Replacing The High With Another

My left ankle had been hurting since my last run last Saturday morning but it felt good when I woke up for my next scheduled run on Tuesday morning. After changing into running clothes, putting my shoes on, and warming up, I started feeling the pain again. Should I go out to run and see if it would feel better as I warmed up, or should I just get on the spinning bike? After several shoe and orthotic combination changes, the discomfort didn’t get any better so I changed to cycling clothes and did the spinning bike instead. That would give me another couple of days of resting the ankles before I try running on them again. I was just getting concerned because the good left ankle which is now turning bad, has been hurting more lately than the permanently damaged right ankle. Working thirteen hours last Saturday night then wrestling with a patient the next night certainly didn’t help.  Better to be conservative and take several extra days off than not being able to run for a longer term.

In other running news, I ran to my doctor’s office last week to get my tetanus/pertussis shot due to the dog scratch I got (Rabies Anyone?), and while in the waiting room, a woman noticed my running clothes and mentioned that her husband runs and is also addicted to it. He runs in any kind of weather and did so in the middle of the day during Wednesday’s 98 to 100 degree heat. We talked for a couple of minutes until I was called into the clinic. I actually took a chance when I ran to my doctor without knowing if they received a fresh supply of the vaccine. Fortunately they had it and I was able to hit two birds with one stone – running and getting the shot. The round trip was supposed to be six miles but I extended it on the way out and ended up with about seven miles.

So, I continue to chase the high that I get from running, but nowadays, when I’m hurting, I try to be more prudent by taking extra days off to heal a bit. When I want to feel the same type of exertion I get from running, I get on the spinning bike and do a lot of stand ups. Whatever it takes to stay fit, get my fix, and get high.

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Looking For a High

                Or as heroin addicts call it: chasing the dragon, but for different reasons that runners pursue their sport for a high. Heroin is a narcotic and something that numbs pain which is the nature of its high. Runners on the other hand look for their high even when their pain causes additional pain. In a way, they are both forms of addiction where your body craves for more as time goes on. For heroin addicts, the extract of the poppy plant, and for runners, the endorphins that the body produces.

                When endorphins kick in during a run, minor aches and pains magically disappear and if your body can catch up with the healing process, so much the better. But for some people like me whose injury doesn’t heal and can only get worse, the endorphin high is a welcome temporary relief even though I tend to suffer more pain when the high wears off. I wish I could bottle the stuff. I know I’m not the only one who practices this self torture in search of a high because other injured runners can easily identify with it. We are after all a bunch of endorphin junkies.

                Just like the heroin addict looking for his next fix, I crave my body’s natural drug so I can get a high off it during the times that I am able to run, because it makes the pain more bearable. My name is Noel and I’m an addict… but I get high legally.

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