If someone had offered me the opportunity to skip the whole proces of giving birth, and just have my baby handed over to me on a silver platter, I would have declined.

My answer would have been a firm 'no'.

The process is important too

The whole process of giving birth is connected to the process of becoming a mother. And painful though it was, it made the end result, a little baby in my arms, all the more beautiful. The pain of the contractions made me focus on my body, on the here and now. I wasn't thinking about the groceries, or making plans for the weekend: I was having a baby.

Without the pain and effort of giving birth, for me, the high and relief of the actual birth was lower.

I learned this from the births of my first and fifth child. Both times I ended up in hospital with an epidural, to my great relief, by the way. But with the elimination of the natural pain, endorphins were also eliminated. These are the deliveries I look back on with the least amount of joy.

Running is like giving birth in a way

Just like the pain of the labor proces creates a feeling of euphoria once the baby is born, running creates a feeling of joy and satisfaction.

Many people who don't run look at runners with amazement and ask: 'You sweat, you get hot and tired, your muscles ache. What on earth possesses you to to go running?'
The answer lies in the rewards runners experience. The feelings of fullfillment, of power, of joy. The feeling to be te proud owner of your life and body.

And this reward can only be gained if you put in the effort, because as the saying goes: 'No pain, no gain!'