endorphins

I heard once, that any type of excerise, is especially good for those individuals going through stressful times or those going through fits of depression. While Matt and I currently aren't going through a time of depression, we are definetly in some stressful times. Probably the most stress we've felt in a very long time, probably in our entire marriage.
I heard that exercising is a way for your brain to enduce endorphins into your system. Once those endorphins are released, generally your outlook on life becomes a little clearer. I looked up the word endorphins online at dictionary.com and this is what it said, not a guarantee that it is 100% acurate:

Endorphins are long chains of amino acids, or polypeptides, that are able to bind to the neuroreceptors in the brain and are capable of relieving pain in a manner similar to that of morphine....Besides behaving as a pain reducer, endorphins are also thought to be connected to euphoric feelings, appetite modulation, and the release of sex hormones. Prolonged, continuous exercise contributes to an increased production of endorphins and, in some people, the subsequent "runner's high."

We should of ran more last week....after getting the stressful news a couple of weeks ago, we vegged out on the couch and threw ourselves pity party after pity party. We let our stress get the best of us. Took a week off from running, until....
Yesterday afternoon/evening, we went to a metro park not far from our house (pic above). We decided to do some walking on the trails, and then end it with a long run up and down the hills of the root covered, spiderwebbed from branch to branch trail aptly named the "green trail". Overall it's about 2-3 miles long. We only ran about 2 of those miles, but man! were the endorphins running on full speed yesterday!!! I personally just couldn't stop jogging. It felt so amazing to get the stress out of my bones. We definelty should of done this a week earlier, my waistline would probably look a little more slimming and my heart wouldn'y have to beat so hard to pump by blood through my lazy last week body. I was definetly feeling the "runner's high" that I had forgetton about, as it was masked in the self loathing and pain of the week.

The metropark is amazing, and I'm so thankful that we live next to a wonderful park like this. Before we moved up north, I took advantage of this park while growing up. It was just the place we went to feed the ducks, eat KFC with our families, and celebrated our birthdays. But since we've moved back to the area, it has become sort of a sanctuary for us. A place to release our stress and troubles, and leave them on the path behind us.....