Kevin Sinfield is about to suffer more of the sort of pain us mere mortals never get to feel.
But in the dark places awaiting him during his latest epic challenge of endurance will be moments of light to keep him going. Like last year while he was running almost 40 miles a day for seven days, and got the shock of his life while putting his battered feet up in his hotel room.
"We'd been running between seven and nine hours a day," recalls Sinfield. "There's a couple of the lads who get their own rooms because they're bad snorers.
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"This particular person was above our room and had decided to have a bath. But he left it overflowing. The water was flooding through my ceiling. He'd got distracted on his mobile phone while playing with his ducks.
"I won't tell you where it was because if there's a hotel that needs a new roof doing, I don't want the bill! Funny things happen all the time. The banter is brilliant. We enjoy each other's company. You've got to laugh, haven't you?"
Sinfield will need such camaraderie like never before when he starts his fourth – and most gruelling – challenge next week, as part of his astonishing quest to raise awareness and funds for sufferers of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
These include the bloke who inspired it all in the first place, former Leeds Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow. The rugby league legend will run seven ultra-marathons across seven UK cities in seven straight days [7 in 7 in 7 Challenge].
He said: "The wife [Jayne] thinks I'm crackers. Maybe I am, but she understands, knows it's important to me and helps me to be me. Running is a great vehicle for what I want to do. Ironically I don't really like running, although I know it's good for me.
"I was diagnosed with asthma when I was seven. But what this has done for me is give me a real purpose, to provide hope for a community that's been ravaged for decades.
"It's very fulfilling. It makes me feel like the Ready Brek man. It gives me a glow. The funds we've been able to raise have shifted the dial when it comes to this horrible disease."
Sinfield has raised almost £10m up to now, with more to come. It's difficult to comprehend the sacrifices he makes to help others, including not having a family holiday this year due to work and training demands, and putting his own life at risk as he pushes himself to extremes.
"You can't put a price on how we make other people feel, though", he goes on. "Sufferers and the loved ones of people who've died.
"The run we did last year, we met a guy out on the road who was in a wheelchair. He hadn't been out of house for two years. It was emotional and overwhelming. It took me a while to compute it."
Sinfield has become a national treasure, someone destined for a knighthood. But the modest and humble man from Saddleworth is embarrassed to even discuss a possible tap on the shoulder from the King.
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The reluctant superhero added: "I'm embarrassed about all the attention. I'm just a bloke who’s running with a group of mates.
"And in my own mind it will always be that way. I understand what we've achieved, but I'm just trying to show my support for a good mate of mine. And why would we stop when we haven't got a cure."
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