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.

I finish the run, crawl to the bathroom, and, when I regain my senses, find myself naked, on all fours, in a hot bath.

I suddenly remember I haven’t locked the door. I don’t want my family to come in and see me like this. But I don’t move.

I am waiting for the pain to subside. It is subsiding. And now I’m smiling. The ridiculousness of it. Why didn’t I just stop?

It’s like being reacquainted with an old friend:

The pain of the pursuit.

The purity of the purpose?

Oh wait wait… I’ve got it:

The pure pain of the purposeful pursuit. Purple.

Whatever it is, I haven’t been here for a while. I’ve missed it. That point where your pursuit begins to mean enough, that you are prepared to put yourself through this shit. It doesn’t happen overnight. There is no one particular moment. But, it’s a warm feeling. No more worrying about what everyone else is doing, no more life window-shopping on Insta. At this moment in time, on all fours in the bath, I’m satisfied with my effort level. Until tomorrow.

Sunday morning is the only day of the week with nice weather. I’m doing a big recce of the Moelwynion with Owain. We storm up Siabod together in darkness, I’m not scared at all now I have company.

Owain hasn’t been on this particular section before and I’m warning him about the terrible, man-eating bogs along the way. Infact, considering we’ve had rain all week, they are not too bad at all. I’m finding the uphills hard, I have some kind of trapped nerve in my hip after racing the kids at Menai Track & Field on Wednesday. I want to ignore my age and jump around like a child. On the other hand, I should respect my old body and be a bit more careful.

We are greeted to a glorious golden sunrise. I pick up some tips from running behind Owain on the descents. He’s very good on tricky rocks. He’s a funny guy and the hours fly by. I feel like we could become great friends, until he tells me he prefers strawberry milkshake to chocolate.