Runner's high

Today I laced up the running shoes and went for a run for the first time in about three years. Actually, I did go for one short run this spring that scared the bejesus out of me, I was so tired an winded. Three years ago, though, I was running 15-milers. Then my back went out, then I went to work at an ad agency where I basically sat at a desk all day. Offices have always been places where my health went right out the window.

But today the doctor gave me a pretty clean bill of health. Cholesterol, pulse, weight, sugar, and a few other numbers were a little higher than I wanted them, but all in all it doesn't seem I'll collapse face-first if I push it uphill.

Not that this run today was anything special, forgetting that it was the first one in three years. Like a lot of starts, it was pretty inauspicious. But I do so much better when I'm running. At some point on later runs, my mind will just unhinge, and then I can't tell you the things I'll think about. Who needs drugs when you got endorphins? But great things, along with bile and all kinds of negative shit, will just rise up and every time I'll wonder, where did you come from?

Mind and body will be energized. It's all related, work, home, family, friends, the world, your apartment, and when I'm running and really active, it all just fits together. Or maybe I'm just more aware of it.

Anyway, what do they say?--a long journey always starts with a single step? I've been a runner since I was about 13. That's forty years. There have been a few hiatuses in there, like the one I just went through, but I think we're back on track again. Work is starting to pick up, and it's a simple matter of working it into my day here at home.

And happy trails to everyone.