Great North Run

Just in case any of you didn't know, I ran the Great North Run on Sunday. It's the largest half-marathon in the world, and my god, large it most certainly is. 50,000 people is a lot of people, when you think about it, but still, I kind of expected that after the first mile or two, things would thin out and there wouldn't be too many people alongside. No such luck. All the way through from start to finish, the roads were heaving with runners, and rather than focusing on running as quickly as possible, most of my attention went into ducking and diving through the crowds.

I reckon that if there had not been so many people there I'd have run at least a couple of minutes quicker, and I'd also have done a bit better had I not been feeling under the weather for most of the two weeks before the race. Nonetheless, I managed to clock in under two hours, by a remarkable four seconds - my official time was 1.59.56. This was achieved only with a sort-of-sprint finish that involved a brave slalom through the crowds, but I got there and set myself a time that I am not unproud of.

Of course, you don't really do something like the Great North Run to set your personal best, unless you're Paula Radcliffe or something. The atmosphere was quite amazing, and it really didn't feel half as difficult as it should've done - though it did the next morning :) I'm already planning my next half-marathon and I shall be signing up to do the Great North Run again next year. Anyone else care to join me?!