Runner's High, or...

I got up this morning, got Will off to school, and then went for a six mile run. I'm about to get on a little soap box here, but I've been thinking about it all day, and it must come out. Every time that I actually stick to my goal to get up and exercise in the morning, the rest of my day goes a zillion (that's right, I said zillion) times better. I feel better, I think clearer, I'm cuter, funnier, more likable...really, it's a miracle! In all seriousness, I do feel better, and the term "runner's high" is no joke. For me, it's almost euphoric. The miracle that our bodies are, never ceases to amaze me lately. I have a friend who recently gave birth to a little boy. She was committed to doing it naturally. More power to her! and she did it! I have a sister-in-law who also swears by this method. From what I can gather, (now, I'm using these two as my sources) having a baby "naturally" brings out a lot of things in you, you never knew you were capable of. For instance, my friend didn't realize that she had the mouth of a sailor, and the ability to physically assault a nurse as she was hooking her up to the monitors. I've heard that your "animalistic" instincts take over, and the need to grunt and squat (squat, really?!) are overwhelming, but it's all worth it, because women have been doing it this way since the beginning of time, and the "high" you get after is amazing. They claim that you feel better, think clearer, and that your recovery is quicker and easier. I'm not doubting that these things are true, but they are also true of running.
Here is why I favor a runner's high versus a child birth high--I don't need to know that a bobcat lies deep inside, waiting to be unleashed. I've already got problems with my kid cussing in preschool, and anymore exposure might be permanently damaging, and finally, the whole process brings an incredible sense of accomplishment as you watch the distance you can run keep increasing, but with out all of that hell-ish pain, and at the end nobody makes you take a new baby home.
I write this not to lessen the accomplishment of natural childbirth... those women are animals! (I mean that more like they are tough cookies, and less like rabid dogs) but instead to marvel at how every day we could be doing more to utilize and enjoy the healthy bodies that so many of us have been given. I think that we take for granted what a blessing it is to have a body at all. Satan and his spirits when being cast out of someone, pleaded that they at least be able to get in the pig's body rather than no body at all (remember, the New Testament?). Our bodies are way better than pig bodies! I bet money pigs couldn't run any real distance, I know they can't jump, and tennis is out of the question, so no thanks. It is my goal to stop hating the "imperfections" that I feel I have, and start loving my body for what is does for me.