Great North Run 2013

1138139141143144158

Comments

  • Thanks Fiona was beginning to panic as had to get a charity place this year but that put my mind at rest

  • Thanks BP and Fiona J for the tip about porridge pots - love porridge and a very suitable high carb choice - why didn't I tthink of that image

  • David - not got my number yet but it is a tad early.

     

  • Metro it is then, thanks peeps image 

    Someone put on the Facebook page they thought they sent out race packs 1st week in August 

  • Evening everyone, back from the thunder run and what a weekend.

    Weather of biblical proportions, scorching sunshine, thunderstorms, apocalyptic rain that you think cant possibly get any worse but somehow it does, mud mud mud and mud, the thickest deepest gloopiest mud i have ever had the pleasure to run in and knee deep mud puddles.

    Mile after mile and lap after lap of running through it, Countless pairs of socks thrown away, bags of filthy kit and 5 pairs of completely trashed shoes.

    Absolutely bloody loved it, 6 laps ran (60k) and the willy wonks finished amighty impressive 9th place in our category and 41st oversll out of around 300 teams.

    Will be back again next year as will the rest of the wonkas and the thunder cackers no doubt !

  • Thanks for organising us mr sj- as you say, a cracking weekend.  Shame about the weather though, otherwise we would have squeezed in another lap (or two).

     

  • Yeah, i think with better weather during the night we would have easily got one more lap done andprobably 2 .  Theres always next year !

  • Well done to everyone at TR24 unbelievable running in what sounds like to say the least changeable conditions

  • Awesome weekend at the Thunder Run image

    great event, great people and challenging" conditions as mr sj said.

    hot hot sun, rain, thunder, lightening, all that paired into insignificance compared to the course squishy, sucky, sticky, slidey mud everywhere.

    the running through the swamp at the end seemed a nice change from cloggy mud and cleaned off a bit of the mud.

    dangerous ? Most certainly.

    sensible ? NOT

    will I do it again ? If stringy asks me ( yes please !) brilliant weekend, thanks 

  • 4 laps for me, forgot to mention !

    40k

  • Loved the knee deep swamp between 8-9km, very refreshing to wade through it !

  • I've just seen a great Facebook post on the Thunder run page: "It was so so wet that my hamstrings have shrunk".  I know what they mean today image.

  • We are on hols near Alnwick in August and hope to run one of the parkruns on 10th August. Is anyone planning to do one of the nearby ones on that date?  It would be good to meet up.

  • Evening, OS

    I have volunteered to pace 24 minutes at Newcastle parkrun on 10th August.

     

    Many, many congratulations to all of our Thunder Runners.

  • Sorry os but im away in august, otherwise would loved to have joined you.

  • Well done to all thunder runners. It sounds like you had a great time.

    OS - I may well be volunteering too.

    XL - did you have a good holiday?

  • Good morning, Fiona

    great break thanks. We had a cottage with a gate from the garden onto the beach and fabulous weather.

    Heels still bothering me, which is highly frustrating.
    Are you back in your trainers, yet?

  • Morning

    Loved loved LOVED Thunder Run, as usual. It seemed to go by in a flash though - I wish we just had it all to come this weekend.

    As others have mentioned the weather made things very interesting, right from the start - has anyone ever tried putting the insides of a tent up when it's baking hot?  It's like trying to erect a tent in a sauna!

    Team Thunder Crackers were out in full force again - me, Shrek, Mandie, Vixx and Stringy, with the addition of Stringy's lovely son Thomas as team mascot.

    Initially the weather was absolutely glorious for sitting around beforehand, chatting away and psyching ourselves up for what lay ahead.

    Not so glorious for running in however!  I took the third leg at around 2.15pm and it was baking hot.  I grabbed a wet sponge at the halfway mark which was an absolute godsend as I could use it to keep me cool for the rest of the 10k course.

    Finished my first lap in 57 minutes, which I was really pleased with as it was over 5 minutes quicker than last year (the rough, narrow terrain and steep climbs were not the shock to the system as they were last year).  I felt full of beans (if rather hot!)

    By late afternoon it was obvious the weather was turning, and the promised thunder storms - that we thought were hardly possible in the bright sunshine of midday - were fast approaching.

    Took over from Mandie for my second lap at 8pm-ish, who assured me it was much cooler and thus much more enjoyable than the first lap, so off I went.  However the light rain grew heavier and heavier and it wasn't long before I found myself running through a full-on thunder and lightning storm.  Fortunately I'm not scared of them, so loved the experience but it must've been horrible for those who are a bit nervous in storms (especially when you're surrounded by trees for a large part of the time).  Had to use my headtorch in the forest bits and was thankful I'd worn my baseball cap as I'd have struggled to see where I was going otherwise.

    Finished my second lap in about 1:14 and gave the baton to Stringy (who didn't even recognise me at first as I must've looked like a drowned rat).  Made for the fish and chip van straight away and had some chips with lots of salt on them and some coke, before heading back up to where our camp was to get straight into dry running kit, my pyjamas, and then into the sleeping bag to get some rest before my third lap.

    Sleep was impossible though, as the rain pounded onto the tent - it just went on and on and on.  I could also hear a group of women in a nearby tent talking about how they were seriously considering calling it a day, at least until daylight, as the conditions out on the route were just getting worse with every passing hour.  When you're as snug as a bug in a rug in your sleeping bag, listening to the relentless rain outside, it's very difficult to drag yourself out of it to go and get wet (again) on a 10k trail.  Chatted to Stringy outside who said that if we wanted to call it a day, because of the conditions, that'd be fine, but I walked down to the Start/Finish anyway, as I knew Mandie was out there and needed for someone to be there when she finished.  I thought I'd see how I felt once I got down there and decide there and then if I was going to run again or not.

    Waited for about 40 minutes for Mandie to arrive (I like to be early, just in case) wrapped in a space blanket to try and keep me as dry as I possibly could.  As I waited people were coming in from their lap saying to their team mates a mixture of 'Oh, it's not so bad, just take it nice and steady' to 'Don't bother mate - it's dangerous out there now, it's not worth it'.  So I fluctuated between 'Nah, I'm not doing it!' to 'Oh sod it, let's just have a go!'

    A high

  • Continued ...

    The third lap was a rather different affair to the other two ... it was like the most hideously muddy cross country conditions ever, with added tree stumps, tree roots, hills and narrow twisty-turns .... and all ran in pitch blackness save for the light the headtorch gave off.

    At around the 3km point I slipped and went flying.  Runners passing by asked if I was ok and I assured them I was ... mud makes a very soft landing actually and I'd have been very disappointed if I had gone the whole weekend without falling at least once.  The rain eased off and I just prayed that my new headtorch was waterproof and wouldn't die on me in the middle of one of the forest sections.

    Finished this lap in about 1:16 which I was chuffed about.  I actually had to wait for Stringy at the hand-over area for a few minutes as he assumed I wouldn't be finished quicker than around the 1.30 mark.

    At this point I walked back up to our camp, head to toe in mud, thinking 'That was great fun, I'm so pleased I gave it a shot in the end, but ... NO MORE!'

    Three hours later I was pulling on the last of my dry kit to go out again image.  I did 4 laps last year and really wanted to at least match that this year.  I wasn't tired at all, and thought it couldn't get any harder than the last night-time lap.

    I was wrong ... the route now was just mud from start to finish, with the odd 'refreshing' swamp thrown in for good measure.  But with the heat of the new day, the mud was starting to get stickier in places and I seriously thought I was going to lose my shoes in parts.  You could no longer see the tree roots and stumps for the mud (very dangerous!) and the muddy cambers made it so that I was trying to run forwards but actually sliding sideways down.  Trees were no longer obstacles but things you clung onto to keep you upright before you tried to go a little bit further. I bet the marshals had a right laugh watching us all try to keep upright.

    I tried to run as much of the 'runnable' parts as I could, but this was just about getting to the end rather than getting a good time.   The crowd support was (as usual) amazing though and helped me through, until I was finally hitting that last short hill before turning for the Finish line.

    I've no idea what time I did my 4th lap in but I'm hoping it was under 1.30 (haven't checked my watch yet - I'm hoping it still works under the mud spatters)  No-one fancied going out after me, so Thunder Crackers ended their weekend at around the 9am mark.  If the mud could have disappeared I would definitely gone out for a 5th lap, but the thought of getting thick of mud yet again just didn't appeal.

    I'd encourage anyone to do TR24, it's just an amazing experience ... the team spirit and vibe of the whole weekend just can't be beaten.  I'm keeping everything crossed that we manage to get in again next year and that I can stay healthy and injury-free enough to compete.
    Sorry for the mahoosive report - you know me image

  • Great report Shielsy - I almost thought I was there but then I realised I was dry - I may well have a go at this next year if I can convince a few friends to join me.

  • Missed a bit from the bottom of the first section (flipping cutting and pasting image)

    "A high point for me whilst waiting for Mandie was seeing Emmerdale's Tony Audenshaw cross the finishing line covered in mud and started chatting to his hand-over team mate ... I thought i must've been hallucinating!

    Eventually Mandie came running towards me, and told me that the conditions were really difficult now and that it was perfectly reasonable to not attempt it.  However, even though my brain was saying 'Ok, back to my warm sleeping bag it is!' I somehow found myself handing Mandie my space blanket, switching my Garmin on, and running off down the field  *shrugs*  image

    It's like my legs had over-ruled my common sense."

  • XL- nope. Not looking too likely anytime soon so I'll not be running Gnr I've decided. If I'm running at all by then I'm likely to do more harm than good by doing 13 miles so it'll wait till next year.

  • Shielsy - your race report is absolutely brilliant!!

    I can only echo what an amazing event it is. The support and respect you get (and therefore give) is brilliant with just about every runner wishing you well as you pass each other. The banter in the handover area is hilarious, especially at night when you cant recognise your team mates. One poor man, who had finished his lap and wanted to hand over his baton, was shouting out for 'Charlotte' for what must have been 20 minutes and when she finally appeared everyone cheered so loudly I thought we would wake the whole camp site!

    I only managed 3 laps this year as I just couldn't face putting my feet back into my dirty trainers and squelching my way back down to the start line for another lap, a decision I'm now regretting in the cold light of day so I promise to do better next year!

  • Putting your newly-dried feet into soaking wet, cold, muddy trainers to go out again is a bit grim ... but my feet didn't stay dry for 30 seconds once I was running again, so you soon get over it.

    Fiona - gutted for you image.

    And XL - hope that achilles niggle clears up soon, it's been hanging around for far too long.

  • I gave up on getting clean and dry and just kept the same stinking muddy fillthy clothes and trainers on for my last 3 laps, by the time i had finished and took my trainers off my feet were not a pleasant sight ! All white, shrivelled up, covered in mud and 2 more toenails missing ! 

    Mind you i still bloody loved the whole weekend, ive now ran that course in scorching heat, light drizzle, freezing cold, pouring rain, thunderstorms and a nasty headwind.  Its just a fantastic weekend with friends, doing something completely different and slightly mad and it would take something pretty spectacular to keep me away anytime soon !

    without doubt the highligt of my year and shielseys report sums it up brilliantly, awaiting the official photos to appear and hoping some of them show just how truly horrific the conditions were and yet we all just kept on going.  

  • Graham LGraham L ✭✭✭

    You're all completely bonkers but a very well done!

  • Hi All

    Can anyone give me any advice on how to avoid hitting "the wall"? 

    I did the GNR 3 years ago and hit it at around mile 11. I did lots of training but think that the longest run I did was 10.5 miles but I felt really good afterwards and thought that I could have gone further with no problem.

    This time I plan on running a minimum of 10/11 miles a number of times so that I am more used to it.

    Do you have any other advice?

  • One pair of trainers have gone straight in the bin.  The other pair have been steeped and then washed in the machine (gently!) and they still smell 'foisty'.  All my socks were binned.

    mr sj - if you go to Rob Crayton photography and go to adidas TR24 you'll see the big main picture of the crowds at the start ... and there's me, you, Mr K, Chris, OS, Stringy and his son slap bang in the middle. I'm looking in the wrong direction.

    Is it Rob Crayton who takes the photos that you can buy on the Sunday?

  • Shielsy - just as well you were looking the other way or I wouldn't have spotted you all. Good pic.

  • Oh i hadnt spotted us shielsey, will take another look.

    The guy sellIng photos there is somebody else, he only sells those ones on site and dosn do any online ones.  Rob cayton has a few photographes out on the course at diffewnt spots and he only charges £6 each for a digital copy, which compared to others is really cheap

Sign In or Register to comment.