Runner’s High

On Saturday I missed my group run for the second week in a row. The previous week, a migraine prevented me from doing just about anything for most of the weekend. This week, however, I didn’t have a reason…just an excuse.

It was raining.

I didn’t say it was a good excuse.

Sunday I set out to run 5 miles to make up for missing the group run.

Like any other day, I tightened up during my first mile. Regardless of how much I stretch or warm-up, I have not had much success in preventing this. My second mile led me down hill through Happy Hollow Park. Perhaps running downhill helped me loosen up. I found a good stride and really enjoyed the peacefulness of the run.

Of course, all good things must come to an end. If you go down a hill, eventually you will have to go up a hill. And the hill I had to go up was not as gradual as the hill I had come down.

Once I reached the top of that hill, I felt like I could conquer the world. I hit a runner’s high at four miles and by the time I hit five miles, I didn’t want to stop running.

So I didn’t.

Instead, I ran back down that peaceful decline through Happy Hollow Park with the plan of running up Happy Hollow Road – which I’ve only done once. The hill was a beast but I kept putting one foot in front of the other. As I neared the top of the hill, a biker passed me and shouted, “Great job! This isn’t an easy hill.”

The camaraderie inspired me to push it the rest of the way. Since I had detoured off my original running plan, I had no idea what distance I ran until I mapped my run on Loops. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I ran 6.5 miles!

That is half of a half marathon! I’m halfway there!