Given the situation regarding the recent sighting of a lion in Essex, I saw an ideal opportunity to post the following picture.
I was snapped wearing that lion costume back in February during one of Dave Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp sessions in Tynemouth. I was testing the costume out at -2 degrees Celsius with a view to wearing it during the London Marathon some 2 months later. Despite the freezing temperature, far too much heat was generated in the costume and visibility was extremely poor. Running the London Marathon in it was just too risky.
All is not lost and I've decided to use it for the Great North Run along with other characters from the Wizard of Oz! The link being Oz/Australia for those who haven't guessed yet.
I've only just got the costume again from The Children's Foundation. That gives me a couple of weeks to train in it before the Great North Run. It will be getting it's first outing (minus the head) tomorrow at a Tyne Bridge Harriers training session. The plan for the group I run in is 10 x 2 minute efforts! It's going to be quite a challenge! If all goes well on Tuesday, I'll be doing my regular 8 mile run to Dave Fairlamb's gym in the costume (again without the head). On Saturday, I'll be doing a full dress rehearsal with a 10 mile run to Beach Bootcamp. You couldn't make it up!
There was a bit of interest in the picture on Twitter today and the Sky Tyne and Wear website picked up on the story here.
