Born to run
SONIA O’ Sullivan is sitting in a Dublin hotel contemplating just what it is for her that makes the act of running so pleasurable, rewarding and perhaps even addictive. By way of defining the buzz, it would be easy for her to offer up as thrilling evidence any one of her many world-class accomplishments in a career which has made her one of Ireland’s best-known and, it’s fair to say, most beloved sports people. But to locate the fundamental truth, all she actually has to do is go back just a few hours to the start of another domestic day at the home in London which she shares with her husband Nic and daughters Ciara and Sophie.
“I was only thinking about this when I went for a run for morning,” she reflects. “It was early — for me anyway. Ciara had to get up for school at seven and so I got her up and told her I’d be leaving before she went to school. So then I had to get Nic up to make sure she went out the door with her hair brushed and looking well. Then I went out the door and it was freezing cold — I had tights, jacket, a hat and gloves on. I went over the bridge and into the park and the wind was against me and the rain was coming down — it was brutal. But then I turned a corner and the wind was behind me and, even though it was raining, there was a nice feel about the place. And I just thought, I like this...”
