The Great North Run – My First Half Marathon (Couch to GNR Part 5) Race day. I’d trained hard, survived injury, swapped shoes twice – and now, I was finally ready. I had the fantastic help of my fellow runners from the group who took me under their wing. A taxi to the start was booked and I was assured … Read More
Couch to GNR – Part 4: The Farm Park Incident (And the Shoes That Didn’t Work)
The Farm Park Incident (And the Shoes That Didn’t Work) After finishing the Morpeth 10K, I was still riding high from the buzz. But what I didn’t realise at the time was that I’d made a pretty common rookie mistake: I ran the race in brand new shoes. Just one day later, I went out for a run with my … Read More
Couch to GNR – Part 3: My First Road Race – Morpeth 10K
Morpeth 10K – AKA The fly in the eye 05/08/2014 – Morpeth 10K marked my first ever road race. I parked in the event car park and got changed (which, if you’ve ever tried wriggling into running gear in the front seat of a car, you’ll know is a sport in itself). After a short walk to Race HQ, I … Read More
Running sensible
Couch to The Great North Run – Part 2 Fast-forward four weeks (or click my third-ever Strava activity – your call), and I was back out the door in my trainers. This time, I had one goal: don’t do anything daft. I kept it short – just 24 minutes of run/walk covering 1.8 miles. Sensible. Sensible enough, in fact, that … Read More
How to start running – end up at The Hospital
Part 1: The Couch to The Great North Run In August 2013, I decided to take up running. I didn’t have a plan, or a goal – just a gut feeling that something had to change. I work in IT, so not much physical movement in the day. After a steady climb on the scales, 14 stone on a 5-foot-8 … Read More