Baronhawk's Nest

I think I am a sadist.

An observation culled during my recent re-flirting with my evening and morning walks.

I found out, that while I do enjoy the process of brisk walking once again and the challenge of pitting myself against the distance, time and endurance, what I miss more is not the process of walking but the pain.

I don't know how to explain it but what I like most about my walks is the time where I have to push my body to overcome my physical threshold and force myself to endure beyond the break point limits of my endurance.

It used to take me only a while to feel that biting feeling within my muscles, and that sweetness of the pain. But now as I return more and more into my routine, I am forced to either extend my distance or increase my pace in order to feel the pain.

I once asked a friend of mine whose passion is engaging in marathons and he said that that state of pain-ecstasy is actually the last stage of exhaustion as our stressed muscles, starved for oxygen and tired from exertion starts to excrete a toxic substance.

It is that substance that give birth to the pain and it is that substance that can be as addictive as some active souls find adrenaline to be.

I guess this is my high, my sin and my way of working off the extra aggression from work and sundry.

Anyway I am off to sleep off the pain.