This is 100% unrelated to the original article but I feel like there's an underreported additional first half. As a bigger runner who still loves to run, the first two or three miles before I have enough endorphins to get into the zen state that makes me love running is the first half, then it's 17 miles of this amazing meditative mindset. Then the last 10k sucks.
Ha! Endorphins are "endogenous opioid peptides produced by the pituitary and hypothalamus glands that function as the body's natural painkillers and mood regulators".
"They are part of the endogenous opioid system", so either way was talking about literal highs.
The endocannabinoid system (I hope that I have the spelling correct) is a relatively recent discovery (1980s on), and is quite fascinating on how integral to the human body it is
