Running for Jaffa Cakes

So, yesterday was the Great North Run - part one of my two-half-marathons-in-September-FUN - and as I've got today booked off work and can barely walk, what better time to do a quick write up!

I travelled up to Newcastle on Saturday evening, saw off a lasagne, wrestled with getting the race number on to my shirt (again), and worked out where on earth I had to go in the morning - the race starts on a dual carriageway so it was very hard to put a finger on where it actually started. I laid all my stuff out on the floor like a kid on a Sunday night before their first day at school and managed to get a half decent nights sleep. 

I woke up and forced down three weetabix and a banana, and guzzled down as much water as I could.

I started walking towards the general area that I figured the race would start and was soon pleased to see loads of people in bright colours walking that way too. Success. I spent some time meandering around the place, taking in the atmosphere and working out where I needed to leave my bag (only the mere 40 double decker buses to choose from...). I made my way in to the starting pens decked out in my super cool SPACE BLANKET which kept me warm, when a woman asked me how long I was planning to use it for... Probably till the race starts, I'm afraid.

How wrong I was. A Mr Motivator fitness instructor bloke came out and wanted to get everyone warmed up. I normally have no interest in such mass flapping, but this was amazing. I fully embraced the mass flapping, and before I knew it the elites were off at the front (huge head start, we never had a chance) and we were starting to walk forwards towards the start.

There were so many people there, I couldn't even seen the start line. Apparently from the very back it took 50 minutes to get going. Mad. Luckily, we were running in about 15-20 minutes. The weather was absolutely glorious, about 18'c with a steady breeze and off we went. The first few miles wound through the city towards the Tyne Bridge at mile two, which was the stand out highlight of the race.

Just as I left the bridge I heard the roar of the Red Arrows above which was incredible and really helped me appreciate how big a deal it was to run this half marathon. 

The route then moved out of the city and I was feeling pretty comfortable ticking over at below 8 minutes a mile which was the only target I really had in terms of pace. I've read a lot about the GNR not being a great place to run fast and I quickly understood why... there were just too many people. I would regularly get boxed in behind a couple of slower runners leaving the options of biding my time and not causing a mass tangle of legs resulting in a crash, or chancing it and causing a mass tangle of legs resulting in a crash. I chose the former. 

The route then settled in to a pretty dull dual carriageway set up for a good 8 or 9 miles which was a shame. Don't get me wrong, the support on the sides was better than I've ever seen before, I just felt a little disappointed there wasn't more of the route in the city or around renowned sights. But to feature the Tyne Bridge moment and end where it does on the sea front at South Shields, I suppose there's not much that can be done about it. 

Before I knew it the 10, then 11 mile markers passed by and the pain was setting in. Bizarrely, my shoulder was the biggest problem but generally I was ok. When I began counting down the minutes (error) and looking for the finish, the sight of the sea unfolding in front of me was a big boost. Down a big hill which was absolute murder on the knees before sweeping left in to the finish straight banked on either side by hundreds, if not thousands of people. 

800m.

400m.

200m.

FINISH.

Happiness is. Relief. Water.

H2O. 

Come at me.

I spent a good ten minutes gathering myself on the grass not far beyond the finish line took it all in. I've never ran with so many people, in front of so many people. A pretty amazing experience really.

YES.

At 1 hour, 42 minutes and 8 seconds I beat my previous best by over seven minutes. It also meant I came 3194th out of over 50,000 runners. 

Ridiculous.

I hopped on the bus, ate a lot of Jaffa Cakes (A LOT) and drank a good three litres of fluids to bring me back to some remnants of normality. 

A good day, and I'm delighted to have ticked it off my list. 

People say to me all the time 'I couldn't do it!' when we talk about running that far, but seeing so many people of different ages, shapes and sizes just reinforces my belief that anyone could do it. It's genuinely one of the best things I've ever done. And you get big medals, who wouldn't want some medals? 

I'm not sure how best to prepare for the Robin Hood in 13 days time, but I think a good few days off are in order first. I saw some maniac on Twitter this morning go out for a 12k warm down run. Mental. 

Thank you everyone who has sponsored me so far, up to a quite brilliant £350 so far for Balls to Cancer. You're the absolute best and it genuinely means a lot to me.

In signing off, I was absolutely crushed to hear that a runner had died yesterday. Life isn't fair. My thoughts with them, their family and friends. Rest in peace.

Thanks for reading.

Blistering Speed

Andddd relief.

After 1 hour, 49 minutes and 27 seconds I experienced the biggest wave of relief that I've experienced since the last time I dragged myself up the 13th mile back in September last year.

I thought I would do a little diary-like entry for yesterday. So, stay with me. 

The first decision of the day was Red or Green.

Big decision.

Kind of like in the Matrix (I know it was blue or red...). And Neo took ages over that one. 

I went green. 

I've done the bulk of the 350-odd miles since September in them and felt they deserved their moment in the sun. 

And they have a fair bit more cushioning. So congrats, chaps.

The race was meant to start at 10am, but come 10.20am it still hadn't so I had time for a quick pre-race photo!

Finallllllly, it got going around half ten and I tried to set off at a good pace. In September, I went out at a slow and very cautious 9.22 minutes for the first mile. I struggled to get the pace back up and the end result was an average pace about 15 seconds slower than in practice.

So this time I BOMBED the first mile in 8.17 which gave me time to play with later on. I knew I needed an average of not much over 8.20 to go sub 1hr 50 so things started well.

Before the race I heard the organisers say the course was much FLATTER and FASTER. At 3 miles, the biggest bloody hill I have ever seen lay in front of me. 

It went on FOR EVER.

People were walking and stumbling by the end of it. Whilst thankfully I wasn't that bad, it hit me (and my pace) hard. In fact mile 3 was the slowest of the race.

The route went on through Reading University at about 5 or 6 miles which was nice, then through Reading town centre. 

I've had two nights out in Reading before so I spent a good mile and a half/two miles thinking 'I've been there' and 'TWO JAGERBOMBS FOR £3 THERE!!!' which was fun.

At 8 miles there was another hill. But this one wasn't too horrific, and I caught sight of the 1hr 50 pacemaker about 300 yards in front of me which was good news.

For the next few miles I put in 8.03, 8.06 and 8.09 minute miles to reel in the pacemaker. Throughout this time I was running next to a guy who must have been 70, easily. He was in full running club gear and was flying. So, I sat on his shoulder for a bit and marvelled in what he was doing. Big ups, man. 

I hit 11 miles and felt immediately shit. The energy gel I'd taken a few miles earlier was only just kicking in and I think the push in pace to get up to 1hr 50 took its toll. 

Once I passed the pacemaker I felt better and managed to drag myself up the boring dual carriageway route up to the Madejski Stadium. I had enough in the tank to sprint the stadium part and came in with about 30 seconds to spare.

YES.

So made up.

Shaved a full 6 and a half minutes off September's time and didn't feel like I was going to pass out. So that was a good improvement all in all.

For those who care, the splits...

And the elevation blah blah. Just look at Mount Everest at mile three. 

Christ. 

So job done. The medal is amazing, the pain today isn't too horrendous and the 200 mile mark is up on the 600 mile challenge.

Well done to all who ran, especially the lego men, the lunatic with a concrete mixer on his back, the man pushing his friend in a wheelchair and my friend Rhianne who smashed it on her half marathon debut. Top work.

I'll leave you with this little treat. It's a beauty.