Great North Run 2008

I landed a place in the Great North Run (through the Telegraph ballot) with a friend of the family who isn't a runner! So now I'm mentor and running partner!..  Deafness Research  do not buy up places so I've raised money on their behalf as a private entry.  Here is my JustGiving page with more begging! 

Linda had kindly organised our overnight accommodation in one of the colleges at Durham, 15mins from Newcastle. So all I needed to do was book a couple of train journeys and turn up!!

Training had been hampered by preparation for Offa's Dyke, so all I had managed were Saturday morning 10ks (my usual routine) and a couple of 10 mile runs towards the end of September.

Sat 04 October   

Mid morning train down to London, tube shut so walk to Kings Cross and then train up to Durham. Wait for Linda and enjoy some banter with college kids waiting to escort freshers to their colleges. When Linda got in we walked across town and up to the college and were given our rooms for the night - familiar little cells in strange hexagonal blocks. Then off into town for tea - recommended by the students, La Spaghattata I think. very good and plenty of it! 

Early bed for very early start!!

Sun 05 October 

Pre-dawn up at about 6am! Pack and to refectory for breakfast. Not sure what to expect but was great. Coffee, orange juice, grapefruit, cereals, toast, eggs etc - very good for student accommodation! Out to catch bus at 7am. Jolly old cold!

Driver not really sure where he was going, so the blind led the ill informed and a group of us did some rough navigating with his rough map, until we got to the rough drop off point. As the sun rose we walked across the park to the start, munching banana #2 in the very cold but bright still morning air. Sue Barker looked well wrapped up talking to a bloke we had seen arrive at our accommodation the evening before, with no documentation. He had to ring the office for some! First task is to drop off bags at the double deckers, that would later be parked at the finish for us to retrieve. All well organised, parked in a line up a side road, annotated with the colours of our numbers. Bags stashed, bin liner on and keep munching bananas to stay warm! The slowly rising sun was gratefully received but there wasn't that much heat in it!

Line up - My number put me in the top third of the 50,000 but Linda, not having done one was near the back. So I joined her with the flintstones and giant jigsaw pieces..

On the word 'go!', nothing much happened down at the blunt end (as usual) and we slowly built up steam until after half an hour we were off.. 

We ran a comfortable steady pace, although Linda thought we started a bit quicker than she normally did in training. The sun stayed out but not too hot. I took on fluids mostly only at the Lucozade energy drink stops. Linda did water as well and munched her way through the jelly beans she had bought and were stored in her bum bag that I carried. The steady pace lasted until Mile 11 when she ran out of energy at a short incline. We walked a couple of hundred yards before starting again, and went from there to the end non stop. 

Linda rejected the idea of a sprint finish, the Red Arrows being impressed with our efforts anyway - total time approx 2.5 hours

The finish was as well organised as the start. We funnelled off to pick up our goodies and found a tent with free chocolate and sugary tea! Then another tent for a massage for madam! One poor guy was being tortured by the masseur applying as much force to his victim's muscles as he could - he could tell by watching the back of his patient's head when he winced! However, I'm sure the guy benefited from it in the morning, waking up without any aches..

We picked up our bags from the double deckers, then picked up the coach back to Durham. This turned out to be the last of the day which fought it's way through the traffic out of South Shields for 3.5 hours meaning that I missed my train (pessimistically booked for 5.30pm) and the next one!

We were eventually dropped at Durham station at 7pm and had to buy another ticket - can't use the pre-booked one on anything other than the train it was booked for - what a rip off.. £100 to London, across to Euston and back up to Leighton!! And the train was packed from Durham - apparently due to maintenance and lots of runners, but a local told me they had steadily cut the number of trains back over the last 2 years. He was a commuter from Newcastle to Nottingham and was getting fed up with standing on his daily commute.

Home midnight for shower and bed.

Total raised approx. £250 for Deafness Research

last updated: 08 November 2008