My exercise revelation

All my life I have heard of this wonderful feeling people have when they exercise. This warm glow in your muscles, this runner’s high. I never got that. I have a wonderful feeling after an afternoon activity . . . a nap!

But, after exercising daily for three months I had an insight: I feel better. Not that I feel better at the end of a ralk—I often feel terrible.

I just ralked 45 minutes. The last 15 were cold and windy, and I was miserable and grumpy, and ralking can be so hard!

But, even though I don’t feel all that great during the workout, I feel better the other 23 hours of the day. I have more energy. I feel more alive. My thinking is better. I have better ideas. It is like I was half alive before. It is like I was half asleep before.

I find myself looking forward to working out. I find myself checking the weather to see if it will be a day that will be conducive to running, or if I will need to go walk the mall. I am starting to get what people mean when they speak of The Joy of Running. Only thing, in my case, it is the joy of ralking.