The post #GreatNorthRun post

Sitting on the train up to Newcastle, I have to admit I felt a bit nervous – I’ve been building up to this race for almost a year. Before I settled for the night in my hotel, I had a bit of a wander and a rather awesome supper at I Scream for Pizza on the quayside. I saw the Tyne Bridge wearing its Great North Run logo (designed by the late Jon Wilks) and I started to get excited.
 
The next morning dawned rather grey, but the city was buzzing with people wearing running numbers. Kitted up in my WAY running vest and WAY Pride logo I walked over the assembly area and met a fellow widow who used to be a member of WAY. She was fundraising for a charity and was wearing her wedding ring, and her son, also running, was wearing his dad’s wedding ring.
 
I saw the elite wheelchair racers and the elite women racers head off, and then the long walk to the assembly area past tens of thousands of runners in charity shirts, running club shirts and fancy dress (much kudos to the man dressed as Freddie Mercury in I Want to Break Free, complete with wig, vacuum and audio on repeat). The fog was replaced by rain and the waiting seemed to last forever, but eventually we were off – across the Tyne Bridge and towards South Shields. There’s something quite surreal about running on a dual carriageway with 60,000 other runners.
 
I hit a bit of a wall at 8 or 9 miles, but Kendal Mint Cake, my friend Lindsay shouting ‘there’s just a Parkrun to go’ as she passed me, and spotting the road sign to the coast kept me going. Seeing the sea at Mile 11 was a huge boost, but the last mile along the coast road seemed like the longest mile of the race. A grin from Ed Spooner (the running photographs are his – thanks Ed) got me over the line and I was done! 13.1 miles in 3 hrs 11 mins, ten minutes faster than I expected.
 
It took me longer to get back across to Newcastle station that it did to run it from Newcastle to South Shields, and stepping through my door at home at 10.30 pm, I announced that I was never going to do the GNR again. I’m plotting some local runs – I’m booked on the Loftus Poultry Run, I’m thinking of doing the Bridlington New Year’s Eve Eve half or 10k, and planning the Ilkley Half with another widow (though apparently it’s hilly…). Perhaps when it comes round to booking, the GNR fever will hit again.
 
Thank you so much to the people who have sponsored me, and if you would like to support the amazing charity WAY Widowed and Young, the link is still open.
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