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.