In a 20 horse race, ew normally pays 4 places. Using that yardstick, Bri would have to finish in the first 10000 ish places
I did the inaugural half marathon in Darlington the early 90's...I just hope you have trained well. I thought my football fitness (I did play often back then) was good enough to run 13 miles.....not even close......I suffered from really bad cramp for a couple of days after the run, obviously a different kind of fitness required. Good luck tho' enjoy the event,
Hats off for completing a marathon, let alone 4! Don’t think I could ever do that but I’ve always wanted to do the great north run. Cheers for all the advice, especially going your own pace, I have a tendency to just start too quickly and burn out towards the end. Thank you.
You do this one and I'm sure next stop for you will be a marathon.....it's the challenge bug inside you....lol.
You’ll be fine. The crowd moves so slowly to start with it curtails the early race enthusiasm. It opens up a bit after a couple of miles once you’re over the bridge. Running buddies are a big help keeping you otherwise occupied. Pasta supper, a good nights kip & plenty of dynamic stretching for the days building up, pigeon poses ‘n all that. Coz your legs start hurting like fook around the 11 mile mark. Good luck fella
Did it from 82-87 and loved it. Only stopped doing it when I moved to Scotland in 88. Best time was 1hr 44min which was when I was my fittest. My 1st time was 2hr 10min. Best advice - Elastoplasts over the nipples, and plenty of Vaseline up the crack of yer ar$e and insides of your legs. Good Luck - Enjoy the experience. Bart
Officially my wife did it the year before we met in the 80's. She had a place but didn't train so gave her number to some she knew who did a time of just under two hours , but in the record that time is still officially down as my wife's time. Tomorrow will be my daughters first Great North Run, so their will be one legitimate time in the family.
Missed the first GNR, did the second and about seventeen of the next twenty. Then there were the others, Sunderland, (sometimes a two lap job, at least once from Shiney Row) and a couple around Teeside most years. For about six years before I had to pack it in I did The Glen Urquhart Highland Games Run, from Inverness to Drumnadrochit. This was my all time favourite. About sixteen miles along the north bank of Loch Ness ending up on the school playing field. Most years I did about four runs. On the North Runs I tried most variations, (short of trying to win it). Me and a friend tried setting off last to see how many runners we could pass. Walked it twice. Acted as guide to a blind girl who had never ran before. My best time was my first try. A fraction over 1hr 30 mins. After that it mostly got slower by the year. A word of warning though. I'm currently recovering from a left hip replacement. My left knee was replaced last November and my right hip about seven years ago. I did a fair bit of cross country and distance running while in the RAF along with Rugby and Football all of which will have also played a part, and I wouldn't change a thing even if I could, except perhaps to do more of it all. To all of tomorrow's runners, enjoy it, good luck, AND MOST OF ALL, I WISH I WAS DOING IT WITH YOU.
Did it last year, first time. Ran, sorry make that shuffled all the way but found it very enjoyable. I am a shields lad so the last part was the most enjoyable for me. Only tip I can offer is don’t drink the free home brew that was being handed out near the bottom of the JOHN Reid Road...I threw up at the end and it was all I could taste
I just don’t think I could run for like 4/5 hrs! My knees would definitely give out, always liked the idea of doing an Ironman, if hor Congrats mate, sorry to hear, I’ll take it on board! I never grew up in the North East, but my dads side all did and spent every summer up there, love the place, it’s my home away from home
Jammy didn't win it. Some bloke called Mo won it. Gotta say it, I think Jammy let all of us down there
It went well mate, a couple minutes over 2 hrs which was annoying, but just how it is, still had a great day out and the atmosphere was amazing, wasn’t prepared for how many people would be running and how jammed it is on the whole course, it was certainly a new experience. Had some poor guy collapse on the slip road of the A184 to the A194, so it came to a bit of a stand still for 2/3 minutes there, hopefully he’s alright though. Still don’t think I could run a marathon though, if someone told me on the finish line to run back to the start I’d tell them where to stick it!
Great effort mate you should be proud. I am going to do it next year. Almost took my mothers place over this year but she gave it to someone else instead.
Well done mate - I loved it last year and was absolutely gutted this year when I had to withdraw! Will be there next year with bells on (not literally) Every run I've done except the great north, there's always been a section or two where I'm running with very few people around me - the great north is a totally different animal - there's loads of people everywhere! The lad that collapsed was right opposite where my boss was watching from - apparently he's OK but he was in a zone B number and looked like he'd never run a day in his life - he's either bought someone's number off them or lied about his expected time when applying to enter! Was wearing cheap (as in Asda own brand) trainers too so definitely not a seasoned runner!
Did in 82,84 & 85 but my time went from 1:50 for the first to 2:10 for the last. After the first I got hooked on off road running and discovered the Chevvy Chase, a 21 mile course over the Cheviot which knocks the Gnr into a cooked hat...but that's just my opinion. I'm really glad I did my first Gnr cos it got me into distance running which becomes addictive but all my training now is off road. Living in Boldon is great for this as no matter which direction you take you can mostly avoid roads and pavements. Northumberland and the lakes are paradise for tracks. Everyone used to tell me my knees would be shot as I got older but I'm 67 and still running and my knees, while being a bit knobbly still work fine. My advice to anyone taking up running is to train off road whoever possible, the best local tracks can be found in James Steel Park between Washington and A19
I’m sure you’ll smash it next year, there were a bunch of blokes running together that were all wearing speedos, maybe you could do the same, at least you wouldn’t be hot! I think there were a lot of people like that, hopefully he’s learnt his lesson then. I ran past so many people that were supposedly going to run a better time than me, if I ran again I’d say I’m 15 minutes quicker than I am just to avoid having to get past as many people. There is a half marathon around Ipswich which is a lot closer to where I live, would be interesting to maybe do that and like you said, have a bit more freedom running around the course.
Hats off for running at that age, means you’ve taken care of yourself, I’m only 26 and my knees have already been shot, took much sports when I was younger without any proper warm ups and downs have really come back to bite me in the arse, only the last year I’ve taken things a bit more seriously and it seems to be helping.
