RUNNER'S HIGH: HOW A MOVEMENT OF CANNABIS-FUELED ATHLETES IS CHANGING THE SCIENCE OF SPORTS
BY JOSIAH HESSE
� 2021 Putnam
$28.00 / $37.00 Canada
308 pages

For most of his life, Josiah Hesse looked at exercise as something like punishment. He hated the very idea of competition, and any kind of physical effort reminded him of high school "locker rooms" and "homophobic meatheads who threatened my safety."

Having eventually worked through those feelings, he was waiting for the start of a marathon in 2015 when he noticed discarded edibles wrappers in a garbage can. He'd brought some along too, to "discreetly consume" them during the race. By the end, he was joyful and "giddy," having discovered something he believes is underreported.

He had thought he was alone in his enjoyment of running while high, but Hesse was surprised to find that many athletes —— particularly distance runners, he says — use CBD, THC, and marijuana to enhance their performance. It's quietly common in amateur sports and, he avers, though most organizations ban or discourage it, marijuana use is also well known in pro sports.

Science, he says, has proven in many ways that marijuana and its derivatives can actually help athletes. The human body contains cannabinoid receptors, and it's well known that marijuana works to eliminate pain and induce relaxation, and can decrease anxiety. Hesse noticed that "ripping a bong" before he ran made running more like "play." If couch potatoes could tap into that feeling, then maybe, Hesse posited, they wouldn't be so sedentary.

Getting any useful information out of Hesse's nonfiction book Runner's High, though, is very clearly going to depend on your stance on the use of marijuana.

If you're steadfastly negative, you can stop here.

If you lean positive, though, Hesse still won't make things easy for you. Readers will quickly notice, for example, that several iterations of the word "play" show up in this book really often, which is generally distracting and doesn't, until toward the end, leave much room for serious discussion on what he's found. While there is a good amount of science and businesslike dialogue here, the antsy insistence on "play" overshadows it.

Others, particularly those who are specific in their usage, may find deep offense in labels like "stoner," "pothead runners," and "dirtbag." The casual use of user slang also changes the tone of this book, from investigative to impudent.

For athletes who want to make their daily run fun, or for "couch monsters" who need impetus to get up and go, there's a lot of solid science to be had in Runner's High. If you aren't anywhere convinced, though, this book could be a mountain of controversy.