Tuesday, March 04, 2008

runner's high proven, as if runners need proof

Here's a validation going out to all of you endurance athletes...

Runner's high proven by science.

Natural opiates were identified in the brains of runners after a 2 hour run, using a PET scan (positron emission tomography). In other words, runners really do get high.

Jonesing for a run? It's because you're a junkie and you need your fix. Thank goodness nobody has yet figured out a way to make it illegal. The story is in:
"The Runner's High: Opioidergic Mechanisms in the Human Brain" are published in the journal 'Cerebral Cortex'.
I don't know about you, but I read Cerebral Cortex every day.

Of course, any endurance athlete doesn't need this science to know the truth, we've all been there. Like the time I ran 5 1/2 hours in the hills east of Pebble Beach, or the SF marathon when I first ran under 3 hours. I'm not fast, but I've been a runner for a long time, and I grew up watching this guy on the right. Now he was an ATHLETE. RIP Steve Prefontaine, although peace is not the word that comes quickly to mind when thinking about Pre.

Now please excuse me while I step outside for a couple of hours

1 comment:

Jeffry R. Johnston said...

So the high is explained, but about the withdrawals that occur when I don't get out and run for a few days? I start getting moody and down ...