Sunday was the morning of the excellent Great North Run - one of my favourite races and certainly the best half marathon by a long shot! This would be my second year running it - I got a charity place with Farplace Animal Rescue last year and this year bought the membership package which let you by-pass the ballot and gives guaranteed entry for 3 years (for the princely sum of £100 plus entry fees!). Couldn't wait!
I'd booked my hotel and train ticket in advance, so all there was for it was to catch the train up to Newcastle. A long but easy journey, and always good to arrive at Newcastle coming over the Tyne River, and seeing the major Tyne Bridge in the distance over which we'd run the next day. This year it has a huge Bupa Great North Run logo constructed on the side of it to mark the occasion.
Got into Newcastle early afternoon, so checked in, dropped off my bags and headed to the pasta party. Too late to catch the Great North City Games, but we got to see plenty of action from the Junior run (a 4k run for kids up to 15 years old - and the winners of the older age groups are seriously impressive!). It was very crowded getting over the bridges though, and took a while to get to the pasta party. But got there and had a look round the small expo and had a bowl of pasta while watching the live music and talks on stage - they had Mara Yamauchi giving a talk.
Had a pretty quiet evening in as did not want to be tired for the big day. Did wish I'd come up with someone else though, as it was a great atmosphere but was a bit of a loner having no'one to share it with!!
Next morning I was up and having breakfast at 7am - kept it simple - 2 croissants, a cup of tea, bottle of water and a banana (which I'd paid £7 for). Was sitting waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the start lines when I was recognised by another runner I'd met last year! Emma, who had also stayed at the same hotel and run the year before! We had a really good catch up about the races we'd done. We also got chatting to another lady, Daune, and before we knew it we were all huddled up excited about the race. Shame we did not meet up the night before - could have had our carb-loading dinner together!
By the time we got to the start it was cold and a bit drizzly! Knew it was forecast to rain so it was no surprise, but for the first time it really felt like autumn. I kept my jacket and layers on for as long as possible before dropping it all off in the baggage bus. Photo of the three of us below with ponchos and space blankets!
The GNR is massive - over 55,000 runners all starting on the central motorway. The crowd from the start line to the runners at the back of the final pen was over a kilometer long! Usual crowding, queues for loos and clothing/rubbish discarded everywhere. But there were also huge TV screens, helicopters circling overhead, TV and radio reporters, charity reps and sponsors of the food/drink giving away Powerade. The atmosphere was electric! Oh, and did I mention the display by the Red Arrows?!
The three of us went our separate ways and headed into our start pens. It was freezing and i scrounged an old fleece someone had thrown aside to wrap round myself. But it wasn't too long - about 25 mins (faster than last year) that our pen was moving forward - and crossing the start line!
I went off gently, having already done a 20 miler on Thursday I was not looking to get any PBs here (I did want to beat RTTB's time though - which probably wouldn't be difficult considering the hold ups last week!). The first few miles are quite fast as it's mostly downhill. This year I was on the right hand side of the motorway which means that you go over the interchange (or whatever it's called in the UK? Junction I guess? Overpass?) while the left hand side go under. Those going under tend to yell the whole "oggie oggie oggie" chant and the guys take a leak while out of sight of spectators, while us on the right had a short hill to climb but better views!
At mile 2 you cross the Tyne Bridge, which is excellent. The Red Arrows did another display flying over the bridge - lots of famous photos out there of this scene. The crowds were good now, even though it had started raining quite heavily. The bridge is certainly many people's favourite part of the course, and reminded me of crossing Tower Bridge at VLM. There were bands along the way and loads of charities lining the roads. Even though many people ran with music, you certainly don't need an mp3 player to get you round this race!
From there on there the course is quite undulating, with a fairly long but not steep climb up to mile 5. After about half way, you come into more residential areas rather than the dual carriage ways so you get a lot more spectators. They set up camp outside their homes and hand out everything from ice pops to beer! Legs were feeling pretty good up until about mile 9 or 10 - at which point they started to remember the 20 mile run 3 days before and felt very sore! The last few miles were hard work, but the route had a bit more gentle downhill and the support was getting better and getter.
Just before mile 12, you head down a short, steep hill and turn left onto the seafront. Great views over the sea and this is where the crowds are at their strongest - 10 deep near the finish line! The Red Arrows flew over again, although I couldn't watch them as much as I'd liked to or I'd run straight into the people in front! The last mile feels long, as you think you're almost at the finish but that final stretch is over a mile long so it's difficult to hold back from doing a sprint finish too early. Soon you see the 20k marker, then 800m to go, then what seems like ages til 400m, then you realise it's just the distance of 1 lap of a race course and before you know it you're on veering off the road and onto the grass - and crossing the vast, wide finish line!
The finish area is massive. Hundreds of runners cross the line every minute so it's bascially just a sea of faces like a crowded festival. Made my way through the finish zones and picked up my water and goody bag, then headed off to the charity village. Farplace had a tent there so got to enjoy a few hot cups of tea and something to eat, and met some of the other runners. It was getting very cold now, as I only had my space blanket and buff round my head, so would eventually have to leave the charity village to find the baggage buses. Picked up my bag and got changed, but whilst in the changing tent the rain started to hammer down like a storm! Didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon so I had to put on all my layers, rain jacket, wrap my space blanket round me and head back out to get the metro to the main station (very long queue - but the sun did come out eventually!).
Wish I could have stayed longer at the race venue, but looking back it was cold and wet and I think I just wanted to get back to Newcastle and find a warm Pizza Hut for dinner before getting my train home.
Finally got home about midnight - thanks Dad for picking me up from the station when I missed my connecting train at 11.30pm!! Had booked the day off on Monday so enjoyed a lie in and then a relaxing day watching the highlights on catch up TV.
Excellent weekend - I truly recommend entering the ballot for this race (it opens in Feb) or thinking about a charity place (they are easy to get, expect to raise about £200-£400, Farplace let me set up a standing order last year to donate £300 over a 12 month period). If you get in let me know and we'll make a weekend of it next year!
Finish time: 2.22.25
PICS!
Daune, Emma and me before the start - trying to keep warm!
Race number, magazine and finisher's goody bag - tee-shirt, medal, 2 cereal bars, 1 Powerade bar, water, bottle of Powerade, a High5 energy gel sample pack, sachet of muscle rub, all in a plastic drawstring bag (the drinks and energy bars are examples from what I had at home when I took the photo, since I scoffed the lot at the finish line and on the way home).
Great North Run member's tee-shirt (ignore the pink rim as this is just the vest top I had put with it to pack on the night before and was low on hangars!). Loose fit for ladies who prefer a fitted tee but nice design and technical material. You get this if you join the as a GNR Member, it costs £100 + race entry fees and gives guaranteed entry for 3 years (year 1 is included in the £100 but the 2nd and 3rd years need to be paid for later).
The greatest line-up ever?!
Finisher's certificate
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