Runner's High: Crazy or Passionate?

The other day I was on my way to enjoy some Kneader's all you can eat french toast with some friends.  On our way my friends asked me how my morning run was.  I told them it was fantastic, I felt great, and proceeded to tell them the route that I had run.  As I explained how I had run 6 miles, which is what I usually run every morning, my friend commented that just driving that makes him tired.  I thought about his comment throughout the rest of the day, just like I had thought about all the other comments people say to me when I tell them I like to run.  The thoughts that usually go on in my head are along the lines of, "Why do I do this?", "I have to run how many miles today?",  "I could just run tomorrow?"  People may think I'm crazy for how often and far I run and the fact that I actually enjoy running.  Whenever I ask other people if they want to go running with me they say no quicker than I can eat a maple bar doughnut.  How did I get started running? Why do I wake up in the morning and roll out of bed and run 4-6 miles?  And am I missing brain cells and gone crazy?  

My passion for running really didn't start that long ago.  When I was in high school I wasn't much of a runner.  I was very active and loved playing sports but running just wasn't my thing.  Two and a half years ago I had some friends invite me to do a relay race with them.  The relay race was the Cache to Teton Epic Relay race.  Starting in Logan Utah with 12 people in two vans you would trek 200 miles to Jackson Hole Wyoming non stop over 24+ hours.  When my friends first invited me to do this race I thought, 'Well that sounds kind of crazy, but hey why not try it.'  At this point I really wasn't much of a runner but because I was active in playing sports I thought I could run the distances that were assigned to me.  Over the next 6 months I trained.  Starting with running a couple miles a day working my way up so I could run around 5 miles everyday at a good pace.  The day of the relay race came and my nerves were on end.  During the race I had 3 different legs that I was supposed to run.  My first leg was 6 miles.  I hadn't yet in my life run 6 miles at one time.  The furthest I had run was 5 miles.  I decided hey I better just get started and not stop no matter how tired I got.  Well I ran and I ran and I ran.  I felt great during the entire run.  Here is a picture of me just as I finished my first leg.  

I was tired but I felt great.  On my next leg which was 5 miles I gained my passion for running.  When I was running it was around 7 o clock and I was in the middle of Idaho.  As I was running I ignored the pain I was feeling in my legs and started noticing the beauty around me.  It was absolutely beautiful scenery.  The sun was setting over wheat fields of Idaho as the Rocky Mountains towered over me on the other side. I experienced runner's high for the first time in my life and I never looked back after that.  After that running wasn't something I did for exercise, or to stay in shape.  I ran to get away from the world, to be relieved of the stress that builds up in your life.  Running became my hobby and my passion.  

When I ran that relay race it was August of 2011.  For the rest of the year I kept running but I didn't run in anymore races.  It wasn't until the beginning of the next year that some friends invited me to run in their Ragnar Wasatch Back team.  I kept on running and decided to run in more races.  Over the next spring and summer I ran in a couple 10k's and Ragnar Wasatch back, which is by far my favorite race I have ever run. 

Our team was awesome and we did really well finishing 18th in our division and 44th overall out of almost 1200 teams.  After I ran Ragnar my passion and my craziness for running just kept building.  I wanted to accomplish more, push myself, and set more goals.  

 

I even got my family to run in some races.  A bunch of us ran in the Rex Lee Run at BYU that benefits Cancer Research.  I wanted to get my family to run in this race because we have had many family members with cancer and have been personally affected by it.  It was awesome when we woke up the morning of the race to several inches of snow.

Since I started running two years ago I have run in 4 relay races, 3 10k's, 3 5k's, a Spartan Race, a Triathlon, the Bigfoot 1k, and a half marathon.  This year I still have a half marathon and a 1k to run and I don't see myself slowing down anytime soon.  My goal in the next couple years is to run a marathon.

I run because I enjoy it.  I run to feel better.  I run because I can.