Great North Run 2014 - Everyone Raring to Go!

Thanks so much to those who sent their good wishes for my Great North Run, after I uploaded yesterday's blip.

I'm pleased to say that it went well today and was very enjoyable (I think!). As I get older it gets harder to run fast but I completed the 13.1 miles in 2 hours 15 mins without ever stopping to walk. (Not a patch on my Personal Best of 1 hour 34 mins, but that was about 12 years ago so I was somewhat younger! - and it was very hot today).

Needless to say I did not take my SLR with me, so my photos were taken on my phone. I chose this one to blip as it shows a section of the huge crowd of runners (57,000 apparently) raring to go! I've put some more shots on Flickr here if you want to take a quick look.

I gather that the Millionth Great North Runner crossed the finish line this afternoon (some time after I did) - they reckon this is the first mass participation sporting event in the world to reach that milestone. As I've now done 29 myself I suppose I have contributed to that!

The Run raises huge amounts for charity. I was running for "CHUF", the Children's Heart Unit Fund in Newcastle, as they saved the life of our 2nd son 28 years ago when he was born with a congenital heart defect. I'm wary of using Blipfoto in this way, but it's such a good cause if anyone is able to contribute a little bit the website is here. But I do realise that there are so many sponsored events these days that one can't support them all.

Click here to view the photo large.