10k

Winter Paddy Buckley FKT

I reach Rhosydd quarry, fifty miles and sixteen hours in, it is the dead of night. A scary enough place in daylight, where young men worked and died, deep in the hillside tunnels. Slate ruins loom silently around me. The moon shadows play tricks on my eyes, ghosts are closing in from all around.

I’ve reached a crossroads. If I turn right, down the hill, towards my home town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, I could get in my warm, safe bed, and make all this end.

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fell running

Dragon’s Back Race 2021

Running through the scorching midday sun, not a cloud in the sky, nor a breath of wind, the temperature is pushing 30°C. I’ve been at this for seven hours, the air is thick and stifling. I’m alone and working hard, climbing to the summit of Diffwys. High in the Rhinogydd mountains, I don’t expect to find any water for at least another hour, but I come across a single, small, crystal clear pool. A smooth mirror amongst the rough and hostile rocks. I dip my cap into the water without breaking my stride, I place the cap back onto my head. The soaked material provides a short release from the unyielding heat, before drying up within minutes. But, somehow, due perhaps to the incline I’m climbing, or an imperceptible breeze, drips of water are consistently blowing off the rim of my cap and directly onto my face. I keep running, keep pumping my legs, but these little drips of coolness that fall and die on the furnace of my forehead, I feel them so keenly, and am so grateful to the entire universe for them, that I genuinely wonder if anything in the world has ever felt more precious and sweet.

fell running

Paddy Buckley Winter Round. Training Week 3 of 4.

It’s just another standard run. 8 miles on the treadmill. With 2 miles to go, I feel a belly ache coming on. Don’t know why. I should slow down, or stop, but I decide; fuck it. I don’t want to be stopped by a silly belly ache. So I keep going. I refuse to step off the treadmill until the number of miles says 8.0. Belly gets worse. And worse. But I persist. To the point where I can’t stand up straight. I stop looking in the mirror. It’s too embarrassing.