The Race

It all started on Friday after work really, Liz had been in cahoots with my Dad during the day and had managed to get my Mum and Dad into the same hotel as us. It was a lovely surprise.

So we had a nice evening with my Mum and Dad on Saturday night, pasta for me and water of course.

On Sunday we got to the start probably an hour too early so we were stood around for a bit. It was chilly. Having said that the time went quite quickly and I was soon in the starting pen. 50000 people and I bump into Eamonn from work!

We did the mass warm up which was fun. Although half way through the speaker in our pen broke so we were far more interested in watching the guys try to fix it. Then it was just a few minute's wait until the crowd started to move.

The start's all down hill for the first 500m or so, so you really get moving. I was surprised a bit by the 'I'm doing this for the next 2 hours feeling', I've never had that in training but then you can always escape training if needed. After about a mile we were coming up to the Tyne bridge and the Red Arrows did a fly past overhead. At this point it was early, I felt great and that made me very happy. Without doubt that's my outstanding memory of the race.

The first half went well, I felt good at 10k. The route then narrows a bit so it got a bit more congested but it wasn't a problem.

I had a bit of a drink around 13k, it wasn't too bad (I normally suffer with stitches) so I drank a bit more over the next few k. I skipped the lucozade at around 16k.

Things then got tough.

I really struggled. With hindsight I went off too quickly but looking at my pace it didn't alter significantly, I felt rotten though. There's a bit of an up hill, it felt like Everest. At about 18k there were showers and I ran through them to try to feel better but it didn't help. When I got to the sea front with about 1600m to go I felt really bad, I expected to be able to kick the pace up a bit at this point. I can hardly remember the last k, I tried to sprint the last 100m or so but struggled.

However, having said all that I'm very pleased with my time and know on the day I could not have tried harder. I genuinely feel like I worked for it.

Here's to 1:45 next year.

I planned to run tonight but I'm having the week off as a reward. I'm still a bit tired. I'll do a 10 miler on Sat I think but this week is a chill out.

A Nice Surprise

Just a quick one as I'm knackered, I'll post a full one tomorrow.

My Mum & Dad came up to Newcastle to support me as a last minute surprise which was really, very nice.

The race went well, last couple of miles really hurt but I did 1:53:22.

More tomorrow....

Nothing more to do now

Well that's it. A 5k last night, a 10k on Tuesday. Job done.

The runs went fine, just standard training runs, just focusing on Sunday now. I'm definitely aiming for sub 1:55, I hope that's possible in the congestion of a race, I don't see why not.

The weather's looking more promising too.

Fingers crossed.

Man Flu

It's official, I'm still suffering with man flu. It could be a cold but it's not, it's definitely man flu.

Anyway, I knew I had to run today but accepted that a 20k was probably a bad idea. I went out with the intention of doing at least 5k and rattled of 10k in reasonable time so it's not too bad. At least I've got the cold, sorry man flu this week and not next.

I heard Ron Hill on the radio the other day (he was 70) and he's ran every day since December 1964. His advice was if you don't feel like running go out with the intention of runing as slowly as you can, after about 5 mins you'll be fine. I like that idea, today sort of proved the concept.

So, it's game on for next week now. I'm a bit gutted that I didn't do a long run but accept that it's for the best for next week. I'll do a 10 and a 5 this week rather than two 5s as I taper. It's all getting a bit exciting now. It's going on the news page on Granby's website tomorrow, they're putting a link on the Just Giving so it's worth it.

Oh dear

Woke up this morning with a sore throat. I'm a bloke so obviously it's the flu if not pneumonia.

Was planning a 10k tonight but we'll see, I don't want to jeopardise the long run for Sat so I may just feel sorry for myself tonight.

As a complete aside, poor Liz was stuck on the train for ages last night here.

Hot cakes

Well the phrase 'Going like hot cakes' has now been superseded by 'Going like Liz's cakes'. Liz's cakes were a huge hit in work, when I left there were one of each left! Must be charity cakes are calorie free. I was half expecting a lynch mob if I didn't bring any more with me today. Well done Liz.

Did a 10k last night, my legs were still tight after Sunday so I thought I'd take it easy. I did. Until 3K from home when there was another runner about 50m in front of me, he was running quicker than me on the flat but he really slowed up on gradients. I treated him like a pacemaker and did 5min ks for the last 3. It proves what you can do when you try. I shouldn't have done though but easy runs can be boring.

The raffle's underway. Just mail me if you want some tickets. Mary in work's kindly handling it for me but I'll buy tickets off her on behalf of anyone who wants them who doesn't work at Granby. You can either put the money through JustGiving or I'll hunt you down with an IOU. IT's up to you.

Confidence boost

Sorry, I haven't written for a few days.  Been a bit busy:

Anyway, I ran on Friday night after the terrible Tuesday and it went swimmingly, fantastic pace, all was well.  Thank Lordy for that!  I was seriously worried that a holiday had ruined me.  The weather was better too so that's got to help, still not sure what was going on, let's hope it doesn't happen again.

So, I was all happy then ready for a long run on Sunday.  Rattled off 18k averaging 5:19 a K which is great.  My target for the GNR is 1:55 that translates to 5:30 a k.  Feeling the effects today though, tight calves that I haven't suffered with for a while, just shows that Blackburn's a lot hillier than Lake Garda.

Liz has managed to get us a hotel in Gateshead rather than Morpeth too so that's much better.  She looks after me.  

The finishing time raffle starts tomorrow.  20p a ticket.  1st prize (closest) is a £15 Vue cinema voucher, 2nd and 3rd are boxes of chocs.  I'll post tomorrow on how to get a ticket, I'm doing it through work mainly.

Also, Liz is currently toiling away making cakes and cookies for the cake sale, unfortunately you have to work at Granby to be able to get one (or drive up if you're desperate for a cake) www.granbymarketing.com Stephen will like the free link.

Back to the training.  Final full week really, doing two 10ks then a 20 on Sunday then I taper the week after for the race so just a couple of 5s really.  It's all hotting up.

As a complete aside but they are my favourite band by far, The Killers new single's available for listening.  

TheKillers

Enjoy and check back tomorrow for raffle news.