Team Rocket can finally say we did it, that is the Great North Run the full 13.1 miles. Danny Steel, Mike Carter and myself and at this point are glad it is over, if only to give our legs a slight reprise. It also seems as though I may have persuaded Mike and Danny to do another, just for the fun of it, we must be mad!

We cannot complain too much for our poor feet, as it was a great day which started at 5am Sunday morning. This proved to be a smart move, as we managed to park close to the start with a couple of hours to spare. While we were waiting we were in high spirits with the sun shining and with the eager anticipation of the crowd at the start line, even though we were so far away we couldn't even see it or hear the gun go off!!

We knew it would be soon as the Red arrows flew past and we would be on our way slowly to the start, in fact it took us 16 minutes to reach the start line after the elite had stormed off. So we were all surprised to see Mo Farah still shaking hands, in fact I suspect that would be his first world record, with the reported 54k participants!

After 2 miles we were running well, but I was getting a little frustrated with the pace so I decided to speed up, as it was for charity I did not want to just turn up. Afterwards Mike and Danny ribbed me for leaving the Rocket team behind. In hindsight this was not such a good idea given the fact that there was so many runners, there was no chance of a PB anyway. Saying that I spent the next 11 miles panicking that the team would catch me up.

It was a fantastic experience for us all, even if it felt like it was up hill all the way and we didn't even mind the rain near the end, because our spirts were lifted, not only by the support from the spectators, but the fact we knew we will raise over £3,000 for the Macmillan Cancer Fund.

If it was not for all the sponsors we would not have pushed so hard for sure, but more importantly it was sponsors donations which made us get up most mornings to run, no matter how we felt or whatever the weather was like during those 4 months of training. I am also sure Danny would not have completed the run given the injury he picked up, just a couple of weeks before hand either.

So to finish with we would just like to say thank you to all those who did sponsor us....and there is still time for those who did not to add to the total because without you, we could not have done it.

And for those who are interested here are the times

Stephen Fowler 1195 01:46:28

Mike Carter 43530 01:51:27

Danny Steel 55617 1:54:12