September 14, 2022,
by Pete
If you’re not from Newcastle or South Shields, it might be hard to understand how big a place the Great North Run occupies in the collective consciousness. It doesn’t matter where I’ve travelled to race, or how far those races have been, for many people here the question is always; ‘are you doing the Great North Run?’ After route changes due to coronavirus restrictions in 2021, the world’s biggest half marathon returned to the traditional route this year. You start on the central motorway in Newcastle and you run to the sea in South Shields. Given I live near the start and was born near the finish, it always feels a little like coming home. I know how I should pace a race but on a fast road race like this, I just don’t want to. I’d rather fail spectacularly knowing I gave it 110% than pace myself around to... View Article
September 27, 2021,
by Pete
The Great North Run. One day, I’m going to have a proper crack at it. This was going to be my year. I’d ran a 1:28 in April at Dorney Lake and was feeling great until roughly the moment I picked an unexpected fight with Scafell Pike. Having hurt my quadricep tendon falling, it was touch and go whether I’d be back running at all. A proper effort was never on the cards. If you’d asked in July, I’d have told you I was frustrated with being in the orange wave as I was now running sub 90-min half marathons. Now I was more concerned that I’d start next too fast for my injured legs and fitness lacking lungs. The day before the run itself was the first day for a month I hadn’t limped. I took that as a good sign, slapped on some KT tape and headed for... View Article
September 9, 2019,
by Pete
There are many things that I find frustrating about the Great North Run. It’s expensive, over commercialised and mainly ran on dual carriageways. There are too many people and the t-shirts are cheap. But the moment I hear the gun, and the opening bars of Local Hero come from the speakers, all frustrations are forgotten. The run up to this years event has been a little different for me. I’d been having a golden spell in early summer. In eight days I ran personal bests for 5k, 10k and the Chevy Chase. Everything seemed to be falling into place right until the moment I took a tumble at the Turner Landscape. As my ankle turned over on itself, I saw my hopes of a quick summer disappear. It’s been a tough five weeks since. I spent two weeks flailing around attempting to swim before a gradual return to running. I squeezed into my start pen... View Article
