Runner's high

It's early August. Mid-20ºs. Lightly raining.

I'm slowly on my way to the place where my watch reads 2.5km, half of the 5km I'm hoping to do today.

I aim for the same place every day. It's at the top of a slowly rising incline, on a quiet, gravel trail. I run 2.5km uphill, then 2.5km downhill everyday I feel motivated enough to do so. Half-way through the second half, after a few minutes of nice, gentle, downhill running, something incredible happens. I feel light—high in runner's parlance.

Just as the books attest. Just as all the crazy running addicts say.

I run for fitness and to clear my head and to watch the distance go up and the time go down. All those things are nice. But none of that actually gets me out the door. The only thing that gets me out the door is the promise of the high.

If you've never felt this in your life, it's really worth a shot to see if its in you. I know other runners who just run for the sake of it, high-less (low?), and that's fine too. But if this whole high thing is available to you, it's truly an incredible thing.