Great North Run Solo

I’ve officially finished the Great North Run Solo! I posted about progress a few weeks ago.

TL;DR in previous post:

• signed up for 40 runs in 73 days (stipulation of the 40th anniversary of the race)
• signed up to go for the ‘silver’ medal and do a total of 200 miles over those 40 runs.

Did I do it?

Yes.

It’s done. All 40 runs, in 73 days and over 200 miles. COVID can’t stop me.

Show me the evidence

I ran varying distances for the 40 runs but it came out at a total of 200.12 miles. Silver medal achieved.

That amounted to a fair amount of time hitting the (mostly) pavement. Accounting for over 29.43 hours total. Here is a chart on times logged.

What else?

Facts and figures…

• average distance of a run was 5.003 miles
• average pace per mile was 9.22 mins per mile. Not exactly super fast but cut me some slack… i’m running in central London here
• longest individual run was 8.78 miles, shortest was the last at 0.52
• obvs, i look fantastic and lithe after all of this (or i am telling myself this)

The Finale

To celebrate the last run I had managed to organise my first trip back to the North East in 2020 (all legit and socially distanced of course). The aim was to finish with family over the final last mile and celebrate the occasion. Well the sun shone, the run happened and pics were taken as the 200 mile marker passed at the Angel of the North.

Note: some recent-ish news attempted to tarnish this memory but you know… don’t be bitter, be better. I’ll keep my integrity, enjoy the achievement and do even better next time.

What next?

For my next challenge I did consider doing an ultra marathon in the arctic or running a marathon in Hawaii (these are real things). With COVID these are a bit more tricky then usual :D

So I’ve signed up for the Halloween challenge - October accumulator challenge. Another running challenge… why not…

What does this mean?

New challenge;

• 15 or more runs in October
• complete by Halloween
• 40 miles minimum up to top level of 125 miles

Currently done 6 runs in 11 days. Bring it on… well until that arctic ultra marathon that is…