Of Apes and Running

Okay. Now, I’m no creationist – I’m all for evolution – but sometimes evolution gets abused and ends up sounding about as facile an explanation for the way things are as saying “that’s just the way God made it.” I mean, really – how many more simplistic, when-we-were-apes-in-Africa explanations can we take before the whole theory gets branded as absurd?

Whoa. Let me back up a bit. What’s got me all ranty is an article in the latest Canadian Running magazine. It’s an article on the phenomenon known as runner’s high – and it’s a good article. It’s just that the research this article cites indulges in the worst kind of speculation about evolution. For example, at one point, it asks a complex question -- why do we produce endorphins and anandamide when we run? – and gives a stupid answer: well, according to some German neurologist (who is obviously better at generating data than explanations), when we were apes in Africa, we had to run to catch our meals – so, naturally, we developed chemical responses to the pain of long-distance running – and we became groovy running apes.

Sounds like bullshit to me.

It gets worse when it starts talking about vultures on the savannah and carcasses and hyenas and ungulates... oh my.

Oh, and why are we more apt to experience the self-transcending high when running in a group? Yup. You guessed it – when we were apes in Africa, we hunted in groups. That must be it. For some reason, the author loves these “primitive” explanations, calling them “attractive hypotheses.” Really? I’d prefer something new. I mean, heck – why not go back even further: when we were amoebas swarming in the primeval ocean, we got a real kick from swimming together. Those amoebas who shunned the group died – the rest felt groovy in a group. Boom – group activity was selected for.

Seems just as likely an explanation to me as the whole apes hunting in groups thing – and just as meaningless.

Oh well.

Good thing I don’t need to know all the antecedent conditions to runner’s high in order to enjoy its effects.

I think the article is strongest and most interesting when it leaves apes and scientists behind and talks about runners, especially when it explores the spiritual flavour of the running experience. In the end, though, it’s just something you have to go out and experience for yourself. There isn’t a single sequence of words that can convey the experience – words can only remind you of it... or entice you to try it.

And it’s an experience worth seeking -- that much I believe.