September 2011. My first half marathon, having succeeded at the second or third attempt to enter via the hugely over-subscribed ballot. I’d done my training, I had woken at 6 to shovel down a large quantity of pasta to see me through the day. But a new run at a new distance always contains an element of the unknown. Will I run out of energy before the end? Will I start off too quickly and blow up? How far back from the front should I be starting?
I have two abiding memories of the run that year: the sheer crowds of people lining the 13 mile course; kids wanting to high-five the runners; people with garden hoses spraying the participants; others offering orange segments, sweets, even beer. The other memory is of the two mile incline between miles 10 and 12, my legs starting to feel the strain and, unexpectedly, my arms and shoulders feeling tired and heavy. I noticed several marshals patrolling this section on bikes looking out for people struggling.
I finished in a very respectable 01:32:51, giving an obvious sub-90 minute target for the future
And I have continued to run in this event every year since, Covid regulations permitting.
I thought that 2016 might be the year that I hung up my running shoes. I had been suffering from knee pain for many months and had stopped running. Didsbury village physio managed to sort me out, and I did compete that year feeling very happy to be able to get to the start line and to finish.
The following year, 2017, saw my best ever time, 01:25:18, and second in my age group. That seven minute improvement on my first event felt a huge achievement – every second representing effort and commitment.
But age eventually takes its toll on all of us. Subsequent years were slower, and 2022 saw the return of knee problems that physio seemed unable to shift. My strategy that year was to take the run very slowly, in the hope of finishing at all. It was my daughter Philippa’s first Great North Run, and she was the ideal pacer for me – I find it very difficult to slow down my natural pace. My time that year? 01:57:04. My younger self would have been hugely disappointed, especially as I might have imagined a gradual slow-down rather than this precipitous drop. Now that I’m older and wiser I see that aging is going to be a gradual decline interspersed with more rapid periods of decline.
And so to 2023. The knee that was giving me problems last year seems OK, but only because my right knee starts to complain before my left knee has reached its limit. I have not run at all for the past three weeks, just some walking and some cycling. This means that my knees feel OK, or sort of OK, but I’ve absolutely no idea how they will react to a 13 mile run. As per last year I will take this very slowly, but realise I might end up walking or have to drop out altogether. Hence my feeling that this might be the end of an era.
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