The Great North Run 16 September 2012

The Great North run is a half-marathon,13.1 miles. I walked (I cannot run, not even for a bus let alone 13.1 miles). It took me 3h 36min and I came 39,652nd and I am very pleased. There were about 15,000 people behind me and the elite athletes who run it in about an hour had completed 9 miles before I reached the starting line. We all have a chip attached to our shoe so that we get an exact time and there are check points to make sure you follow the course and don't take any short cuts!
I am very lucky to have wonderful friends in Tony and Lesley who put me up and look after me and we all walked from their house to the back of the 55,000 who were taking part. Lesley was running and despite a bad knee beat me by 30 minutes and her friend Laura kept with her all the way.
The atmosphere is amazing with crowds all the way, even when I was passing, many hours after the true athletes taking part had run by. Since your name is on your T shirt the spectators can call out to you as you pass and that is very encouraging.
I did overtake the man who was walking the whole way backwards but only glimpsed the fridge on the back of the man carrying it for the whole route.

So a wonderful event and I am so pleased to have taken part. The hardest part was standing in the queue for the metro to get back to Newcastle - it took longer than walking!