£18,000 milestone passed!

Yesterday, I revealed on Twitter that the Run Geordie Run t-shirts were running short on supply. I also revealed that the charity fund for St Benedict's Hospice and The Children's Foundation was close to £18,000.

This news prompted a few people into action and I'm pleased to say that with a flurry of t-shirt sales the charity fund burst through the £18,000 barrier and currently stands at £18,080. 

I spend a lot of time doing this but once again I'd like to give a huge thank you to all of those people who have made a donation to the 2 charities. Your support is greatly appreciated by me and more importantly by the 2 charities.

As I said before, Run Geordie Run t-shirts are now in short supply and there are only small and medium sizes left in white and large left in blue. I think they'll all be gone in a couple of weeks. If you're thinking about buying one then I'd get a move on. They can be ordered here.

Final few t-shirts left

Over 600 Run Geordie Run t-shirts have now been sold, yielding a massive £7,000 for St Benedict's Hospice and The Children's Foundation. The t-shirts are now seen regularly in races up and down the country with a good few spotted at last week's Great North Run.

Old Toon nemesis and Sky Sports pundit Matt le Tissier (pictured) nabbed one last week along with fellow pundits Champagne Charlie Nicholas and Paul Merson.

Run Geordie Run t-shirts are screen printed both front and back for durability and are only £10 (plus postage) with the FULL AMOUNT going to charity (via justgiving.com). To order yours before they run out please click here.

No more physio

I had a physio appointment last Friday with Kevin Bell at The Osborne Clinic. I'd almost followed his instruction to the letter for 8 weeks. I say almost as The Great North Run wasn't part of his rehabilitation plans! Swimming, mini-trampoline, cycling in the gym, various stretches and some light running have been his plan though.

I didn't have to break news of the Great North Run to Kevin as, thanks to an article on nufc.com, he already knew about it! He greeted me in the waiting room with "Come through Mark......and bring your medal!". Doh!

At the end of this particular session we agreed that there was no more physio required and that it was now up to me to increase the mileage slowly but surely. Kevin has to take a lot of credit for getting me back to running so soon. His guidance and advice have been first class and without him I really wouldn't have been back running so soon.

If you're in need of the services of a physio then I would recommend Kevin Bell at The Osborne Clinic. Thanks for your help Kevin.

Jason Isaacs at The Run Geordie Run Ball

When the Run Geordie Run Ball committee met last week we only had one choice for entertainment; the brilliant swinging showman that is Jason Isaacs.

Crooner Jason may be a local lad but he is now known right  across the nation thanks to his victory in The People's Crooner Competition on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. He's been singing professionally for over 15 years and has wowed audiences wherever he has played. 

To say that I'm excited about Jason, backed by the Greg Francis Orchestra, singing at the Run Geordie Run ball is an understatement.

If you're interested in attending the Run Geordie Run USA 2011 Ball then please click here to reserve your tickets. They are sold on a first come first served basis so don't delay in expressing your interest.

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 99

The Run Geordie Run Training Summary is brought to you in association with Northern Runner, 52 Low Friar Street (Just down from the Gate), Newcastle.

Why not visit the Northern Runner shop and let the experts examine your feet to recommend the best shoe for you. Alternatively, click on the link to the left to go straight to their website.

Monday 20th September - 6 mile run, Town Moor. (01:11:12).
Wednesday 22nd September 2010 - 5 mile run, Race Course. (00:54:29).
Wednesday 22nd September 2010 - Personal Training Session. (01:00:00).
Thursday 22rd September 2010 - 5 mile run, Race Course. (00:54:26).

Team Run Geordie Run's Mick Butler

It's time to continue the series of articles showcasing those members of TEAM RUN GEORDIE RUN who took part in the 2010 BUPA Great North Run.

Last time out it was, George Caulkin. Next up is a guy who trains with David Fairlamb Fitness and is a regular attendee of the Beach Bootcamp sessions in Tynemouth. Ladies and gents it gives me great pleasure to introduce the one and only Mick Butler.

Mick, an area sales manager, was only too pleased to raise money for the two charities and be part of Team Run Geordie Run. His original motivation was to "keep me off the Stella and focused on training"!

Mick completed last year's Great North Run in 01:58:00. He did even better this year finishing in a personal best time of 01:54:05. That's what running in a Run Geordie Run t-shirt does for you!

As well as finishing in a very respectable time, Mick has raised in the region of £400 for St Benedict's Hospice (Charity No 1019410) and The Children's Foundation (Charity No 1000013). Once he's collected all the sponsorship in, I'll post an update to this blog.

A massive thank you is due to Mick for his fundraising efforts and I reckon he'll be back in 12 month's time to have a crack at beating 01:50:00. See you there Mick.

Where has the t-shirt been this week?

nufc.com reader David Cardwell recently bought 5 Run Geordie Run t-shirts for use during an up and coming expedition to Everest in November. Here he is pictured wearing one of them while altitude training on some of Colorado's 14,000 ft mountains. First up is Mount Grays at 14,270 ft!

The next stunning picture is of Mount Torrey at 14,267ft. David said "You will be running by these Mark and they can be seen from I-70". I don't have the same head for heights as David and thankfully my summit in Colorado is Berthoud Pass at 11,300ft.

Once David and the 4 other team members have finished with the t-shirts on Everest, the plan is to give them to the Sherpas. Amazing or what! Watch this space over the coming months for more photos from David and the team. In the meantime, thanks to David and his obviously very fit dog, for taking time out to take such stunning pictures with the Run Geordie Run t-shirt.

There are only 40 or so t-shirts left. So if you're thinking about buying one then I'd move fast. Run Geordie Run t-shirts are screen printed both front and back for durability and thanks to nufc.com for paying for the latest batch (Peter McCowie paid for previous batches) the full £10 goes to charity. Run Geordie Run t-shirts can be ordered here.

£17,000 landmark passed

In all of the excitement of last Sunday's Great North Run, I almost forgot to mention that George Caulkin's fundraising efforts pushed the charity total over the £17,000 barrier!

George's £1,000 now puts the total amount raised for St Benedict's Hospice and The Children's Foundation up to (drum roll please) an amazing £17,638.

Once the sponsor money from the other members of Team Run Geordie Run is collected then the total amount raised should just about sneak over £18,000.

Helping to continually move the total on nicely, of course, are the sale of Run Geordie Run t-shirts. Hardly a day goes buy that I get sent a photo of someone wearing one or news of one spotted out running reaches me. There are only 40 or so left. So if you're thinking about buying one then I'd move fast.

Run Geordie Run t-shirts are screen printed both front and back for durability and thanks to nufc.com for paying for the latest batch (Peter McCowie paid for previous batches) the full £10 goes to charity. Run Geordie Run t-shirts can be ordered here.

George does his bit (and then some) for the cause!

This is the first in a series of articles showcasing those members of TEAM RUN GEORDIE RUN who took part in the 2010 BUPA Great North Run.

First up is a guy who knows the North East football scene inside out and is a regular in the stands at both St James Park and The Stadium of Light.

Ladies and gents, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the highly respected North East sports writer for The Times; the one and only George Caulkin.

George, not only completed the Great North last Sunday in a time of 02:00:38, but also raised a whopping £1000 to boot for The Children's Foundation and St Benedict's Hospice.

Playing a massive part in Team Run Geordie Run's fundraising success last Sunday, George was "Proud and emotional to be a member of the team.". Well I'm sure the two charities are just as proud as you are George of your superb effort. I know that they will be in touch shortly to thank you personally.

George, who I've found to be a thoroughly bloody nice bloke actually, can be found on Twitter (@CaulkinTheTimes) and is well worth following.

Dear readers of this blog, please do me a favour, next time you see George in a local hostelry, please do buy him a pint, shake his hand and congratulate him on a quite stunning fundraising effort.

Thanks for your efforts and kind support of the 2 charities George. I'm very proud to have you along as part of TEAM RUN GEORDIE RUN.

Team Run Geordie Run do well at the Great North Run

Run Geordie Run took on a whole new form at the 30th Great North Run last Sunday. For once, it wasn't just me running under the brand. For starters, there were at least 15 folk that I know of wearing Run Geordie Run t-shirts along the route. Hopefully, this has helped to spread the word about the run across the USA even further.

On top of that, there were 4 runners, taking part and raising funds for St Benedict's Hospice and The Children's Foundation. Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to introduce TEAM RUN GEORDIE RUN. 

The team comprised George Caulkin (highly respected sports journalist for The Times), John Loughlin (an old university mate of mine), Mick Butler (a fellow attendee of David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp) and myself, of course. Although, I didn't expect to be part of the team until I decided to take part in the Great North Run 2 weeks ago.

It looks like we have raised around about £1,600 for the 2 charities made up of £1000 from George, £122 from John, £400 from Mick and £80 from me.

I've got to take this opportunity to thank George, John and Mick for completing the 30th Bupa Great North Run in aid of the 2 charities. Your support is very much appreciated lads. Not only by the charities, but by me also. 

The next Team Run Geordie Run event is a self supported 105 mile run in 3 days from Edinburgh Castle to Newcastle Keep. This starts on Friday 19th November with Ian Young, Carlton Fletcher and myself making the long, cold, dark and dangerous journey from Scotland, over the Borders into Northumberland and on to Newcastle. We hope to be joined by Ivan Hollingsworth for the final 2 days.  It's going to be a very tough event, but one which I personally need to complete in order to further boost my confidence for USA 2011.  8 weeks to go until TEAM RUN GEORDIE RUN run again!

I wouldn't have put money on that, 2 months ago.

Who'd have thought that, 4 months after I broke my ankle, I'd complete The Bupa Great North Run. All through the Summer, I anticipated that I'd be able to do light running by the end of October.

I had planned to get around the course from Newcastle to South Shields in 02:40:00. In fact, I thought it would be 03:00:00 until I ran the 10.5 mile Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge in under 2 hours last weekend.

Not realising I was running so "fast", I did the first 2 miles in 00:18:38. That pace was no good for me at this stage of my recovery so I took my foot off the gas after that. A slower pace would have happened anyway with only 2 weeks of training under my belt. Slowing down early on made the whole experience, arguably, one of the most enjoyable of them all. 

By my calculations this was my 9th Great North Run and my first since I ran it with a hangover in 2001! A lot of differences were apparent in that time. Firstly, the start seems a lot more organised and, despite the number of participants, it's not too crowded. Secondly, the support all along the route, appears to have grown. Thanks mainly to the excellent BBC coverage I would imagine.

I saw a lot of familiar faces along the course and a few people asked me about next year's run across the USA (having read the details on my t-shirt). Add on top of that the amazing support I received via Twitter and Facebook and it made for a really great day.

All in all it was a very enjoyable experience and one which I'm looking forward to repeating next year when I'll be in the shape of my life having just run 3100 miles across the USA. Oh, and the fact that I got round in 02:22:48 got me quietly smiling inside. I've got until Friday, to think about how I break that news to the physio!

My Garmin stats for the Bupa Great North Run are here.

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 98

The Run Geordie Run Training Summary is brought to you in association with Northern Runner, 52 Low Friar Street (Just down from the Gate), Newcastle.

Why not visit the Northern Runner shop and let the experts examine your feet to recommend the best shoe for you. Alternatively, click on the link to the left to go straight to their website.

Wednesday 15th September 2010 - Personal Training Session. (01:00:00).
Saturday 18th September 2010 - 2.1 mile run, Tynemouth. (00:22:34).
Saturday 18th September - David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp. (00:45:00).
Sunday 19th September - 13.3 mile run, The Great North Run. (02:22:48).

Right! Where was I before I was rudely interrupted?

I made my long awaited return to running outdoors last week. I'd had a few sessions on the treadmill during the week and I decided the time was right to take things outside.

The first run I did was a 4 mile effort in Tynemouth. I did David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp straight after that. I found the bootcamp very difficult indeed with limited flexibility in my right ankle making for awkward movement on the uneven sand.

Fast forward 7 days to last Saturday and with more flexibility, Beach Bootcamp was much easier. What a difference a week makes!

In between those 2 Beach Bootcamps were a number of 4 and 5 mile runs. An easy steady pace was the order of the day and I'm glad to report that all runs passed by incident free.

The crowning glory of the week, however, was the 10.5 mile Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge on Sunday. I had originally planned to walk some of this route but in the end I didn't need to. I reached the finish line at the Millennium Bridge in very fine shape indeed. I wrote the following on Twitter at the time: "Less than 4 months since I broke my ankle and I found that 10.5 miles in 01:59:36 very easy indeed. This comeback is gathering pace.".

That just about sums it up and had somebody told me back in May, when I broke my ankle, that I would run 29.6 miles in the 2nd week of September I would have laughed at them. I'm really surprised that my running fitness seems to be coming back very quickly. It had taken 70 weeks of training to be able to comfortably run 19 miles per day for 7 consecutive days, before I broke my ankle. I think I'll be back to doing that in another 8 weeks. 

I'm still remaining cautious though and I'm prepared to reign things in at the slightest sign of pain in the Paddy Power Bionic Ankle.

If the physio reads any of this, he'll go mental! Especially the bit where I tell you that I'm doing the Great North Run this weekend. I was offered a place 2 weeks ago and simply couldn't turn it down. I thought at the time, that I'd try to get round in 3 hours. I think a more sensible estimate is probably 2 hours 40 minutes. Any quicker than that would be foolish at this stage of my recovery.

So it looks like I'll be on for The Great North Run, a personal training session and Beach Bootcamp this week. I'll say it again; "This comeback is gathering pace!".

Run Geordie Run on Total Sport

I was recently interviewed on BBC Newcastle's Total Sport programme by Simon Pryde, John Anderson and Marco Gabbiadini. You can here the full audio here.

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 97

The Run Geordie Run Training Summary is brought to you in association with Northern Runner, 52 Low Friar Street (Just down from the Gate), Newcastle.

Why not visit the Northern Runner shop and let the experts examine your feet to recommend the best shoe for you. Alternatively, click on the link to the left to go straight to their website.

Monday 6th September 2010 - 5 mile run, Race Course. (00:52:42).
Tuesday 7th September 2010 - Personal Training Session. (01:00:00).
Wednesday 8th September 2010 - 5 mile run, Race Course. (00:53:20).
Thursday 9th September 2010 - 5 mile run, Race Course. (00:54:06).
Saturday 11th September 2010 - 4.1 mile run, Tynemouth. (00:41:58).
Saturday 11th September - David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp. (00:45:00).
Sunday 12th September - 10.5 mile run, Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge. (01:59:36).

Another milestone!

"Another milestone" is getting to be an oh so familiar headline these days and a one that I take great pleasure in writing. Once again, another £1000 milestone has been passed. This time it is the £16,000 milestone.

Along with some Run Geordie Run t-shirt sales, it was a very generous £1000 donation (£500 to each charity) from The Northern Rock Foundation that got the charity fund up to an amazing £16,309.

I update the 2 charities every week with all donations made and every time a £1000 milestone is passed I entitle the email "Special Update". There have been 3 such emails in the last 3 weeks!

The amount of money pledged to the 2 charities, together with my return to running, has seen my confidence and morale soar massively. Long may that continue!

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me, bought a t-shirt or CD and also to The Northern Rock Foundation for their very generous donation.