Remembering Red 4

Question:
What do you call the 13.1 miles from Newcastle, through Gateshead to South Shields?

Answer:
A bloody stupid idea.

Its also known as the Great North Run.

Today I was there with 54,000 other runners racing from a motorway in Newcastle to the South Shields coast.

What a fantastic experience! I have never been anywhere where easily 100,000 people (spectators and runners) have come together and just been.... happy!

I made it around in 1:50:58 - 10 minutes faster than my target, and less than an hour behind the guy who won the elite race!

Weather we were there to cheer on loved ones, see what all the fuss was, raise money for charity or just try to beat your 'personal best', it was a fantastic occasion.

I was one of a few hundred people running that day to raise money for Children with Cancer UK - a brilliant charity that fund life-saving research into the causes, prevention and treatment of childhood leukaemia and other childhood cancers. On top of that, they also work to protect young lives through essential welfare and campaigning programmes.

Their website is here should you want to know more...

What made today really special was the underlying mixture of a sense of a slightly sombre occasion, but also a celebration... Most people were running for charities that were personally close to their hearts - maybe a relative or loved one, who had gotten ill, had died, or had troubles. But as the Red Arrows flew overhead to cheer up a otherwise gray looking day for the first of three displays, even they were there to remember a friend and colleague who wasn't.