me about it, and used to be in such euphoric states after we'd go to the track that it made me laugh.

In high school, we used to run laps every morning for drill team. I was predictably one of the last ones to finish- panting, red in the face, and wondering how some people can run so long, so easily. Now when I run, I still pant, and I still get red in the face (a factor of genes- we don't sweat, but we all get tomato faced), but I can go much longer, and with the lovely high at the end.