New Year, same race, same old excuses

Have trained, have lost pace and distance, have managed to strain/damage hamstring and am suffering just as I was trying to build up some return to form. It seems harder this year somehow but am determined to knock off those three minutes and go sub 2 hours so will press on regardless. After the niggling ITBS problems after GNR08 and then various illnesses and other miscellaneous reasons for not getting regular training in have now found that I am struggling for breath after a few km which is also a bit of a worry but I am jiggered if I am going to miss this year after the fun had last time round.

Hell, I even have a direct flight back from Newcastle on the Monday....at least until the airline pulls a fast one of course and sends it via Reykjavik or somewhere equally poverty stricken!

Gooday Troops

Hi from the not so large runner,

As i cannot make GNR this year as i have an off island thing planned already, plus they changed the dates, i have vowed to fight the Team Atko thing locally. so far i have listed to do most if not all of the 1/2 marathons with the aim of completeing the marathon at end of year (Yea Right)!!

Anyone wishing to see me in action should go to st. Peters Pub........sorry thats after.

Rab xx

Right then...

Before we knew it the race was upon us, then the money poured in and we ended up writing a big old cheque to the RNLI St Helier Lifeboat appeal for £17,000!

What an incredible amount of support people gave us! Thank you thank you thank you!

I don't know yet what our target will be this year, or indeed which charity/s we will raise money for - but needless to say I don't think we can better £17,000!

At the moment, eight members of Team Atko will be on the start line at the end of September, for the 2009 Bupa Great North Run. It is great to see the team carrying on what we started last year. This is all a bit of an extreme way of me getting my mates to visit -and it seems to be working!

I took a bit of time out from my brutal training regime - about 6 months actually and I am back to being a little larger than before, but still able to run a few K's without too much trouble.

Ian's birthday is on 12th of April so I hope to be ready for a 5k then and build slowly from there.

I was pleased with my time last year of 2 hours 38 all things considered, but I wont have cracked the Great North Run until I do it in under 2 hours!

So as of tomorrow - the training starts...

Anyone here??

Hello??? anyone here??

oh just you and me then, right, don't say anything, but i've started training properly!!

did three miles tonight. only twenty five weeks to go before i have to do thirteen!

it's going surpringlsy well!!

might be different after friday night's run....

Now where did I leave my saddle?

Finally, and with due thanks to Mr Westcott Snr, I am able to tentatively start training again although for the time being I am restricted to short forays to see how the ITBs hold up. Have managed two 2km jogs with no problems thus far so fingers crossed for proper race pace and training distances in due course (despite those crafty geordies bringing the date forward to September).

Bizarrely, I have really missed running and am looking forward to the next competitive sojourn whether it be the Jersey North, the Great North or anything else that might pop up. I would never have thought I would feel so attached to such a ridiculous sport...!

The show must go on

Hello Large runner here.

Just thought i would let you all know that i am now training for next year anyone who wishes to come and join the fun give me a call. This morning i was up at 05:55 and running at 06:30. Start was Pisces gym to town and back a nice little 12ish miles.

Love

Uncle Rab

Banane Supreme

Hello Folks

I feel a little bit vacant not having anything to train for, which is a bit weird, and very out of character! I think I might have to enter a race to have something to do - there's a popular race round the streets of Geneva's Old Town in December that I think I am going to do, as a first step on my way to that sub-two hour half marathon next year.

I have also been so busy post GNR, I have not had a chance to scribble down what I made of it all. Here goes.

Firstly, Team Atko did good. We had great support from friends/family/Geordies cheering us on, great attitudes from the competitors, and a real feeling of being part of something bigger. The whole event was slightly surreal - we'd been talking about it for so long, training hard, and then all of a sudden you are running under a motorway flyover in the middle of the Toon with 55,000 like minded nutters. I failed to achieve one particular personal objective when I was overtaken by someone in such a complicated costume, I couldn't even work out what it was. I was later informed it was Mr Happy out of the Mr Men. The bloke inside it was, I am sure, far from happy. I got one back later on though, by overtaking the bloke running with Fred Flintstone's car on his head.

An amusing moment came on the never ending run in to the finish, when we were running with a bloke in a Scooby Doo costume. A voice of encouragement came out of the crowd "Gan on Snoopy, not far now....". I think that spectator didn't watch the same cartoons as the rest of us.

Mr Huelin was lucky to get some motivational music on the "Speaker Avenue" part of the course, when he had a bit of Eminem. Sam, Christina and I got the theme music from the Gladiators tv show, which gave us all a laugh, and made us forget we still had 4 miles to go. For about thirty seconds anyway. The problem is, it's been two weeks now and the song is still stuck in my head. I may need some sort of neurosurgery to get rid of it.

Thanks so much to all of you in Team Atko - you all participated and supported each other in a way which would have made Ian proud. I look forward to the next event.

What a Bloody miracle

AWAY Ya Nar,

To all in land of Geordie, thank-you for a fantastic weekend, and for the rest of you the FAT bloke did it!!!!!! 2hrs 29 and ran all of it!!

As Tom mentions we set of together and the pace was good, Thanks tom for setting me up at a good speed to Nail the GNR, i said to Tom i have to stop for a pee at which point he shook my hand and said "see you at the finish", it was like something out of Top Gun! Anyway after pee etc finished i overtook the likely lad and went for it, the worst part for me was missing the pub with free bevvy.

I am not going to thank everyone like my bed companion, (loved it)!! but i will say this.......

I felt part of something really special that weekend and the achievement from all was just overwhelming for me, i would not have done it had it not been for my team mates, and a bit of training, and of course remembering why i was there to haul my ass round the course.

Until next year then TEAM the beers cold the curries hot.....GO BIG OR GO HOME!!!!

Uncle Rab XXXXXX

Now The Dust Has Settled

It's now just about a week on and I can finally say that I'm back in one piece, physically at least!

What a weekend that was. So many memories, that i am still recalling them even now and will probably keep doing so at various times in the future.

Firstly, well done everyone, accross the line and all finished, what an effort. Though none of us should be surprised at that. There was absolutely, NO WAY of any of us not finishing. Crawling, limping, stretchered we would have crossed that line and I can say that because at some point we all felt it, be it a hard incline, tirdeness, muscle's shutting down, legs falling to bits, whatever, there was a low point. And at that low point I personally felt humble, I felt grateful for the pain, grateful that the bloody 11 mile mark would not - no matter how long I ran - appear, because I was there to feel it. It's been a bloody long year in many respects with Ian's tragic loss, Ollie spending 4 weeks in I.C. and many other personal hardships and that made crossing the line even more important.

So I shouldn't have been surprised that I was shattered, both physically and mentally. As I slowly came to and turned towards the t shirt's all that went BANG and I wept from there to picking up my goody bag, and it felt great.

Anyhooo, a few things to finish. Running accross the Tyne (Green!) Bridge with Dan, Cabosh making it to South Shields in time for the Red Arrows, Alice, Sam and Chris toughing it out together, Maggie's infectious warmth and enthusiasm, Russell's body not breaking, The Greek running powered by Peroni, Tom being hiself and Donna's unbelievable, unbreakable spirit will stay with me forever and teach me how to be a better person.

Mr Huelin, there will now be 10 runners next year, count me in and drinking water already!

P.S. A quick thanks to the folk in Russ' flat who remorselessly took the p out of me on Sunday night, 'cause if it hadn't been me sat there with no bottom to my world.....

Thank you

I know it is a bit twee but I really want to thank Tim H for all of his organisational work in getting us ready for the race and collecting the money this year; Donna for successfully herding us cats; Maggie and Roger for, amongst other things, the porridge; Sam for ensuring that yet again I got to share a bed with Cabot (always a pleasure never a chore!) and Michael particularly for getting me to the flight with my mobile.

Also big thanks to Dan for proving that vaseline is used by runners for a reason; Tim M for providing living proof of the need for appropriate hydration; Rach for 'leaning on' the restaurant manager; everyone else for making me enjoy the whole bloody experience; Paul the hovercraft pilot for showing me where the Yacht Club was and Lisa Rutter and everyone at the RNLI for cleaning, feeding, kneading and shipping us off!

Fawning over, go back to your work.

Job done

I got round in 2 hours 38 minutes!!

I always hoped and trained for under two hours, but through various bits of bad luck including being off work sick until the day before the race - sub 2 hours was never going to happen.

I set off with Rab and I trailed him for about 6 miles or so, then I lost him. He put in a cracking time!

2 miles in my blister started to do it's thing, but I decided to ignore completely until after the race.

At 7 miles a kind lady and her family who were standing outside their house watching us all plod past, gave me a couple of slices of orange which was a welcomed distraction from water.

I remember at 10 miles there was a line of speakers down the road as we ran past, playing music. Eminem, 8 mile was on and I really picked up the pace. I thought I was going to crack the course without walking. Then the speakers ran out, I slowed down and just before 11 miles I was absolutely done in. I was running, but not travelling forward very fast, and I got overtaken by an army bloke walking with a rucksack. That suggested to me that I should probably walk. When I stopped walking I almost fell over, I felt cold and had pins and needles in my arms.

Another spectator emerged from the crowd and shook my hand and gave words of encouragement - so I am guessing I looked pretty much how I felt!

Just after a little girl was handing out fun sized mars bars which was exactly what I needed at the time, followed by a small cup of juice!

I carried on walking for about 3/4 of a mile, listening to my ipod until the last water station, where I had a quick drink. Then I saw the sea over the crest of the hill, saw the red arrows start their display and felt it was time to get this thing finished! I started running again, past the 12 mile board, down the hill and turned left aong the sea front. The next thing I saw was the 800 metre to go board, then the finish line and it was all done. That last mile and a bit, for me, went the quickest of the whole race. I sprinted over the finish line, and the relief that it was all done and why we had done it was overwhelming.

What a day! The crowds are what got me round - especially my friend with the mars bar. Their support was incredible!

I can't say that the race was fun, I'm not sure even if I enjoyed it at the time (I probably did), but the sense of achievement crossing the line with the job done, given all of my set backs and the fact that I hadn't run for two weeks, I still find mind blowing. I ran 11 miles non-stop!

My legs were a bit on the weary side for a few days, but today I am good and back to normal.

I will be there next year, and this time I will do it in under 2 hours, and it looks like 9 members of team atko will be here too.

Running rocks!

Achy breaky parts....

Well that was a bit of fun wasn't it. Thank you Geordieland, you were a cracking host. I am honestly stunned by the level of support from the communities we ran through and from everyone 'oooop North' and by the marvellously generous efforts of the RNLI in looking after us post torment.

I have spent ages playing around with the Nike+ thing on the results website comparing runs with the others and the best runners in the whole thing etc and am really chuffed for the whole team because we did it, every last man jack of us, proving how far we can push ourselves when we are working for something, or in this case someone, that really means a lot to us. I am fairly certain that none of us went home but we all went big!

p.s. If my feeble pins do recover I can feel a repeat performance coming on 'cause now I am determined to lose those pesky three minutes and go sub 2 hours.