We set off on Saturday with the weather forecast looking very bad indeed, heavy showers and high winds were forecast for both Gateshead and South Shields.
But as we all know this can change. This however would turn out to be very accurate.
We were very lucky that two very special friends let us stay with them over the weekend, which was great for me as they live less than 10mins from the start.
On Saturday night we went out for a curry....well when I say we what I actually meant was everyone apart from me had curry. It all smelt lovely, but I knew I had put all this effort so far I wasn't going to pay for it now. Had an early night and did manage some sleep although I woke up an hour before my alarm but I dare not have another hour I was awake so stay awake. At 6 we made our way downstairs, our hosts we very accommodating and even got up with us. Trying to eat my porridge and raisins whilst the radio is playing giving shout outs for the Great North Run was probably not a good combination. Although I was now getting more nervous by the second I did feel oddly calm, but the emotion was beginning to hit me.
On Friday it had been 11 months since Anne had passed away and I really felt it, tears flowed I felt a complete mess.
Mark left to head for South Shields he had been lucky to receive a press pass so had pride of place at the finish line. Now I was alone, but almost ready to go into something that I hadn't done before. As we set off for the start the roads were very quiet, I expected queues of cars loads of people milling around but there was no one. As we neared my drop off point the start line came into view and so did the people. I decided to walk down to the start line, I knew it was quite a way from where I would be beginning, so it gave me time to relax.
It had stopped raining but the surface would remain wet and slippery it was bitterly cold, the wind chill was bringing the temperatures down to Autumnal not Summery. I walked back up the start line towards the baggage buses, all this walking around was making me wish I had finished my porridge, I had packed cereal biscuits and bars to snack on but I didn't want to take on too much fluid. Once I had left my backpack behind I made my way to my enclosure. By this time the crowds had swelled a lot, it was great to watch the people arriving. The 4 soldiers running for Sue Ryder in full kit plus bags, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Santa, Homer & Marge, Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, Braveheart and The Stig, to name but a few. The atmosphere was fun but you could feel a tension in the air, single runners like myself retreating into their headphoned world trying to keep calm, old hands just going with the flow. I entered the enclosure to take up my place ready for the hour to tick by. The person who was entertaining the crowds from the front was doing a very good job, talking about fun things and trying to keep all these cold and damp people happy, he had his work cut out. Then in a brief moment, he asked everyone to take a moment to remember why we were there, at this point I had a complete and utter meltdown, the hymn "Abide with me" played as I knelt down with my head against the barrier I needed Mark more than ever, but I was alone. Two very nice people asked if I was okay to which I clearly wasn't but replied accordingly with "yes I'm fine thank you". I put my headphones back in and tried to compose myself.
As it got busier the very big video screens turned to show the wheelchair athletes preparing to go, that meant it was only 30mins to go. The elite women step forward 25mins to go. Then the warm up begins, it was needed most of us had been there for 2 hours even though I had been wearing tracksuit bottoms and a hoody I was still feeling the chill. Now it was time to remove the outer layers to benefit from the warm up. Warm up complete, the elite men were introduced, Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie, Mo Farah the crowd erupted. As the elite men started the race off, the masses assembled behind ready to hit the road. The first of the runners were away, it took 15mins for me to arrive at the start I blew a kiss to heaven in the hope Anne would keep me safe and injury free, but most of all to tell her that I love her as much now as I ever did. So 13.1 miles lay ahead of me, here we go.
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