Dunnit

On 30/09/2007 at 13:52, I received the following text message: "Congratulations! Michael Higgins completed BUPA Great North Run 2007 in 02:01:51. Take to the Streets and Join the Revolution www.greatactivity.org"

As Gordon Ramsay might say, 'Great North Run: done."

It was an interesting day, which began very early (woken by a housemate at 5:00am, a text at 5:30, another at 6:28 and an alarm at 6:30), and, as is customary for these sort of days, a breakfast of coffee and porridge.

The journey up was pretty uneventful (involving a chat and setting up my iPod with a decent playlist to run to (although I was certain that I'd skip through half of the songs in a frustrated manner after 10 miles). By the time we reached the Washington Services for a quick pit stop, we could see the runners beginning to appear (made obvious by the number of people in sports apparel eating bananas). We made our way on foot from the City Centre to the start of the race, pausing to collect our sports drinks and gels (more on that later), and headed to drop off our things at the baggage buses (remembering to retain aforementioned iPod, Heart Rate Monitor etc), and made our way to the start.

The start of the race was on a duel carriageway, and we were in cordoned-off sections. People were stretching, watching the preparations on the giant screen, and jettisoning various items of clothing (the odd fleece, sometimes jeans/shirt/shoes) on the central reservation. By the time we started, people (men) were already stopping to pee(!). I crossed the start line around 10 minutes after the starting pistol went off, set the HRM going and my iPod and started off. People were cheering us on from both sides, but it was funny to see people starting to walk already before the 2-mile mark. As we made our way towards the centre, the atmosphere was building as the massed runners began to chant below the bridges ("oggie oggie oggie!"). As I finished crossing the Tyne Bridge, the Red Arrows passed overhead, trailing their signature blue, white and red smoke (Guys! For me? You shouldn't have!). From this point on, the support began to thin out, as we headed further into Gateshead. After one of the water points, we began to be sprayed by the charver/chav/ned kids who picked up the discarded bottles, much to my irritation (I think running can bring out the worst in me - I began to retaliate). By this time, I decided a little pit stop of my own was necessary, so I ducked over the barrier to the strains of 'Faith' by George Michael (I was yet to enter frantic skipping mode).

What seemed like a good idea not long after the 35min mark was to eat the Carb Gel the people at Lucozade had kindly provided (amusingly, the GNR email service warned a few days before the run: "If you have not tried Lucozade Sport before it's worth doing so before race day and not for the first time during the race.
"). What I didn't realise was that it was absolutely disgusting, and that I'd want to quickly wash the taste out of my mouth. What I also hadn't reckoned on was that the next refreshment stop would be another Lucozade sport stand, and that I'd have to attempt to wash my mouth out with a similarly orange-flavoured and over sweet drink. I quickly discarded the pack and moved on. One problem around these drinks stations was that the road surface for around 20 metres afterwards was remarkably sticky (no doubt the other runners were discarding their drinks too, probably wishing there was water to drink instead).

The next few miles were pretty uneventful, the road to the coast goes up and down and up and down without much to report on, aside from a few Bupa 'Bands on the Run' drumming us on (an Elvis impersonator, a swing band, a 'Commitments' tribute act and others too). Some of the runners took full advantage of the showers provided on the route, and one kind gentleman stood on a bus stop with his garden hose for us :) At one point, the Lucozade sports drinks had their revenge - someone stepped on one and showered me and several others around with orange sludge. Nice.

One much-appreciated feature (piece of blatant publicity) was the Nike/iPod PowerSong section, which when I passed was blaring out 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' by Jet, which was a perfect piece of motivation to get some energy. By the 10/11 mile mark, the residents of the South Shields area were out in force, handing out Mars Bars, Jaffa Cakes, bananas, orange segments, but none of the mythical pints I'd heard of! By now, people were collapsing on the side of the road (not just with injuries as before, but were receiving medical attention and oxygen). the descent to the coast was excellent, with a nice sign from the BUPA people saying 'It's the Sea! Nearly there!'. I think the trip along the seafront was possibly the hardest section, never have I seen 400 metres appear longer than between the 800 and 400 metres signs before the end. I managed somehow to hold out, despite being overtaken by Zeus and his trident! I managed a quick burst of energy before the end and crossed the line with a time of 2:12 on the clock (I had to wait for the text message for the official confirmation).

I was out of breath, feeling tired, my legs were aching, but I stumbled on nevertheless, suddenly extremely hungry (and hoping there was food in my goody bag). On a minor celebrity note, I saw Ben Fogle as I collected my t-shirt, medal, some other stuff, and some dried fruit, which I promptly devoured.

Getting a bus back to Newcastle was a disastrous affair, we ended up queuing for a long time in a queue that wasn't, and then we spent at least 1hr travelling back to the centre. We grabbed some proper food, and then got back to the car, variously in pain. We hadn't anticipated a 3hr journey to Leeds at this point, but by the time I got back a nice hot bath and a few glasses of wine were much appreciated!

All in all, I had a great day, and I raised over £300 for Mind, so it was all well worth it!