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On Runner's High: A Brief Anecdote

It's that perfect synchronicity of thought, action, movement, and exertion that's somehow fallen into entrainment with the natural world around you...You are the step, the breath, the road, the birdsong floating on the breeze. 

Published 2 min read n0madz
A slightly skewed panoramic nature scene with a body of water to the left and part of a wooden walkway to the right.
A panoramic nature scene

If you haven't experienced runner's high, you're not doing it right. 

For me? Runner’s high is when you get that perfect mix of pacing, breathing, and natural elements: birdsong, the light mist of a foggy morning, or sunlight breaking through the trees. Once those things, along with a variety of other factors, align, the conditions for runner’s high are primed and ready to go.


Oh yeah, then that song comes on, right when your stride has serendipitously reached that cadence, that smooth rotation, that nice turnover, and all of a sudden you're floating on air. 
That's runner's high. You might even get a little chill. Though that could be dehydration. 
But it could also be runner's high.

It's that perfect synchronicity of thought, action, movement, and exertion that's somehow fallen into entrainment with the natural world around you. You are no longer thinking of how much further you have to go, or how far you've come; you are present in the moment and at one with your surroundings. You are the step, the breath, the road, the birdsong floating on the breeze. 

💡
entrainment: the process of making something have the same pattern or rhythm as something else (Cambridge Dictionary)

Dr. Dean, I know you said that you’ve never experienced it. 
I hate to hear it, because it is a beautiful thing. When it does happen, it’s usually fleeting, but it does happen. You might just miss it if you’re not paying enough attention… or perhaps you're paying too MUCH attention.

Where the hell is my ‘runner’s high’?
Many people talk of the rush of pleasure, the euphoric hit, that you experience when you do enough running. But I’ll believe it when I see (feel) it.
The Neuroscience of Everyday LifeDean Burnett

I do wonder, and perhaps this is food for future discussion: when people say "runner's high," is the concept they're referring to interchangeable with "flow state"? In my experience, flow state and runner’s high feel almost synonymous with one another.

I'll say this from my own experience: I have had years of exercise working out my endocannabinoid receptors. You would think they'd be worn out by now, but maybe, just maybe, they have become more open, more flexible. 
I don't know. Food for thought. 

Today's runner's high was brought to you by the song, "6's to 9's" by Big Wild. 

Ah, it's a beautiful day!

Do you experience runner's high? What're the conditions that are conducive to your runner's high? What's the last song you were listening to during a run in which you experienced runner's high?

running