North Tyneside Trail 12k

And, relax ...........

What an f'ing day that was ! The weather was glorious, you lot were bloody brilliant, the cakes were amazing and yeah I was eating white chocolate blondies for breakfast, what about it ?

There will be a million amazing photos from the superb Sarah Atkinson Photography and once they are ready I'll email and post links.

The sight of you all spread out across the beach this morning was amazing, had a little tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, much like when I watch Moana and her grandma's ghost comes to visit her after Maui has left her alone and then they sing I Am Moana Song of the Ancestors, what a scene.

Anyway whilst I'm still on a high and buzzing on cakes and black coffee, thank you all for being part of an amazing event. Thank you to North Shields Polys finest marshalls and helpers and cake bakers, thank you to all the runners and friends and family that came to support and the biggest thank you in the world to the event team. They do the hard stuff, the important stuff, the essential stuff and I'm left to talk sh*te, play with the megaphone, mess about on Facebook and waffle.

So thank you Helen L and Helen G, Lucy, Quynh, Laura, Rachel , Sarah and Rebecca for all you do to make me look organised and good 😉

Oh what's that? It's much nicer weather in March? We should always do it in March?

Well ...........

Okay Trail Runners,

Make sure you have a decent meal tonight, I can highly recommend a massive pizza and some chocolate, then lie on the settee and have a nice relax.

But no booze, soft drinks only. Okay maybe just one glass of wine.

Sort your gear out tonight, not in the morning.

Early to bed, leave your phone downstairs because you don't need to be scrolling through reels at 2 in the morning, those videos of people fighting in carparks and babies getting their first glasses fitted will still be there in the morning. And don't worry about Punch the monkey, he's got a mate now so he's fine 🐒

A nice hearty breakfast and then we're ready and waiting for you all from 8:30am, check your emails for info on parking etc

And don't forget to bring cash for cakes ! Mines a black coffee and a flapjack, thanks for asking.

See you all tomorrow 👍 and remember, whatever clothes you wear for the run will inevitably be wrong and you'll either freeze or massively overheat.

Right I'm off to watch Moana, drink a glass of wine and I'm having a massive raspberry meringue from M&S for tea because that's what athletes do.

See the line where the sky meets the sea? it calls me
And no one knows how far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me
One day I'll know
If I go, there's just no telling how far I'll go
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

God I love Moana. I'm tearing up just watching that image of her and her grandma, I'm not kidding.

Make it...

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet yeah, whoa

It makes you wanna move those dancing feet

For the rescue, uh, here I am

I want you to know y'all, here I stand

As the morning gathers, a rainbow

I want you to know now, that I'm a rainbow with you

And I think what Finley Quaye was saying here is that the sun is shining whoa and the weather is sweet yeah and it makes you wanna move those dancing feet.

Tomorrow looks like it's gonna be sunny and cold, a beautiful crisp morning. So wrap up warm and see you all in the morning. I'm so focused on tomorrow I'm not even having a drink tonight.

2 days to go people !

Another email has gone out today, check your junk as always, it's important. The email that is, not your junk.

A word about the beach. The tide will be out and you'll be able to run on wet sand but you may know someone has stolen a lot of the sand from the beach and replaced it with rocks and pebbles, the good people of Whitley Bay aren't happy about this and we will track down the culprits but ....

You might have to go over some rocks about halfway up the beach, it is a Trail Run after all so it all adds to the fun. A fair old chance you'll also get wet feet and again it's a Trail Run so it's all part of the excitement.

We will see you from 8:30 at the Clubhouse for number collection and then 10am start on the beach. It's gonna be bright but cold.

See you all Sunday

Important email heading it's way to you, check your junk 😬

It's about number collection, cakes, TLC singing waterfalls, flapjacks, the 90's band Collapsed Lung and some other race type stuff

More emails to follow this week about the run route and probably stuff about muffins and whatever song I'm currently listening to.

SimonJ