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Great North Run 2014
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Easy 5 miles last night just to stretch my legs out. Packing mostly done before travelling down after work tonight. Looking forward to City Games tomorrow and watching my kids run in their respective races - hoping for sunshine Saturday and a bit cooler Sunday. Nearly there ...
anyone got a place spare?
Is anyone interested in Accomodation for the GNR 2014.. I have a hotel room booked and paid for in Boldon (6 miles from finish or 7 miles from start)
I paid £120 for the room and i would just like my money back, I'm not in it for profit.
I have stayed here for th last 3 great north runs and it's great, Just picked up an injury and will not be ablle to run...
Let me know if interested and I can send more details.
Thanks
Good luck everyone - true to form I am now choked with the cold
Have a good one!
Typical day before jitters here, even though it's my 4th GNR!
Looking forward to it on the whole though. Just want to get started!
Thanks to everyone for their support and advice on here- enjoy the run!
1h 28m 44s today. A phenomenal day. Brilliant event. And amazing to be there for such a historic day. It was SO hot though! Hope everyone else had great runs.
Absolutely atrocious time owing to a) not enough training over a five week extended holiday b) mystery stomach bug that meant l spent a total of 35 minutes in loo queues and c) the heat! But mostly a)
I have to confess! Meant that we were too late for a massage and missed the red arrows but l'll just have to do better next time.......
Really enjoyed my first GNR. I did 1hr47m39s which is 3 1/2 minutes off PB but given the heat and the sheer number of runners wasn't too bad.
Can't believe in all those people I ended up in my pen (White E) stood next to a lady I chatted to before the Barcelona half marathon in February.
Will certainly be in the ballot for next year.
People make events and this for runners, marshalls and helpers and brilliant support on the sidelines is better than anything I've done before. Credit to the North East.
Am also pleased that their millionth fifnisher was someone from the NE region.
The 20 miles I did last Saturday obviously didn't do too much damage to my legs as despite the heat and the volume of runners I managed it 3 minutes faster than last year and took a minute off my PB. Well chuffed! A bit of minor chafing and a couple of ugly blisters but otherwise in good enough shape to get back to training for Loch Ness Marathon.
I would echo the comments above re atmos, organisation etc and the millionth finisher - was on my way back North by the time she finished but pleased for the lucky lady and her chosen charity.
Well done everybody and see you next year!
Well done AliBallyBee. The chafing and blisters you can take preventative measures for the marathon.
Great event, decision to revise target time in first couple of miles owing to heat and congestion on course. Passed a camel on the course at mile 8 and completed in 1:32:52. Managed to admire the ever presents in the first mile, especially the lady in the minnie mouse outfit.
Probably won't race it again as too many on the course (started back of zone
, and and was a 12 hour round trip in the car from London. Will certainly look forward to visiting the area again and select a different race and spend a week in the area. Very impressed with the hospitality of the Geordies and there is plenty to see. Must echo the comments that very pleased the millionth went to a local lady who was running for a local charity.
Were the ever-presents the ones given green and white striped numbers? I was wondering what those were as they didn't have a marked pen on the planner.
Well done AliBallyBee - PB in that race is some going. Interested to hear about the Loch Ness Marathon as I contemplated that as I wanted an october one and was waiting for Barcelona football fixtures to come out before I booked one to avoid a clash. Ended up booking Chester which is only 20-odd miles from me.
Saintbarca - They had a striped number (not sure which colour though) but could tell that they were all over 50. Apparently The Minnie Mouse outfit has been worn for 22 years running and they were very good at keeping to the side of the road and enjoying the event. The veterans really do emphasise you are never too old to run and more importantly enjoy it. I think their times are displayed in the GNR club on the results website.
Thanks Goalpost, just wondered what that was about.
Everyone tried to avoid each other. Just one idiot running in "Beats by Dre" noise-cancelling headphones who had to be forcibly dragged to the side of the road when everyone else parted to let an ambulance through. He was oblivious.
Wow, what a day! Glad (almost) everyone had a great time and well done Ali!!
Got to say I couldn't fault the organisation form start to finish, especially for a race of that size, it went like absolute clockwork so big well done for that! I had a great time, just enjoyed the whole experience, met some great people, missed a PB by 37 minutes
but was really good to be able to jog round with no pressure of a time, helping and encouraging others, high fiving everyone, cheering the bands etc, which I never normally do!
I also had to haul a woman out of the road otherwise she was going in the ambulance too, can;t believe how many people were wearing headphones on a race like that with an atmosphere like that!
I also wont do it again, now that I've experienced it, I started in the very last pen - took me 45 minutes to cross the start line and must have overtaken around 15000 folk, which I probably wont ever do again either!
Got Glasgow half in October, then a holiday, hopefully get in to London and can start the serious training again! Good luck for LN Ali, I'm sure you'll do great!
Back pen must have been tough Sub329. I passed thousands from pen E, race result put me in the 5,300s yet I started about 16,000th. Must have been plenty who made up ludicrous expected times.
May fancy a jog round one year but I just can't bring myself not to race when I'm in a race.
I know what you mean Barca, but as I was helping someone else get round their first half it was just as satisfying seeing them finish. It was interesting being back there though, speaking to a lot of the people they had literally done no training, and was a completely different mindset to the usual folks I'm in amongst. To be fair though, the majority were all focused on the Charity aspect rather than the running so fair play to them!
I did laugh when it was pointed out to me that the further back you went, the larger the people became - it was so true! No nice wee bums to follow back there!
Great experience again. Really enjoyed it. Was warmer than I expected which didn't help but managed to knock over a minute off my PB, getting round in 1.48.38.
Thought the crowd support was excellent this year, a bigger turnout than previous couple of years, one positive effect of the weather conditions. Didn't see as many funny costumes but I think that was because I was starting in Orange C rather than White E last year. Did pass a bloke in a cow costume after 11 miles!
I thought it was another fantastic experience, bloody hot though! I would've loved sub-2 hours but struggled to keep the required pace due to walkers and the heat, still managed a new PB of 2:01:44 which beat last year's time by about 7 minutes.
Great day, looking forward to next year, already.
I was in Orange C and got off to a quick start. There was always plenty of room to run, and sometimes huge stretches of empty tarmac in front of me. In finished in 1:44:22 and I think starting where I did and running 7:50/mile pace (my first mile was actually 6:40 - too fast) is what you need to avoid the majority of runners. Just the nature of this type of huge race.
Hi Lwdajo. I run half at 1:44 or 1:45 usually. What time did you put down as an estimate to get Orange C? I think my problem was that I put 1:49, which was my last time when I made the application, I improved since.
What a fantastic day! I came very close to withdrawing due to being injured in the months leading up to the GNR and only getting any training in the final week, but I'm SO glad I decided to run.
Except for being very slow, I had no major dramas during the race and managed to finish uninjured and feeling reasonably ok.
I came in at 2:29 which is exactly half an hour slower than last year, a pretty poor performance, but I was exepecting it and the atmosphere of this awesome race made the time almost irrelevant. I also enjoyed the last mile a lot more this year because I wasn't desperately weaving through the crowds in order to reach my sub 2 hour goal.
The generosity of the local people is incredible, it can't be cheap to supply all of us with all those oranges, jelly babies and ice pops, this race wouldn't be the same without them and we certainly wouldn't have seen 1 million finishers if it wasn't for the unique atmosphere this rece has.
Onwards and upwards now for the rest of the year - Intrestingly, the 1:59 I got last year in my first HM was holding me back from entering other events as I was scared that I'd somehow spoil things by not doing as well (stupid I know!) but now that I've set my "worst case" time, I think I'll be a lot more relaxed about entering as many HMs as I can find!
NotsoSoreCalf x
If you can do sub-2 hours in the crowds of the GNR you will do quite a lot better when training goes to plan in smaller events. I went from first HM in Wirral last October at 1hr56m to 1hr 44 in 5 races.
Saintbarca - I think I put down 1:45. We were talking about this in my running club last night, and wondering if they simply go on trust and put you in a pen based on what you write down on the form. I suppose they could cross check with other events recorded on the England Athletics database, or other Bupa events run, but they probably don't. Does anybody know for sure?
Hi I did GNR for first time as an older (67) jogger I put down a realistic time and was in pink K at the back. I thought this was fine for me. It was hot so Mo Farah had nothing to fear, in fact it took me 46 minutes to get to the start line. It was packed so it was never going to be a fast time for me. Once I got going it was not too bad but at time the people were 4/5 abreast and walking so it made it harder to get around them. The BUPA booklet did say move to the left if walking but very few did so it was a constant dodging around to keep going. I was passing people with white, orange and green bibs so they had been far too optimistic with their times but I did feel better for passing people instead of being passed.
However I did see a few collapsed which reinforced my decision to finish and feel OK rather than being spent and not enjoying it. I stopped looking at my garmin and Virtual partner to check I was on schedule, I just enjoyed it I had homemade biscuits and sweets along the course plus high-fiving the children. The crowd were great. I was also humbled by the number of people in wheelchairs being pushed around enjoying the whole experience. Unless you are at the front the GNR is not the one for pb.
Problem with getting there as all the metro trains were full and no-one was getting on. I had left very early but never thought the transport would be so much of a problem. In the end got a taxi with 3 other runners and only just made the luggage bus. The long queue for loos so just made start area before gates closed, stress!!!!
Would I do it again yes but time does not matter I just was there to do it for me and raise money for a charity. PBs I can do ( or not do) on a training run or smaller events
As everyone else has said, it was MIGHTY HOT and the generosity and enthusiasm of the crowds was amazing!!! I would definitely love to do it again.
I picked up a Large t-shirt by mistake at the end (think I was a bit delirious!). Does anyone want to swap me for a Medium?? It's clean, just tried it on then took it off.
Or I've done other races where they sell off spare tees afterwards, is there anywhere I could buy one?