Great Manchester Run!

Awesome

All I can say that the Great Manchester Run was an awesome experience. Manchester is an excellent city full of great buildings and architecture. But Sunday May 21st Manchester showed that it is also full of great people.



It was raining race day. Gareth, Andy Timmins and I were wet and cold while waiting to run. We were in the pink wave which was the last wave to go at 11.15AM. In the mass huddle we noticed many people in fancy dress or crazy costumes. Once we got moving there was a huge cheer! However as we began running to the sounds of Nessun Dorma sang by an opera singer who was there especially it was just actually the 11AM wave leaving and our wave were just us moving up.DOH! Now!I really wanted to run now! At around 11.20AM we finally got running! At first Timmins, Gareth and I were running together but we soon split up I looked behind to see Gareth behind me and slowed down and asked him if he was alright he just told me to go ahead. So I proceeded to try and catch Timmins which was impossible as I couldn’t spot him in the sea of running vests and t-shirts.

I expected myself to stop and walk after the first 10 minutes but I carried on and only stopped to check my race chip was still strapped to my ankle. We were all giving these special chips that timed your run. The inspiration of the run was the thousands of runners running with me.

And so I ran....

The t-shirts that the other runners were wearing were all uplifting and kept me going. Several times I smiled because I felt lifted and inspired by the dedications on some T-Shirts dedicating to members of their family, some even had photo dedications printed on their t-shirts. I was running among like minded people doing it for a good cause, not for just one good cause but multiple charities. From every walk of life I saw people do their bit for their charity. Gareth, Timmins and I were running for the Marie Curie Cancer Care .

I always wanted to this too, drink a bottle of water that was handed out to me and chuck it on the pavement as I ran. Not like I would do that everyday (I always chuck my rubbish in the bin) but I always thought it was cool that runners always did it. Yup I chucked my bottle of water as I ran trying to catch my breath at the same time.

Once I hit about 8km I phoned (yes I kept my phone in my pocket!!!) Lun to see where he was he told me himself, Mum and Sister in Law were waiting for me under the bridge near the finish line. That was about a km and a half as I got there I slowed down to look for them but could not see them. Suddenly I saw the finish line so I just sprinted towards it doing a pretty decent impression of Road Runner (as in going really fast but not adding the “beep!beep!”). Unfortunately as I was told later, it was at this time, when my family were calling my name but I didn’t hear them!

We took some photos later after the race. I was a combination of sweat and rain as was Timmins and Gareth who both did tremendously well in the run. Timmins got 49 minutes! Gareth got 1hour 9minutes(which was awesome considering he only recently quit smoking) and I got 1 hour 2 minutes which I was pleasantly surprised at because I didn’t expect I would get back that quickly( I aimed for 1 hour 20/30 minutes!).

However Sunday 21st May it was the spirit of Manchester that stole the show. I feel great for everyone collectively who participated even though I didn’t know anyone else outside our group apart from one, our friend from University called Tricia Campbell who also ran but I didn’t see her (well done to you too!). Big thanks to my Mum(pictures with a very out of breath me), Lun and Susan for being there! Also big thanks to Dad came out for a meal later and big thanks to Elaine who gave me a good luck card the day before the event. (It worked:))
Check out Lun's blog for more photos and a different report.

I would like to thank everyone that donated online and offline.

Am I doing it again next year? DAMN RIGHT I AM!

Enjoy the great Manchester run photos(ok it was after the run but check out my brother's blog for the action photo's!)

Thank you Manchester
Awesome
Kit