My first experience with runner’s high was as a senior in high school. We had moved from a few blocks away from school to 3 miles further at the top of a steep hill. My walking time grew from 10 to 30 minutes.
Initially, I was grumpy about this. But within a week, I felt differently. My morning trek was energizing. Instead of arriving at school half asleep and ready to nod off in homeroom, I was wide awake and alert. That half hour of fast walking at 6:30am made me feel alive and alert.
Now after 30 plus years of working out, runner’s high is part of my daily experience. I feel it about half an hour into my 4:30am dog walk, about 3/4 of the way through my laps at the pool and when I finish the half mile uphill climb during my evening dog walk. It’s pleasant and predictable.
Something even better has happened during my morning gymnastic/calisthenic workouts:
I get euphoric sometimes.
It happens most often during my pull-up and parallette/hand balancing workouts. I do multiple sets of pullups and chinups alternating with parallette exercises. In an hour, I’ll do 110 pullups and dozens of parallette combination moves like handstands, planches, tuck holds, rotations and L-Sits.
About 1/4 of the way through, I start to feel loose. My joints don’t ache, my muscles are warmed up and everything is flowing. Then about halfway through it hits me.
I feel like I am flying through the air. Pullups are effortless. I am light-as-a-feather on the parallettes. Everything is flowing. I float into handstands and holds. I pivot, pirouette and move my body through the air effortlessly, with grace and control.
And for a little while, everything feels right in the world.
I’d speculate that this feeling of euphoria has to do with oxygen, breathing, exertion, aerobic intensity and my diet.
But I don’t really care why it happens. I simply enjoy it.