Chasing a Runner’s High and Finding a Trophy Instead

It was exhilarating enough to run on such a gorgeous trail, and then I found out I won the race.

one of the places I see on a run

I crossed over the paved road and reluctantly left the woods behind me. As I pushed my tormented body up the gravel road towards the finish line, a shout rang out — I had been spotted. I began to hear the welcoming peal of cow bells, beckoning me towards the end.

I turned the last corner and forced myself to use every bit of remaining energy to sprint across the finish line.

At the beginning of this year, I started walking. My sister and I wanted to get more active, so we challenged each other to a weekly step competition.

After weeks of losing to her, I realized the only way I was going to beat her was to aim for 10,000 steps a day. There is nothing like sibling rivalry to really get you motivated.

I started walking. A lot.

Eventually, getting to 10k steps every day became even more of an obsession than beating my sister.

Though I had lost a lot of weight and kept it off a few years before this, I hadn’t added any physical activity into my life. Once I began walking every day, though, I started to feel really good, both mentally and physically…