Its taking me a couple of weeks to try and take in everything about this incredible Race.
I have only been running just under 3 years and this will rank as one of the best races that I have ever participated in, unfortunately it was one of my most painful with an injured knee and toes, but the people of Newcastle and South Shields more than made up with a bit of pain..
It is a very congested race and the Great north Run most certainly lives up to its reputation of being a little harder than most, but it really is quite incredible, lots of people line the course and offer you so much support.
So our story starts with Sense our wonderful charity, we really were very late entrants and with minutes to spare registered officially to race..
Unfortunately because we were so late into the frame accommodation was a problem as most places had been taken up, so we had to settle for Lumley Castle in Chester Le Street..
So we decided to head into the City to meet up with some friends and to take in the atmosphere the day before we run, it was great to meet up with Darell and Claire
Before we headed back to our Castle for dinner and to lay out our kit for the big day..
The next day didn’t exactly go to plan, we had to catch a train from Chester Le St to Newcastle so we arrived early for 720am to catch the 730am train that didn’t arrive until 840am but we had lots of time so we thought, erm no..
We made the 2 mile walk from Central station to the start, just made the bag drop and decided to have a pre race wee.. 45 mins later and only 10 mins before the Race starts we appeared from the cubicles and jumped the fence only to find that our pens had been closed, so we climbed over the barrier and started the Great North Run..
Everything was going well but sadly I was not feeling myself and I had a very inflamed and swollen right knee, but I make no excuses and was determined to complete this incredible race..
After we completed the race we had to go down separate lanes to collect our goodie bags and shirts , sadly I lost my Wife for around an hour of which caused me great concern as she had no mobile phone with her or tickets and cash..but out of the blue I recieved a text from a bus driver called Dougie to inform that she was safe on bus 23..thank you Dougie..
After we completed the race we headed back to the Metro station at South Shields, it took nearly 3 hrs to get our train back to Newcastle, we arrived at Central station to pick up the train back to Chester Le St station and to to collect our car before driving back to Blackpool where we live..We missed the 1815pm Train by 3 mins and the next one was at 2100hrs..! So we found a bus to take us instead and we got home at 10pm..
We have signed up to run this incredible race for the next 3 years by joining the Ruby Membership so we will return..
A short 5 minute Vlog from the day..
Thank you for reading..
Peter Mowbray Live In Blackpool Ltd
