In the spotlight!

Make sure you get a copy of Tuesday's Evening Chronicle. Why? Because Jack and I are in it. They are doing a story which wraps this year's event up quite nicely. Jack was very excited with the prospect of having his photo taken. It'll be nice to see his reaction, when I bring home the newspaper for him.

I've also received the quarterly newsletter from the Hospice and there is a smashing article about the Big run. I've had so many articles now, over the years, I'll have to start a scrapbook! I reckon there are still one or two articles to be written in the future!

The long journey starts again.

It's been really difficult, just lately, to find the motivation to train at the same level I managed leading up to this year's big run. That's the standard I need to reach and sustain if I'm to have any chance of a successful run across the USA in 2011.

I've decided to wipe the slate clean and forget all about the 1700 miles I've already ran this year.

After 3 good weeks of running, I really feel like my appetite has been renewed. Thanks go to Jonathan Jobe, Pete Maddison and Carl Hudson for providing the motivation, encouragement and good company in and around the streets of Gosforth and Jesmond.

Another factor that has helped keep things interesting is running against my previous times with the help of my GPS watch. On today's run, I finished 1/4 mile ahead of my virtual self from last week. Yesterday, the margin wasn't so great, with a 200 feet victory over 8.4 miles. I'm going to use this method of training for the foreseeable future. Watch this space for details of my progress.

I've managed 25 miles a week for the last 3 weeks (Not to mention the gym sessions and Spinning classes). My next aim is to add a weekend run into this schedule and try and get this up to 40 miles a week on a consistent basis. This will be easier said than done what with family and football commitments.

The most pleasing thing at the moment is the fact that my average pace is between 08:30 - 09:00 minute miles for the benchmark 6 mile Town Moor run. Surely, a sub 50 minute time will be within my reach in 2008!

Really nice gifts from the Hospice.

I'd like to say thanks to the staff at St Benedict's Hospice for 3 lovely gifts in recognition of the hard work Katy, Jack and I put in over the Summer.

Firstly, I received a fantastic glass award etched with the following inscription:

Presented to

Mark Allison
for the outstanding achievement of running 874 miles
from John O'Groats to Lands End
July 7th - August 12th 2007
in aid of
St Benedict's Hospice

Next up was a hamper stuffed full of beauty products for Katy. I've got to admit she's used some of the products on me.

Finally, Jack received a unique glass award with the following inscription:

Presented to Jack Allison
for the Best Roadside Supporter
John O'Groats to Lands End
July 7th - August 12th 2007

Jack's glass award is very well made and has the Tyne Bridges on show. This will be something for him to treasure over the coming years. It will also act as a reminder to him about the time he followed his Dad on a charity run.

All of these prizes were unexpected and, of course, greatly appreciated. As I've wrote many times before on this blog, I never achieved anything at school with sports. The main reason I took up refereeing after I left school was to win trophies for cup finals and such like. I got 7 trophies in all for a short career in refereeing spanning 7 years. Admittedly, they weren't as good as, say, my mate Mark Huck's football trophies. You had to actually win something to get one of those.

The award from the Hospice, however, is probably the first "trophy" that I can actually put on the mantle piece and look at with utter pride. It makes up for all of those years of under achieving at school sports.