Great North Run....the final blog...its been fun!!!

I guess I can only start this blog with a leg update really. I was still in some pain on Thursday when my physio, Vas, came round. Vas has saved me pre race a few times now and he spent the whole session on my right Achilles, right Calf and right Shin (at my request). Vas feels that at least some of it is muscular, maybe all, and he worked his magic again. Vas also wanted me to go for a 5k run on Friday after the Thursday physio session. Which I did. On that Friday I felt the 5k was a struggle. The leg was still painful and I felt I had lost a lot of fitness. When I got up Saturday morning though, the leg felt better than it had done for weeks (as Vas predicted). Sunday morning it felt even better but how was the fitness?

Cos of the leg and family celebrations recently I had given the GNR considerably less thought than London. For London I knew exactly what pace I was aiming for and I probably played it a bit safe and I had plenty left at the end and sped up over the closing miles. Cos of my GNR concerns I didn't have a plan. Well I did - Start running and see what happened. I had doubts about making the distance so didn't worry about the pace. I just ran at a speed that felt right and comfortable for me.

I was meant to be in Wave 17 but found myself mixed in with Wave 15 and Wave 16. I tried backing off before the start (by having my standard 6 wee's in the trees). I ended up last in Wave 16. Cos Wave 17 was in the other bloody lane. So I mixed it with very slightly faster folk but found myself overtaking quite a few. I checked my pace. 6.25. 6.32. 6.28. I knew for London I was aiming for 6.45 / 6.55 but it felt right so I went with it. I did start to hit my London pace from 4k though. My slowest km of the 21 was 6.58. Between 4k and 17k my fastest km was 6.43. So, I am consistent if nothing else. 18, 19 and 20k were quicker - 6.34, 6.35 and 6.34. So it was another run were I felt good and sped up at the end. The last 0.3km was 5.51 pace where I had a great sprint finish (for me) Race with some 20 something guy. I lost but we had a laugh as you can see from my photo coming up to the finish line.

There was a lot happen in the middle there though. Going up a hill about 7k I felt a sudden pain in my calf going up a hill. I spent the next 10 steps wondering if that was me done but it behaved itself again. Then exactly the same thing happened at about 12km. The calves hung on though.

I am writing this on Tuesday though and I am hobbling like a 3 legged horse right now. It was fine Sunday night but its been a buggar on Monday and Tuesday but I really don't care. I hobbled round Durham with Sam Monday. Today (Tuesday) I've been hobbling round York. I'm pleased to say that it feels more of a tight calf than shins though. I'll take that though cos we saw a lot of injured people after the race Sunday. I'm pretty fine all things considered.

I saw paramedics dealing with someone in a bad way at the 6km mark. That is never nice. There were St John's Ambulance tents all the way round and none of them were empty. You can't think about those things on the way round though.

There are other things that play with your mind on the way round too. There were an awful lot of people walking from very early on. More than London for sure. It plays on your mind when you see so many people walking (who in theory were faster than me) so, so early. I haven't forgotten my days of not being able to run the first 2k of the park run.....but walking before you have even done 1k (which was all downhill) of a 21k race surprised me...... and we were white waves (not the fastest but not the slowest).....

My only goal was to run it all but when you see people half your age and half your size walking it does make you think "I've got no bloody chance here .."

The second worst thing was that this year's course is a run out of Newcastle one way and run back on the other side of the road. For the first 10k I watched the orange numbers (the really good runners) coming towards me hitting 16k as I was hitting 5k. That was hard. A surprising amount of them fast guys were walking too, which suggested to me that the course was going to be a buggar. One thing that was nice was having Elaine Heggarty shout "Hi" across from her fast lane to my slow lane. Amazing she spotted me. 57,000 people were registered to run so it was great to see another Great Yarmouth Road Runner mid run again!!!

Now some of you will have heard me say that I found London easier than expected. Nobody has heard me say that about the GNR. The first 10k felt all up hill. I was constantly running up another hill. If I had thought about that I may have struggled but on Sunday. The hills were tough but they didn't massively trouble me. I just thought that I had come to run it all so that was what I was going to do.

After we turned for home at about the half way point, I knew I was going to be ok and I was going to run it all. It does show the power of the mind though. The hit of positivity as you just turn for home. Suddenly I was on 13k looking at people in the other lane who were on 7k. The affect on the mind there, for me at least, is massive. If I do a training run I always suddenly feel better at 11k as I know I have banked half of the half marathon by then and it's the homeward run and that really helps me.

In my head on Sunday, the first half was all up hill or level at best. So I am thinking the second half, by default, has to be downhill. So I plodded to the finish line. I didn't really notice any hills on the way home until a never ending one a mile from home but I had no intention of stopping that close to the end. Infact that was were I was speeding up a fraction cos I knew it the GNR was in the bag at that point. In the evening, Sam and I did a pub crawl (pub crawl = 3 pubs) round Newcastle. It was only when we talked to other people in the pub who had done it and they said how hilly it was, that I knew i wasn't overplaying the hills. However, others said the homewatd journey was more hilly than the outward run. Cos I decided I was fine at half way I didn't seem to notice them coming home. Its weird how the same experience can feel different for different people. However, I can definitely say that it was the hardest course that I have ever done..

In the pubs, two other people who have run the GNR for the last 5 /6 years said this year's course was much tougher. Watching the highlights later I was furter reassured when all the winners said what a tough course it was.

Crossing the Tyne bridge (twice) was the highlight though. That was quite emotional. I have a thing about running across the bridges. It is always the highlight for me. Crossing the finish line was quire emotional too as that ended this chapter for me.

Ultimately, it was a PB (2h. 22m. 33 sec) which is madness as the course was a lot tougher than London and my prep was much worse. I can only put it down to the fact that I didn't have a target speed in mind. So, if I was comfortable I just kept going and didn't slow myself down. I managed too hang on till the end. When I look at the London splits though there isn't much difference. I guess I only took 2 mins off my PB over 21k so I guess the pace would be very similar but I am well chuffed with a PB on that course.

According to their app my average pace was 6.49 and I came 19,428 out of 49,625 (which was obviously the number of starters in the end). I came 12,415 out of 25,890 men. That is mental for me. There weren't too many people as tall or wide as me on the day and I saw plenty of younger people. I have no technical ability at any sport. I try hard at everything but I have no natural ability at anything. I am a Marf after all - all arms and legs. I never come in the first half of anything....i never have. So I am so, so pleased with that. Its my personal biggest achievement in sport...at 49! Its up there with my kids footy team unexpectedly winning Div 2 when I was the manager (taking of which is was great to bump into Dave, the manager of the Kirkley and Pakefield Comets before and after the race) and Shauns team winning a tournament when I was the manager. However, for this achievement I had to physically contribute.

To me, doing a second half marathon means the first one wasn't a fluke. The splits from their app show that I was doing alright as the race went on too, so I'm pleased.

The supporters were amazing too (I love Northeners). So many people offering sweets on the side of the road. I did take some Jelly Babies, Haribos and Fruit Pastilles. It's probably not covid secure but I wanted to enjoy the race for what it is and supporters offering sweets is part of the GNR. The crowd were around the course for the whole 13 miles too. I enjoyed running to the left next to the spectators. However, when someone shouts "Go on Stu" I find it impossible not to say thank you and give them a thumbs up. Afterall they have got out of bed just to cheer on complete strangers. After about 2k I realised I would have to run down the right hand side of my lane. If not all my energy would be used by giving thumbs up and saying thank you. Obviously I switched back to the left for the last 3 or 4k though and lapped it up. The crowd give you such an amazing lift. You don't even think about how you are feeling.

Shouting OGGY OGGY OGGY, OY, OY, OY in the tunnels is apparently a GNR tradition too. All good fun. The pop groups and drum groups were amazing too.

Did I prefer London or the GNR? Cos of all the buildings London feels more compact. GNR seemed more open. London seemed more organised and modern in the build up. GNR seemed better organised on the day. Northerners are more friendly than southerners too . However, I think London wins it for me cos of all the sites you recognise and because it is more enclosed. However, the Tyne Bridge was the best bit of the two runs.

The fund raising element of these runs has gone so well too, thanks to everybody out there. After 5 years, my Marfan Trust Just Giving account closes Friday with a total of £8512.72 raised over the 5 years. £2471.58 of that was these two half marathons. We've done charity football matches, auctions, runs and loads more in that 5 years . I think my original target was £250 so we have just about topped that and we've defo increased Marfan awarenes which is the most important bit. So massive thanks to everyone who has donated hard earned cash to this awesome charity. THANK YOU ALL, it really is appreciated. And please keep raising the Marfan Syndrome awareness....and keep playing spot the marf! Even tip them off if you are sure, they might thank you one day!

I did play spot the Marf during this Great North Run. I reckon I saw 4 Marfs. 1 absolute guaranteed so I wasn't the only Marf there running. I just hope they have knowledgeable doctors cos I couldn't really drop that in to a conversation mid race lol!!!

So. People keep asking what next? Nothing special really. Have I thought about a Marathon? Yer, of course I have. However, I think that is a step to far for me. Triathlon is a no as I can't swim and don't really fancy learning. Ultimately I enjoy a half marathon, it's the perfect distance for me. It's a challenge but it is doable and the training is fine and not too time consuming. You can visit some cool places and do a half. So I'm sticking with Half's and i am sticking to the road so my 2022 bucket list (in order) is. Liverpool rock n roll series, Cambridge. A different London one. Maybe the GNR again (I have been given the chance of being a GNR member and automatically have a place for the next 3 years). I can't not do halves now though. I want to at least stay as fit as I am. So, all being well, more will be added to that list. I defo wanna lose more weight though (Sam and I have just had a Slimming World conversation). Thereafter, I wanna be supporting Sam with her running in the way she has supported me. Hopefully I can get Paul going too. I would also like to spend more time with the Great Yarmouth Road Runners. So that should do me for 2021/2022.

There won't be anymore blogs though. I've enjoyed them but I've had my 5 minutes of fame now and I do question why I am waffling and who the hell would wanna spend time reading it. It's a good record for me to go back and read later thouhh, for the memories. It has also made me think about some of my weaknesses too (I think I did spot 1 strength in there too) which is sorta why I wanted to do a blog really. I sort of understand myself a little better now

Meanwhile, having barely drunk for 2.5 months (excluding one night - I'll never drink whisky ever again) what better way to finish my blog series by ending it to go out on a pub crawl with my gorgeous Mrs in my favourite city - York!