Sunday, December 13, 2009

Chanukah Special: 8 Things I love About Running


Night 3: The Adrenaline Rush/Endorphine Addiction

Many of friends often comment that I'm addicted to running. Truth be told, they are not entirely wrong. I know that if I miss a run I'm often grumpy and difficult to be around for the rest of the day. When I broke my rib and couldn't run for 5 weeks, I was miserable. I felt like going through withdrawal. In fact I was withdrawing. My body was so used to having it's daily dose of endorphins, that when it didn't get it them, my body let me know.

There's also nothing like that adrenaline rush you get during a race, during a particularly good training run, or during an intense speed session on the track. You feel spent but it's a good kind of spent. Your body might say "STOP" but you feel like you can keep going. When I started running again after my injury, I wasn't running well and was feeling discouraged. I stuck with it, and slowly but surely, things started to click. This week, I had a great tempo run, a great run on the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and then today I did my first double digit run in a few months. It's a great feeling when everything just comes together.

Happy Chanukah!

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