Great North Run Weekend

Well it’s been a reasonable week for training, we’ve stepped up the miles a little and with the Great North now upon us, we’ve decided not to train down, just treat it as a good hard training run and enjoy it, till you put the number on your vest!

We traveled up on the Saturday morning, Uncle Pete taking us in the Team Bus, along with Garry, who we were picking up from his home in Wigan, we had another team member, a chap called Huw, he is the commentator for the Bunbury’s and after last years cricket game, agreed to take part in the North run, in aid of guide dogs.

After stopping off at Scotch Corner, for a cuppa and a slice of Aunty Mavis’s cake, nobody particularly likes the lemon cake she has done in the past, so I asked her nicely to bake me one and suddenly every one decided it was very nice, so after ending up with only one slice, Grrrr, we carried on to Newcastle and the expo. We met up with some of the other guide dogs supporters and they came out for a meal with us on the Saturday night, had a mosey round and a chat with the Lucozade Sports team, persuading them to give us a few bottles of various drinks, Uncle Pete seeing these, frowned, “Where are you going to put that lot”, we squeezed it in the team bus. Lucozade got me to do a video diary, explaining the challenge for next year and to the delight of the Lucozade team I convinced Kay, one of their team to run the last leg in London with us next year and it’s been captured on film, no getting out of it now Kay!

I still can’t believe 12 months has passed by, 30th September and another Great north run. Up with the larks, that’s if you’ve slept at all, kit on, check you have your number and chip, we had another blind young lady meeting us at the Lodge, as Garry was guiding her this year, we set off for the start of the world famous half marathon. The start and the morning to me is always brilliant, there is a great buzz about the place, the PA system blurting out music and information, thousands of runners preparing to start. First stop for us all, even before the baggage bus is the toilet, then we made our way to the start area, being blind I get to start directly behind the wheelchair competitors, this year Garry was also with us as he was guiding Sue.

A great result this morning I had an interview with the BBC which was broadcasted nationally, they gave some good publicity for the challenge next year, 7 marathons, in 7 days, over 7 continents, the interviewer was Jonathan Edwards, Olympic triple jumper, mind the funny thing is they had to fetch me out of the bushes for the interview, when nature calls, one has to participate and I was desperate! The funny thing was, I asked where the camera would be pointing, I was told from my waist up, it was a relief as the paper overalls I was wearing to stay warm were around my ankles, please don’t drop the camera down I thought, my street cred would have gone in an instant, they didn’t and I’m safe.

The hooter went for the start of the 27th Great North run, the wheelchairs went and so did I, as the elite women started 5 minutes after us and the elite men and the masses 30 minutes later, we like to see how far we can get before they over take us. Paula Radcliff passed us around 3 miles, Mac told me when she was passing and I gave her a real good shout, welcome back I thought, we normally hold the men off until around ten and a half miles, but today we were moving along a bit quicker it seems, we held them off until nearly 12 miles. The run was very relaxed today; a lot of the crowd had seen my interview that morning and were wishing us all the best for the challenge next year. We were having a great banter with the crowd, especially the kids, giving them all an Oggy Oggy Oggy as we passed by, to be honest I felt absolutely great today. The miles passed by until the elite runners passed us at 12 miles, Mac suggested we were running very well and should we up the pace, he’s a sadist, but I managed a few paces quicker, down the hill to the finish apparently I was storming, we passed the guide dogs cheering bus and they were surprised, just managed a quick photo, mind after the last mile the finish was very welcome, our time 1 hour 34 minutes 20 seconds, yes I was pleased with that.
We got back to the guide dogs marquee and a nice drink and an even nicer massage, oh how the legs needed that, and then I pondered on the 7 marathons next year, perhaps we won’t think that far ahead, not just yet. Garry and sue came through some time later and said they had been interviewed as the first blind pairing back, we must have been shifting a bit quick as the officials must have missed us, never the mind it created some banter and that’s always good for relaxing, fancy the donkey getting that sort of recognition! Sue you need to make him run a lot quicker next time. Huw came through in just under 3 hours, to be fair he power walked all the way, he wanted to finish in around 3 to 3 ½ hours, but to his surprise he finished in under 3 hours, what a result and after a cup of tea and a massage he has told me he will be doing it with us again next year, an even bigger result.
Well yet another Great North over, my sixth one, only the South to do and we then really knuckle down to some serious training for the challenge ahead, how quick it is coming, the legs are starting to quiver already! So with Mac and myself happy, Sue and the donkey, Garry, happy and Huw certainly happy, it’s heads down in the team bus and a sleepy ride home, hopefully I’ll wake up for next weeks blog, so it’s Blind Dave signing off.