HI, my name is Mike and I am an addicted runner.

Just got back from a run – showered – snacked all that necessary post run stuff and now am just sitting in a glow. That had to be the best event ever. What a feeling! Can’t wait for another fix!

Had a kind of poopy day at work. Thought briefly about not running. Just go home and loaf; but thankfully during the drive home I put myself on auto-pilot and didn’t think about it any more. Got to my old office building in York just as the sun was setting and went inside to change. Came out to find a light breeze. Probably 32 degrees. Punched the start on the stop watch [is that an oxymoron?] and took off down the street. Darkness settled quickly; but there are enough scattered streetlights in this stretch of suburbia that I wasn’t too worried about stepping into a hole or something. Besides, I have run all these streets dozens of times.

I have a bad habit of starting too fast and cut back a little bit at the first mile. I just went into a glide without thinking about it. All the parts were working together and no one [body parts that is] was complaining for a change. It was fantastic! Two miles, three miles. Skipping over curbs, sprinting through intersections. Up the first short hill, no problem, cut back stride and maintain level effort as the gurus say. Back down the other side. This is the place that I first experienced a “runner’s high” and I am doing it again, except not just for a couple of seconds or even minutes. This is a major feeling and it is not going away.

Turned up Courtleigh Street. Up is the operative word. Don’t know the percent of slope but it is steep and a bit over three quarters of a mile of climbing. Didn’t even downshift. I can still feel the first time I tried this hill about 6 or 7 years ago. I went up in creep gear and then only half way. Now I can scoot up the whole way. About 100 yards from the top I pick up the pace. Wow! This is living!

I just can’t describe how good it feels to know that this is absolutely the right thing to do. It is the result of three million years of evolution. It is literally what we are designed to do; and it feels so wonderful when you can do it.

I sincerely wish that others could experience this feeling. Teenagers want to experience booze. I did. Put away of lot of it; but that is ugly compared to this feeling. It is the experience of perfection.

I cruised down the back side of the hill on the rolling streets and then back to the start. I checked my watch. One hour and one minute of flying. Don’t know the distance for sure and it doesn’t matter. Numbers don’t matter they are purely artificial and ultimately meaningless. Breathing – sweating – flying – that is the meaning of life. Live it.

Michael Schmotzer
t1gger2@earthlink.net
Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.