fbpx

Valentine’s Day: A Single girl’s guide to navigating the worst day of the year.

I hate Valentine’s Day. There, I said it. Tomorrow is the worst holiday of the year for single people.

It’s like a public broadcast “Hi, yeah, no…I…don’t have any chocolates…or flowers or over-sized teddy bears in my arms….”

“Why not?”

“Well, OBVIOUSLY it’s because I’m ____________________” (fill in the blank with any self-defeating “reason” why you are single on this awful day.)

Together we can put a stop to this negative thinking. Let’s not go looking for a reason as to why we are single. Let’s get out there and RUN as far and as fast as we can! Why? Well, because running produces endorphines!!! And we all know that endorphines make you happy. And Elle Woods has taught us that “Happy people don’t kill their husbands. They just don’t.”

To get into the science of it all, running and other forms of prolonged, strenuous exercise cause the pituitary glad to release endorphins through out the body as a coping mechanism to decrease stress. The more strenuous the exercise, the more endorphins are released. The more endorphins, the more ‘euphoric’ one feels during and after exercise. This is where the “runner’s high” comes from. This reaction is very similar to what happens when you fall in love, or sometimes when you eat chocolate (the much easier form of falling in love). It activates the same areas of the brain as when you hear music that sends chills through their body.

This is often why people will say “I HAVE to run today.” They are quite possiblyaddicted to running. What a great addiction to have! If only there was some benefit to my constant “need” to eat Dunford doughnuts or shop at Nordstrom….

Anyway, another great benefit of running, besides not being angry all the time, is an increased pain tolerance. Studies have shown that runners have a much higher tolerance to pain than the average person. This is because endorphins can mask pain to an incredible degree. There are stories of runners who have had stress fractures, even heart attacks, and kept on running! I hope this never happens, but it just goes to show how powerful endorphins can be, and it makes me want to run, run, run!

Running is so effective at creating a sense of well-being that it is often used to treat depression and other psychological disorders. It is also often ‘prescribed’ as a self-help regime to treat substance abuse. It’s WAY cheaper than therapy. Trust me, I’ve looked into it. TMI? Meh…

Moral of the story, wait until after your running-obsessed Valentine comes back from a long hard run to tell them your crazy mother is moving in…for good. Or that the dog is preggers. Or that you are being audited. Or that you backed the new car into a telephone pole. Chances are they will take the news well! And if you find yourself single on Valentine’s day like so many others, go for a nice long run and you will feel like you are in love… in love with the best sport in the world, running.

We will be giving out free roses on Valentine’s Day 2012 at all three of our locations. Come in and be our Valentine 🙂

Related Posts

No results found

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.

Menu