Working Out Stoned

Guest post by Herb Green

Yesterday the University of Colorado released a study that revealed eight out of every ten people who smoke weed, smoke it before or after they workout. The sample size of the study was too small (600) to take it very seriously, so even though the numbers seem shockingly high they don’t really mean much. It begs the question though – have you ever worked out high? That was a new one for me, but I was readily willing to give it a shot.

Here’s what happened:

5:45 a.m., my garage on Vashon Island. I pack a one-hitter of some of Canna Organix’s yummy Gelato strain. Get in the car and drive to the parking lot. Take two hits on the walk to the boat dock. It is, officially, the earliest time of day I have ever smoked pot. It is still dark out.

6:10 a.m., board the passenger only ferry boat, which drops me in downtown Seattle, and since I’m quintessentially ‘baked’ out of my head, I stay outside on the back deck of the boat. I’m alone, which is the point. Conversation is not possible right now. Stretch.

6:30 a.m., pack up (I’m running with a small backpack with a change of clothes), turn on some Mumford & Sons and run off the Coleman Dock into a still dark downtown Seattle. Take it slow at first to get the old shit warmed up. So many homeless. I’m weaving through them and under the Viaduct towards 1st Avenue.

The stoplight at 1st Ave is red. Good. My legs are still warming up and need a rest, and the thing I’m facing across 1st Ave, the Federal Building Staircase looms large. It is no joke. Here is a view from the summit.

See those concrete boxes at the top of the staircase? There are lots of them. Be careful. This isn’t Cross Fit.

6:37 a.m., wow! My legs feel so bouncy. I’m already at the Convention Center.

Damn. Seattle is so fucking cool in the early morning.

Don’t get too confident though. The Convention Center staircases are here to destroy any confidence you gained in your legs over the last quarter mile.

That’s the first one in the top photo, followed by the second one, which is just as harsh, right below it.

The sun is out now, but I am too gassed to take a photo of the third staircase. Just need to get to the top…

7:00 a.m., once through the debilitating Convention Center staircases and the beautifully flowery Freeway Park, the race to Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill is pretty much downhill. Sprint for the fountain. Don’t ignore the gangsters on your left. Just keep running fast. No way they could even catch up to me. I’m flying.

Photograph the fountain, but not the gangsters. Run fast towards Dicks!

 

7:10 a.m., once on Broadway, I grab a Lime Bike for the ride downhill to my office and shower. I used to run it, but downhill running is stupid. It hurts, and the benefit is meh. So the Lime Bike is perfect. It’s a cheap ride, a great cool down and fun to boot 7:30 a.m., shower the stone away, minus the creative parts. I’m not ripped anymore. I just feel like I’m ready to rock.

 

 

My take: I don’t know if it is healthy or unhealthy to work out while you are high, but I welcome further research because my experience was crazy fun. And I ran a tiny bit better than normal, mostly because I was having fun. It wasn’t a slog by any means.

All I can say is give it a shot. If you want to know what type of strain or application is appropriate for you, stop by your neighborhood pot shop, Canna West Seattle, and ask their expert budtenders.