Burnley Keith rides again!

The 3100 mile run across the USA is a long way off but that hasn't stopped Burnley Keith (pictured) from pledging 2 weeks of support.  That leaves about 96 days of support to fill!  

Unlike the John O'Groats to Lands End run, the next event will require mobile accommodation.  It would be really difficult and very expensive to try and book hotels etc in the USA for such a considerable distance.   I'm going to have to acquire a motor home of some description.  On the cheap of course!  

Out with the old!

It's time to gear up for the next big challenge and the new banner and text around the blog will hopefully start things off on the right foot.  

Watch this space for further modifications and more regular updates.

Training going very much to plan!

Well it's been almost 2 months after the Christmas break and I can safely say that my training in 2008 is going to plan.  It's all about time on my feet at the moment in an attempt to get as many miles in as family/work life allows.

I was quite pleased with a 7 minute 50 second mile last week.  This happened on the last mile of my favourite Town Moor run.  

As per usual the staff at Northern Rock have been full of encouragement and support.  There is hardly a mile where I'm found running on my own.  Even when I'm lagging behind the lads tend to slow down for me or double back.  This can't be doing their training any good!  Thanks then go to Carl Hudson, John Brettell, Jonathan Jobe, Pete Maddison and Carlton Fletcher.  I'll get quicker lads I promise!  

Also worth a mention is the one and only Jimmy Bell (pictured at last year's Great North Run as a spectator).  This lad has put up one hell of a fight against cancer and made his competitive comeback last week in a cross country race.  Jimmy continues to be an inspiration to everybody, myself included.  He is so modest and neglected to mention this week that his comeback made it into the Evening Chronicle.  Welcome back Jim!

Rab C to be Keegan's 1st signing?

Support driver Rab C (aka Owen McMahon) recently spent some time playing in goal at Kevin Keegan's Soccer Circus.  That's him at the back of the picture with the Santa suit and great big comedy goalkeeper gloves.   

In between bottles of Whiskey, Rab told me this evening that he was waiting for King Kev's call and hoped to be on the playing staff very soon!

Back in training!

Happy New Year everybody!  After 4 weeks off, this week saw me starting my 2008 programme of training.  If it goes anything like last year I'll be very happy.  January and February will be used to get up to speed again.  Thereafter, as well as regular lunchtime runs, I'll be throwing myself at the mercy of the Pennines and when it is light enough, I'll run home a few times a week from work.  It's very much a case of doing more of the same but doing it quicker and try to make things a bit tougher for myself.  

Off the track, I'm continuing to plan for USA 2011.  The logistics are mind boggling!  Hopefully, things will start to fall into place in the next 2 years. 

Back to this year though!  I've managed to recruit 20 Roman Soldiers for a run/cycle/horse ride across the Hadrian's Wall Path.  Watch this space for further updates!  Hopefully, Jack (pictured) will be able to join us at some point on the route.  He got his first bike for Christmas and has spent some time over the last few weekends cycling on the Derwent Walk Path.  It's a good start!

The final total for 2007.

I'm very pleased and proud to report that all funds have been collected and handed over to St Benedict's Hospice. The final total for the run from John O'Groats to Lands End is:

Add on top of this the amounts from Northern Rock staff for the Cairngorm Challenge (13/07/2007) and the Pennine Challenge (22/07/2007) and the total handed over to St Benedict's Hospice this year is £34,108.

There are so many people to thank, but I'd like to single out the following for special praise:

Katy and Jack Allison, Niall and Biffa at nufc.com, The Northern Rock Foundation,

Anne Oliver, Steven "The mackem challenger" Moore,

"Burnley" Keith Riley aka "Jeeves", Owen "Rab C" McMahon,

John Brettell, Jimmy Bell, Ian "The Coach" Glasgow, Mike Lewis,

Aunty Joyce*, Aunty Ada*, Aunty Carol* and their family, Harry and Val Lewis

The Pennine Challenge Team, Newcastle United Football Club, The BBC Tyne website

....finally thanks to all of my sponsors, old and new. It's you lot that keep me motivated and it's your money that goes to such a worthwhile cause.

*not my real aunties, but the best there is!

I'm not one to rest on my laurels so next year promises to be a very busy year! I'm planning on finishing the book during the first half of next year and a very very exciting and unique event is in the planning stages for June 2007. Watch this space! All funds raised next year will go to The Children's Foundation. I've also started to assess the feasibility of running across the USA in 2011. My geography of that huge country is getting better every week as a result!

Finally, I'll draw the blog to a close for this most amazing year by wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. And speaking of Christmas, I do hope that Father Christmas brings me a new pair of trainers!

Pride at stake!

During the big run this Summer I raced 26.2 miles against a mackem challenger (Steven Moore) through the Cairngorms. I gave my all that day to ensure the right result and as I've mentioned many times before I ran out the winner leaving the poor mackem with his first derby day defeat of the season. Steven will be at the match, in the West stand. Steven - if you're reading this, I'll make sure to "wave" in your direction.

Let's hope that the lads follow this up tomorrow at the dark place and bring back 3 points to Tyneside! It should be the usual tense occasion. In particular, I'll be watching out for flying bricks coming in the direction of the buses. One put out a pane of glass in the bus I was in, the season that Nikos Dabizas scored the winner (Feb 2002). It's just good banter!

I was asked by the BBC to write a short piece on the derby day occasion. You can read my thoughts by clicking here. I'll be writing a follow up piece next week so watch out for that!

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.