Weed & Running: How I trained for the NYC marathon

This summer I started training for my first marathon, a goal I had set for myself almost two decades ago that I finally decided to tackle. We were in the midst of launching the business at this time, and I knew *nothing* about training and consuming cannabis.

What I quickly learned though, was that running 30+ miles a week did not align with my weeknight wine rituals. So I dropped alcohol, replaced it with Sunny, and watched my splits drop. I finished the NYC Marathon in 3 hours and 31 minutes, in the top 10% for my gender & age group.

Consuming cannabis was not the reason for my success, but it certainly contributed to it. And many others agree.

The New York Times wrote about Josiah Hesse’s book “Runner’s High,” which highlights the “’hidden culture’ of cannabis use among recreational and elite athletes who routinely engage in stoned workouts.” The article also highlights a survey conducted by Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder, which that found that — counter to the stoner stigma — roughly half of the people surveyed noted that cannabis motivated them to exercise.

Outside wrote a story last year titled, “Runner’s High: Can Marijuana Enhance Your Running Performance?”. In the article, Dr. Jordan Tishler, M.D., an expert in the field of medical cannabis therapeutics said, “[when] endurance or enjoyment is more the focus, then using small amounts of cannabis during exercise can influence people’s pain threshold and ability to tolerate prolonged exercise and generally increase people’s enjoyment of that experience.”

Even Runner’s World has covered the topic. The pub featured a story on Thai Richards, founder of Rage & Release, a cannabis-centric running & lifestyle group based in New York City. If you’re an athlete, I highly recommend checking out their Instagram for tips and motivational content.