Runners High

After starting wogging (walk/jogging) a couple of years ago in preparation for my first half-marathon, I held out hope that I would experience the "runners high" that so many of my friends talked about. Instead, mile after mile, I plodded along with nothing in my mind but disdain and counting down every tenth of a mile until I was finished.

Shape Magazine recently wrote some more on runners high, and the first sentence made me laugh out loud:

Ranked right up there with the Loch Ness Monster and Shangri-La, the "runner's high" is one of the most elusive yet sought-after myths in modern lore.

The article goes on to explain that there is scientific evidence of this runners high, which is actually a release of a brain chemicals known as endocannabinoids (try saying that 3 times fast).

To increase your chances of getting runners high, you need to focus on 2 key things:

• Duration: going at least 20 minutes
• Intensity: you have to hit a certain high intensity level to elevate your levels of endocannabinoids

While I certainly passed the duration test during 13.1 miles, perhaps my turtle pace wasn't hard enough to kick in the crazy chemicals. I'm quite happy with my turtle pace though, so perhaps I'll just let runners high remain a myth. 

(read the entire Shape Magazine article here)

What about you: do you experience runners high? Let us know in the comments!