What makes you a runner?
"I got that runner's gene, and it's something you never really shake." I heard this in an interview by former professional runner, Chris Barnicle. He is without question one of the more unique running personalities you could ever come across. Do yourself a favor and Google search this character. I've read about the runner's high for years, the endorphins, and all the happy chemicals our bodies produce during and after a run, but never did I hear something so compelling, "the runner's gene." Which prompted me to wonder, hmm, does it exist..?!
During my youth, I ran all the time, I was a hopeless runner's high fiend, and had no idea. In Elementary School, our annual Jog-A-Thon, a PTA fundraiser if I remember correctly, awarded the top 3 boys and girls with the most laps during the event. The ultimate bragging rights in our Elementary hallways. My parents laugh when they recall how excited I'd be the night before. This was pre diabetes, and luckily checking blood sugar or being fearful of a low blood sugar amidst my reckless running style wouldn't register for another handful of years.
A neighbor back home where I grew up, also chuckles when he thinks back to watching me in the neighborhood. "Dude, you never stopped, never, I would shake my head, laugh, and think, andddd there he goes again." My younger brother, while very active, and a natural athlete, had the uncanny ability to sit and focus on video games for hours, days, if he had to. I, on the other hand, usually lost focus 15 minutes in, would get frustrated, quit and proceed to run outside.
I am your typical ADD diagnosis, and luckily a strong willed father kept me off any pharamaceutical dope that my DR's wanted to prescribe me. Both parents recognized from the time I was an infant, I was on the move. My ability to focus was non existent by all accounts. I was an average student with a heightened energy level, and the only thing that ever centered me was running, whether in sports, or just running myself to exhaustion.
As stated in my first post, the sport and art of running for me took a backseat to a football dream that never materialized. After I accepted that my health was in sub par condition at only 21 years old, I got back in touch with the one practice that defined my childhood, and my competitive urges, running. While strength training is a very healthy, important component of any training regimen, without running, my 20's would have been much different. My progression from a post lift 15-20 treadmill run in 2008 and 2009 to running my first half marathon in 2016 has proven to be a road of self discovery.
I've engaged in different techniques of training that a few even raised their eyes to, "really dude? Hey whatever works for ya." For me though, those runs realigned my mind and body to what running really meant to me. While I believe in well rounded training, it's hard to argue another post workout bliss that can compare to a run. It's only fitting that since I've reconnected with running, my HbA1c, an important 3 month average of your blood sugar, has improved dramatically. My requirement for insulin too is relatively low vs other type 1 diabetics, according to my Endocrinologist.
So, what makes you a runner? What is it that drives you to wake up at 5 am and run? What makes you run outside in 28 or 88 degrees? What makes you sign up for that race? What makes you desire to find a new hill, or path to explore? Did early hunter gathers affect our bodies own evolution to run? Quite honestly, I have no idea. Maybe some people are just wired to run. Maybe there is a Runner's gene out there we may discover one day. Maybe, just maybe, some of our bodies are pre destined to be endorphin junkies, and running is what brings it all together.
Recently, some new studies have suggested that endorphins don't actually cross the blood brain barrier like once believed, and a runner's high may actually be more of your endocannabinoid system being activated with it's own specific neurotransmitters via endurance training. I guess only time will tell, but an interesting purposal nonetheless. We run for our own reasons, we run for the adventure, for the challenge, for the high that floods our bodies upon a finish. Maybe the possibility of a particular gene does exist, whether or not the science proves to be true one day, I'll put my faith in the belief that I for sure, have found mine.
During my youth, I ran all the time, I was a hopeless runner's high fiend, and had no idea. In Elementary School, our annual Jog-A-Thon, a PTA fundraiser if I remember correctly, awarded the top 3 boys and girls with the most laps during the event. The ultimate bragging rights in our Elementary hallways. My parents laugh when they recall how excited I'd be the night before. This was pre diabetes, and luckily checking blood sugar or being fearful of a low blood sugar amidst my reckless running style wouldn't register for another handful of years.
A neighbor back home where I grew up, also chuckles when he thinks back to watching me in the neighborhood. "Dude, you never stopped, never, I would shake my head, laugh, and think, andddd there he goes again." My younger brother, while very active, and a natural athlete, had the uncanny ability to sit and focus on video games for hours, days, if he had to. I, on the other hand, usually lost focus 15 minutes in, would get frustrated, quit and proceed to run outside.
I am your typical ADD diagnosis, and luckily a strong willed father kept me off any pharamaceutical dope that my DR's wanted to prescribe me. Both parents recognized from the time I was an infant, I was on the move. My ability to focus was non existent by all accounts. I was an average student with a heightened energy level, and the only thing that ever centered me was running, whether in sports, or just running myself to exhaustion.
As stated in my first post, the sport and art of running for me took a backseat to a football dream that never materialized. After I accepted that my health was in sub par condition at only 21 years old, I got back in touch with the one practice that defined my childhood, and my competitive urges, running. While strength training is a very healthy, important component of any training regimen, without running, my 20's would have been much different. My progression from a post lift 15-20 treadmill run in 2008 and 2009 to running my first half marathon in 2016 has proven to be a road of self discovery.
I've engaged in different techniques of training that a few even raised their eyes to, "really dude? Hey whatever works for ya." For me though, those runs realigned my mind and body to what running really meant to me. While I believe in well rounded training, it's hard to argue another post workout bliss that can compare to a run. It's only fitting that since I've reconnected with running, my HbA1c, an important 3 month average of your blood sugar, has improved dramatically. My requirement for insulin too is relatively low vs other type 1 diabetics, according to my Endocrinologist.
So, what makes you a runner? What is it that drives you to wake up at 5 am and run? What makes you run outside in 28 or 88 degrees? What makes you sign up for that race? What makes you desire to find a new hill, or path to explore? Did early hunter gathers affect our bodies own evolution to run? Quite honestly, I have no idea. Maybe some people are just wired to run. Maybe there is a Runner's gene out there we may discover one day. Maybe, just maybe, some of our bodies are pre destined to be endorphin junkies, and running is what brings it all together.
Recently, some new studies have suggested that endorphins don't actually cross the blood brain barrier like once believed, and a runner's high may actually be more of your endocannabinoid system being activated with it's own specific neurotransmitters via endurance training. I guess only time will tell, but an interesting purposal nonetheless. We run for our own reasons, we run for the adventure, for the challenge, for the high that floods our bodies upon a finish. Maybe the possibility of a particular gene does exist, whether or not the science proves to be true one day, I'll put my faith in the belief that I for sure, have found mine.
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