Well, I did it!
What a day it was. The sun shone, the red arrows did their bit, and 50,000 or so runners/walkers/ limpers negotiated the 13.1 miles from Newcastle to the coast.
This is my 6th or 7th GNR, and I am always humbled and delighted in equal measure by the immense effort put in to such an event that raises huge amounts of money for charity.
Its absolutely incredible!
Where else can you be next to such assorted characters as a push-me-pull-you (I kid you not), a dragon with 4 people in there somewhere, and thousands of cavemen, superheroes and various fruits including a rather large banana.
I found myself running beside the push-me-pull-you as I (slowly) passed them. This was madness! One guy running forwards and the other backwards! Apparently they swapped every mile or so, and I was relieved to see them ok at the end.
This was the first year I was not running to achieve a serious time. In the past I would be aiming for 1.5 to 2 hours, but now having reached the great age of 50, I just wanted to get round and just enjoy the day. I managed 2.5 hours, and in so doing really took in all the myriad sights and sounds – and what sights and sounds!
As ever, the crowd lined the full 13.1 miles, and were always cheering you on and offering drinks and biscuits or even sympathy for those who had to stop.
Its always interesting at the start of the race. You have to balance getting your bag safely on the bus so that it’s there for you at the end, and deciding when to make your last visit to the loo that always have huge queues. Hydrating is all very well, but the consequences can be awkward!
On my way to my start position, I passed a radio interview where the interviewer was talking to a huge crisp! I stopped to listen, as you would, and somewhere inside the crisp was a guy who was representing a certain crisp company. The interviewer asked him what time he wanted to do, and he said “under 2 hours as I want to be a runner not a WALKER!”
Chuckling I got to my start position, and was bullied into doing some warm up exercises by the official warmer upper. He quite rightly emphasised the importance of stretching and keeping warm, but as we were crammed in like sardines, lunging left and right proved to be easier said than done!
Anyway, after I had made some new unexpected friends, we were off. Well not off exactly, as it takes ages to get across the start line. We shuffled along, but sure enough we started to walk and then run.
Rock star Sting was the person chosen this year to start the race, and as this job includes having your hand slapped by thousands of runners as they passed by, I hope his guitar hand was ok by the end.
The run finishes at the coast in South Shields, and it is an amazing experience to see the red arrows performing over the sea as the huge crowd cheers the tired runners. It was a hot day, which is superb for the event, but very challenging for the runners.
I found myself pouring more water down my back than I drank!
But then you are over the line, and after handing in your time tag you are through to get your medal and goodies bag. I was running for the Alzheimers Society, and decided to visit their sponsorship tent for a bit of back slapping and ‘well done’ all round. Then the bus to get my stuff and wrap up warm as you cool down very quickly, and I started to regret all that water down my back.
Now at this point you start to get hungry. It was past 2pm and I had last eaten at 7am, and personally I think the 13.1 mile run had something to do with it. It also crossed my mind to perhaps have a pint or two and so headed off to the most likely spot, based on my last experience.
Still, I grabbed a burger and squeezed into the pub, where joy of joys there was live football on.
Man U V Man City!
After managing to get a pint, eventually, I started to enjoy watching the match, and it seems I had cleverly put myself directly between the supporters of the reds and blues. There was lots of (mostly)friendly banter, and when the goals went in they almost raised the roof.
It ended 4-3 to United with a late late goal (again!).
Then it was away to the Metro, more queues, and back to the car. I got home by 6-30 pm, and although really tired, it was simply once again an amazing experience.
A quick update on the Fantasy Football, and my team BobbyRobson TributeFC are mid table, and improving.
Talking of the great man, I read a story where Bobby kept getting calls on his mobile where all he could hear was a trumpet. This puzzled him until someone told him that one of his players Nobby Solano was a trumpet player. Bobby thought this was hilarious and it became a great joke between them. Class!
