Great North Run

Last night Paul had warned us that the forecast was sunny with a high of 20 degrees C, useful info to have before a long run but only useful if remembered and as my memory is marginally better than that of a gold fish it was no surprise that I forgot to slap on some sunscreen this morning which ensured that we had some extra comedy moment later that evening.

Getting to the start line we uneventful, which is always a good start! There were over 56,000 runners converging on the starting area which ran between two exits and used both carriageways of an urban motorway. Every runner had their own colour coded number that corresponded to a baggage bus which would meet us at the finish and a pen (not to write with but to wait in), each pen was separated from the next by an 8 foot fence so once you were in you were staying in! I left Kerry at her baggage bus and we agreed to meet at the finish, however we forgot to suggest a meeting place or time, how hard could it be to pick someone out of a crowd of 56000?

Having deposited my bag I headed for my pen which was about mid way along the queue so not a bad spot! Once inside I had a 20 minute wait for the official start time but our MC was doing a good job keeping us entertained with music, warm up leotard guy and the occasional amusing story. With 5 minutes to go I felt what I thought was someone behind me playing with my hair, when I turned around there was no one there... then I felt it again so I thought it might be a fly and tried to brush it away. Ouch!! It suddenly crossed my mind that it could be a wasp or bee as I realised that I had been stung in the palm of my hand. Getting to the start line may have been uneventful but being here was quite a different story.

The sharp pain of the sting slowly eased as numbness spread across my hand. I had never been stung before and had no idea what reaction I could expect. Would it just hurt for a while? Perhaps my hand would swell up, people might think I was running in fancy dress - like a carpenter, they're handy aren't they? Or maybe people might think I was running for a little known "massive hand" disease? What if it affected me else where?? I could have a heart attack? That would be a bummer, I hope I'd have time to tell the paramedics that it was a bee sting induced heart attack and not an unfit fat git induced attack!!

Just as these terrifying scenarios were racing through my head the MC announced that the lead singer with the Police, STING, was going to fire the starting pistol to start the race. You couldn't make it up and I had to laugh, and out loud much to the bemusement of the people around me. I thought about explaining myself but it would have sounded daft...

As promised, Sting started the race and we were off. I quickly forgot about the other sting and quickly got into the 6.55 mph pace set by my Garmins' virtual partner which, if I stuck to it, would mean a sub 2 hour half marathon. It took us about 15 minutes to reach the Tyne bridge and as we approached there was no sign of the Red Arrows, they usually do a fly past and I felt a little disappointed but I needn't have been because half way across the bridge they came screaming across the sky right over our heads... wow!! For the first few miles all went really well even though it was hot and the sun shone constantly. I took full advantage of shower tunnels to cool down even though they only lasted for a few seconds, any relief from the heat was welcome.

At about mile 10 my virtual partner abandoned me and left me behind but I did my level best to keep up. I crossed the line in 2.03, while not my best it was still a great time!

The comedy continued as I realised that I had no way to find Kerry, our "see you at the finish line" arrangement was beginning to show it's flaws as thousands of runners crossed the finish line behind me and there were thousands ahead of me. The phone networks were jammed and text messages were taking an age to get through, you could forget about getting a call through. I made straight for the baggage bus, got my bag and changed while the Red Arrows performed their amazing display overhead. I was awestruck, and amazed that everyone else wasn't as amazed as I was... some people were wandering around oblivious to the awesomeness that was happening right over their heads!! After the display the networks seemed to clear and I got through the the others and all was well!!

Here's my race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/13866599