Ben Brant and the Great North Run
Whizz Kids and club coach Ben Brant recently completed the great North Run in aid of Rainbows, a facility used by his sister and former Whizz Kid Erin. here’s Ben’s account of the day
Just to update everyone that kindly supported me in my half marathon at the Great North Run, I thought I would give you an update on the day
Preparation for the run started the day before with the three and a bit hour drive up to a Premier Inn just outside of Middlesbrough, before a 6:30 wake up call on the morning of the run. Porridge and tea consumed and a bottle of electrolytes being sipped we headed to South Shields and hopped on the Metro into Newcastle. It was on this journey that the realisation of quite what I’d agreed to do a couple of months ago kicked in: 13.1 miles is a fair distance on foot.
The atmosphere before the run was like nothing I’d experienced before. As I made my way to the event hub on the town moor and queued to get in, the tingle of excitement and nerves began to build. Time was moving very quickly and with another coffee downed and the toilets visited it was time to say goodbye to chief support and transport officer (also known as Dad to me and Nigel to some of you) remarking that I’d see him in South Shields in about 2 and a half hours time. He also said something about taking the first couple of kilometres easy or something.
Heading down to the start I walked past the official start, getting to witness the BBC broadcast for the event as well as some runners that would be a couple of minutes quicker than me and probably didn’t spend half their Uni evenings in the pub – when not doing work, obviously.
Finally after a long wait it was time, and as I ran over the line the nerves very much made way for excitement. Sadly, the weather had also decided to have fun by chucking it down just before I crossed the start line. What was that thing Dad said? Take it steady, well, yeah, obviously. A few minutes later and my watch buzzed 1km down 20.1 to go. A quick bit of maths in the car earlier had told me that for my targeted time of around 2hrs I needed to be running km in about 6:00 what had I run this first one in? 5:20. This continued for the next couple of kms. In my defence it was downhill. However that quickly changed as the course ramped up and down for the next few kms, well basically, till the finish after we all left the City centre via the Tyne Bridge – which was chucking water off itself down onto the runners below. One of the things that was so special about this run was the fact there were people out to support on every single stretch of road. This really helped keep me going through to about km 16 /17. Then I started to pay for my efforts earlier on. The legs felt heavy and every step felt harder and harder. At this point the welfare van to the finish looked very appealing. However, in the back of my head was “Don’t walk” and I made sure not to, and finally the sea came into view; well it didn’t, because of the mist but it was there in front of me. I headed down the hill and saw the final mile sign: it stopped raining at this point! I remember overhearing a conversation before I started about not kicking to early, well that wouldn’t be a problem as there was very little left in the tank to use for a kick. 800m to go, still not enough to push. 400 to go, still no. Then, when I thought I’m going to make this, my problems got worse. When I struck the ground, cramp went straight through my calf stopping it from moving, meaning I had to limp. My calf decided it wanted to have some fun now, as it would ease before deciding to come back even more painful. Finally the red arch of the finish was in view and I limped across it. I’d done it. Medal around my neck, goodie bag handed to me and went for a sit down in the Rainbows charity tent with Cadburys Hero’s chocolates and a cup of tea, desperately trying to avoid the quite likely hypothermia.
Looking back, now that I can actually walk down stairs again, It was a superb experience. I wouldn’t say I loved every second because I definitely didn’t, but I certainly loved the majority of it. Would I do it again, probably (my answer was not this immediately after), not straight away but definitely if I get the opportunity.
I and the rest of my family would like to say a massive thank you to everybody from WVCC that has supported and donated. I had set out to raise the target amount of £350 and we smashed that and then some, so a massive, massive thank you to you all. I believe the page will stay open for a little while so if anybody would like to donate the link is:
Thank You
Ben
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