Finally PART DEUX

It's not taken me long but I'm going to have a go at updating this blog!!
So you're tuning in for this instalment which includes The Great North Run and the Cheshire 10k at Arley.

15th September 2013, a cold and rainy start to the day with a blustery wind blowing was not the ideal weather to begin the day, especially when the day was the day of The Great North Run, the 2nd biggest half marathon in the World!!!

After a pre race evening meal of pasta the night before, I woke up nice and early to walk across the city centre of Newcastle, crossing the River Tyne over the Millennium bridge and up the hill to meet friends and then head to the start. It was my first GNR(runners speak for Great North Run) and I didn't really know what to expect having only seen the race on the TV before, friends who had done it had said once I had done it I would want to do it again. 
Having run so well in the English half marathon the week before I was a bit upset as I think that had taken it out of me, I'd been for a short run midweek and my Achilles was again sore, it was painful the night before walking to meet the other runners and was sore again in the morning, but I hadn't come all the way from Cheshire to not take part. I decided to start near the back, with a few friends and take things steadily and see how it went. There was a huge amount of people in the pens ready to start, so we joined them and joined in with the warm up exercises being led by some Lycra clad fitness bloke on a podium near the start, relayed to huge screens so we could see. 

The time came and those at the front began their runs and slowly we catterpillared forward towards the start, it took around 20 minutes to get to the start and then we were off, the rain started to come down but it couldn't dampen the spirit of all those around us, fancy dress costumes a plenty, the famous Tony the Fridge was passed, he's carried a fridge in many half marathons, some achievement!! people were being pushed in wheelchairs and the man on the tannoy shouted "wheels of steel" every time one went past him referring to the wheelchair, something I later joined in with as I tried to encourage others on my way round. The route went under flyovers, round many roundabouts and was very crowded, I felt OK, my Achilles was not too sore but I still took my time anyway, the small group I started with became smaller and I found myself wanting to speed up a little but stayed with the others until the crowded streets meant we lost touch, I think this was a few miles from the finish. I took a bottle of water from the final water station and carried on, the crowds on either side of the roads were still cheering and clapping, then, out of nowhere there was a roar ahead, a roar from the engines of the Red Arrows display team up ahead, I suddenly became emotional, I realised I couldn't be far from the left turn down on the sea front I'd seen on the TV many times, I kicked on and eventually I went down a short hill and there was the left turn, I wasn't sure how far it was to the finish from there but I'm sure it was over a mile, I kept my pace up and dodged through as many people as I could, the crowds were amazing, cheering everyone on, you couldn't help but put in all your efforts to get over the finish line which I finally did in 2 hrs 24 Min's and 3 seconds, a lot slower than the week before but I think after my injuries and the previous few weeks of trying to cram in training I think I did OK.
My friends were right though, after experiencing the Greatest of half marathons I want to do another one and fortunately, I managed to get a place for this years GNR through the ballot system, so hopefully by then I will be further along with my fitness and pain free.

Two weeks later, I had the Cheshire 10k run to do at Arley Hall, my Achilles was a lot worse by this time and I did not feel to well either, sensible option would be to have just pulled out but I've never been one for the sensible option so I turned up bright and early and began to warm up as best I could. The race started and I crossed the start line in a little bit of pain, I quite like 10k's and this was a very flat one compared to the others I have done although none of those were particularly undulating but I was struggling from the off, I had a headache and no I had not been drinking the night before, I also felt sick, when I did get to half way I had to stop and was almost sick then, a quick breather and away I went, by about 8k I was running with a hobble and just gritted my teeth and my only thought was to get round, get in the car and go home. I know the area around Arley quite well so knew roughly where I was, I turned the final corner and mustered my best sprint finish which felt like I was running backwards, I ran the last 50m over the rough ground and finally the race was run. I think the winner broke the course record that day, I was just pleased to get round. I was very sore now, my Achilles was really hurting, I hobbled back to my car, put my key in the ignition and pressed the start button, the car must have felt like me as it didn't start, I asked around and nobody had any jump leads, luckily the race organiser had some and he said he would come and jump start me, again I hobbled back to my car, watching everyone leave, about 2 hours later the guy turned up and we managed to get the car going, I went straight to kwik fit as the battery was dead, £70 later and a new battery and I'm back on the road so all in all not the best race day experience but that was nothing to do with the course, maybe I will try it again this year.