The Big Day

In the week running up to GNR I only managed one more session, that was a 5mile pace session which left me feeling confident ahead of the race but with a few blisters!

Having visited the Great North Sport and Fitness Show I stocked up on Lucozade Sport goodies, some last minute advice and a pace band for 1h 35m (optimistic, I know). The race time predictor had told me that I could manage 1h 37m based on my Great Yorkshire Run 10k time but I was still aiming for anything below 1h 50m as a good time.

The day before the race a few friends arrived and we headed out for a meal, we couldn't get in anywhere to have pasta and ended up having a curry instead and getting home much later than we'd planned. That said, we'd had a good night and a catch up and it had helped to steady my nerves although I'm not sure it had the same effect on my friend as it dawned on him how far the race was!

On the morning I ate bananas and energy bars for breakfast and made sure I had plenty of hydration for the trip round. I said bye to my friends and family who headed for the finish line and made my way to the start. There was a great atmosphere on the Central Motorway and I managed to catch the Red Devils parachuting in and saw Paula Radcliffe warming up (along with a few celebs).

The race itself seemed to get underway a lot quicker with the new pen system although there were still quite a lot of people who started ahead of me (Zone C) who were walking within the first half a mile!

At around the two mile mark the crowd thinned a little and clocked up my fastest mile of the race up to mile three. At this point I was inside the time on my pace band and feeling good. As the race wore on the times became more and more outside the 1h 35m pace and I reassessed my time accordingly. It was a warm morning and quite a tough one, but the crowds were brilliant.

I made sure to stop for water and lucozade sport on the way round to keep hydrated and used an energy gel when I reached halfway for a bit of a boost.

It was good to pass people in costume and was proud that I'd managed to overtake Batman, Spiderman and Superman during the course of the race. Locals also lined the streets cheering on people in costume and offering runners ice lollies, oranges and sweets. My personal favourites were the ones with hosepipes as it did help to cool down. Around the 10-11mile mark there were also a group handing out beer to runners asking if they too were "drinkers with a running problem".

The 12mile mark and drop down onto the seafront was tough. I'd missed the marker (I don't know how) and got a little confused although I may have been distracted as I passed children's tv presenter Angellica Bell at this point!

I pushed for the final 1.1miles to the finished but was quite tired and couldn't pick my legs up as much as I'd wanted to. Approaching the finish line I was running against the time on my watch counting up to 1h 40m. My chip time was 1h 39m 55s. I was delighted to get a PB and to come in ten minutes under my original target set months ago.

I waited for my friends to finish and then went to celebrate. It was a great day and a really good finish to the training. In the evening TLS held a reception on the Quayside and I celebrated a little too much, but it was still worth it and I'm still pleased now. I'll just wait for my feet to get better and then I'll be out again, training for my next race - wherever that may be.

Thanks to all those that sponsored me and cheered me on and special thanks to TLS for their support, advice and help in the GNR.