GeoffBrown.net

So they say that part of the reason people who like to run like running so much is the so-called “runner’s high.”  This is supposed to be the result of endorphins being released while one is running.  Endorphins are, more or less, chemicals the body releases as a sort of natural, internal pain reliever. I have decided to start running a little bit, and I think maybe my endorphins are broken.  Because I have yet to experience the “runner’s high” — for me, it’s more like the “out-of-shape dude’s low.” (And let me just say that I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that the body’s response to running is to release its own painkillers.)

I had resolved that it was time to get up off my ass, start eating better, and get more exercise just before my doctor gave me the news that I have diabetes.  That, actually, cemented my resolve.  I started a reasonably regular regimen of going to the gym and doing brisk walking and some weight training.  I also made some relatively dramatic changes in what I ate, and I have managed to drop around 35-40 pounds.  That has led to what my doctor calls a “dramatic improvement” in my health (for example, for you fellow diabetics, my A1C was 10.9 when I was diagnosed in September.  By November it was 6.0, and last month, 5.9.  For the non-diabetics: doctors like diabetics to try and keep the A1C number under 7 at the very least, and tend to prefer keeping it under 6.5.  10.9 is really pretty bad).  But I could still stand to lose more weight and get into better shape, and the walking hasn’t been seeming to do the job as well lately.  Plus it seems like a rather ridiculous number of people I know run.  So I decided I was going to start myself.

Until the last few weeks, I haven’t done any kind of running on a regular basis in maybe 15 years or so.  So it has been every bit as hard as you think it might be for a guy who could stand to lose weight and could be in much better shape.  There certainly hasn’t been anything like a runner’s high.  I have been starting out slow, alternating running and walking.  It gets less and less difficult to run each time I do it, so I suppose that’s a plus, even if my damned endorphins are sleeping on the job.

The biggest challenge has been finding the time to do it.  It hasn’t been easy — after a long day at work, it isn’t always easy to drag oneself to the gym.  Nor is it any easier to drag oneself out of bed at the crack of dawn on a cold day to go before the start of a  long day at work.  But I’m trying to keep up with it.

The next biggest challenge is all the guys at the gym who seem to feel the need to wander around the locker room bare-ass naked.  One of the last things I need to see before or after punishing myself on the treadmill is a bunch of dudes’ schlongs waving around.  And we’re not talking fleeting moments of nudity while changing clothes, either; rather, some of these guys are walking around, having conversations, shaving, all the while letting it all hang out.  Worse still, some of these dudes have freakin’ towels hanging around their necks! As if to say, “man, I wish I knew what to do with this towel!”  Well, sir, I HAVE A SUGGESTION!!!

But I digress.

So, anyway, I will be continuing on my quest, to run farther, and maybe faster.  And hopefully someone will fix my damned endorphins in the meantime.