Let's Get High

Anyone experience runner's high? It's an amazing feeling...akin to smoking cannabis for the first time again.

Endorphin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How To Use Exercise To Release Endorphins While Using The Runners High : : Runners-high

Most articles will say you get this "high" from running a lot. But you can get this feeling from any strenuous activity. I love it, though I only experienced it once. Now I want to experience it again.

Being forced into the present moment gets you high. Anybody have any runner's high experiences they want to share? Or are interested in getting.

That sounds great. Unfortunately I doubt I'll ever experience anything like it. I wish I could. I've always wanted to have a huge room to myself or live in some secluded area so that I could go out and run. I run so rarely that it feels awkward when I do it. My body automatically knows how but I constantly feel like I'm going to trip. I'm too self-conscious to run in public though (unless catching a bus depends on it). I'm not fat or anything, I'd just be selfconscious to exercise in public, not sure why. I tried going to the gym once and couldn't stand it.

I use to get home from work, hook up my shepard, (I don't have a dog anymore, I have a russian blue cat) and run around Mandon Lake or White Lake. When you first start out, your body rebels, but it is not long when you can run the whole circuit. I ran at night, with the stars and noone out. Was great.
During ice storms, you get done with ice stuck to your face. It is a real rush.
now I just do a 40 min stint on a stationary bike, then another 20 when I get home, then work out with free weights, That is a feeling that lasts throughout the day.

I once bought 17 acres for a retirement project, to live in the woods, but the lawyers got it all.

Then there was a time, I was doing 1 and a half hours on a treadmill. I burned up 3 motors on a Sears best, they paid more replacing motors than I paid for the machine. I got a Tunturi next, and it is still going but I have not used it in a while. My boy does from time to time.

wow philosopher, you make me want to start running lol. I normally just do push ups situps and dips, but im starting weight training today at the gym.

Dianeva, you can do anything you want. Face your fears, if your too self-conscious to work out, do it anyway. It actually motivates other people to exercise, and all the attention is on you. It's a rush all in itself.

I really need to get out running again. I wasn't able to all winter cause of the snow but now that it's cleared I just haven't gotten back into it.

@Dianeva - Once you start it just becomes rhythm. You'll get used to it and get balance. Remember to take it slow at first (what my dad likes to call "shuffle and pace") and then maybe you could start intervals, though they really kill me.

A lot of people feel respect when they see runners because it's good that people are taking the time and effort (and the pain lol) to exercise.

I don't understand how people can hate running. I find it hard when I'm starting to get out of breath, but soon everything becomes rhythm and it's actually easier than when I started. Yes it hurts and you get hot and sweaty, but it's so good! I love recovery too.

I'm gonna get back into running again :D

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Originally Posted by Raspberry

.A lot of people feel respect when they see runners because it's good that people are taking the time and effort (and the pain lol) to exercise.

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Evidently you never had some whacky run you off the road. They are rare, but they are out there.

I have ran long distances and felt a mental change, but I was too huffing & puffing to even give a damn.


Stupid body fat!

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Originally Posted by Philosopher8659

Evidently you never had some whacky run you off the road. They are rare, but they are out there.

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I have never heard of runners getting run off the road. Ive been hit by a car on my bicycle (I dont own a car) because people in my part of the US are really hostile to bikers. But in San Fransisco, or Portland or anywhere in the northwest there is alot less hostility towards bikers.

I dont run but I bike around town like its nobodies business.

I find myself in states that I would loosely describe as "runner's high", and although they actually have precious little in common with a cannabis high, are still quite euphoric. There are a few versions of it that I've noticed:

In my early days of running the simplest version was very easy to achieve, but only if the running took place in the morning and I really pushed myself. This was not what I felt while running, but what I felt for the rest of the day as a result of "not running anymore", lol. It was the crazy deep relaxation that I automatically fell into every time I found a place to rest. Now it's harder because it takes a hell of a lot more miles to get me that tired, but that's what tolerance breaks are for, lol. But the principle remains the same... the harder you push yourself regardless of skill level, the more you'll enjoy the rest of your day.

The next level that I find myself in more often now seems to be closely tied to the music playing in my headphones. I've really made a ritual and art of constructing a playlist before each run (with none of the hair metal or other butt rock that most running sites advocate, either). With the right song playing at the right time, I get this sensation that I am being directly fueled by the music, and I can break into almost a dead sprint for a quarter mile and feel no exertion whatsoever (but oh I feel it later, haha). It's the most empowering thing I know of. But of course I don't have to run hard at all to be intently involved in the perfect music or to get into that trance-like state. The exception to this is that it absolutely can not be recreated on a treadmill. I despise treadmills because everything I love about running is absent on a treadmill.

The third variety is something I've barely caught a glimpse of, and have mostly only read about. I've heard that ultra marathoners can actually start to hallucinate after so many dozens of miles. This is of course a bad thing for them and can be dangerous because it's tied to dehydration and nutrient deficiency. I read about this in Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, and when he describes 135-mile races through Death Valley in July, you have to wonder at the state of consciousness that runners are experiencing at this level. I mention this because at the end of a 14 mile run a couple weeks ago I was feeling a bit wonky myself, lol.