The One About The Bupa Great North Run...

So today is the day that M and his friend K have been working towards.  All those Monday night runs, which obviously have really helped as M knocked quite a few minutes off from last years time.  And I am so proud of him.  We got a few pictures of the boys before they walked down to race starting area:

We made it a trip out, with my Mum and M's dad, and K's other half N.  We got there in time for the warm up, so left the boys to it, and went and found a spot just further on from the start to wave them off.  We managed to see them and got some pictures, although M's dad got some much better photos with his lens, I'll try to remember to post them when I get copies, so for now mine will have to do! :

Then we wandered down part of the course, watched the big screen for a bit.  There was so many people everywhere, and so many people doing the run.  Just M's wave alone, he was the white wave starting at just before 11am, had hundreds of people in it, and there were four other waves that ran today!  We spotted a couple of famous faces, the actor from Taggart, the man that always gets into trouble in the drama, it was rumoured that Bob Hope from Emmerdale had been spotted, and Jonathan Edwards (the triple jumper) was up on the commentating podium.  There were other famous people taking part too, but we didn't see them.  We had to fight through the crowds to find a spot near the finishing line, and I'm a little bit claustrophobic so it wasn't great for me.  But we found a spot, just behind one line of people, so we could see through the gaps between their heads (if that makes sense?), anyway, there were these podium type things behind us, and I was keeping a watchful eye on them (well I knew I wasn't going to spot the boys from where I was, I'm only little, 5'4"!) and someone got down and I was there an instant later, only when I tried to get up I thought it was lower than it was, so I kind of tripped/stumbled up it (so embarrased), my legs just wouldn't work after the yoga workout I did yesterday!  (Me thinks I need to stretch more often!) oh and I scraped my leg and its been sore ever since :( but it was so worth it because first I spotted K, and shouted and waved madly (and got a funny look in response - but apparently he was just focusing his eyes), then a couple of minutes later there was M, and just like last year he s=didn't hear me or see me, he was on the other side of the road and he had his headphones in, so what hope was there really???  Anyway, they checked their times when they got back and M did his in 52, which is four minutes less than last year.  So so proud.

After the race with their medals

Sometimes I wish I could do a long run like this, but with my back the pounding on the floor just aggravates it.  M keeps telling me that I need to change my shoes, but who knows.  I'll be happy doing my Race for Life with Mum as a walk in July.  But maybe I'll do a run someday.

So did anyone else do the run today?  Or do you know of anyone that did it?