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Great North Run - A reporter's blog

Northern Echo reporter Dave Roberts is part of Team 100 running the Great North Run on behalf the Tony Blair Sports Foundation. Here's his latest blog on how the training is going.....

"This isn't what holidays are for," I thought as I puffed, panting and sweating along a French road last week. If anyone had told me a year ago that I'd be going out for a run while on holiday I would have told them they were mad.

However, the preparations for the Great North Run have meant that my normal summer break routine of doing absolutely nothing besides eating and drinking have been somewhat disrupted.

I'd like to say that it is purely down to my own dedication that I was jogging along in 25 degree heat. However, my trainer at the Lifestyle Fitness gym in Newton Aycliffe, Terry Anderson, is threatening to do another fitness test sometime in the near future. Because I was going on holiday I had a genuine fear that I may actually have regressed. However, I'm actually beginning to feel a lot more confident about the run and for the first time since I began training I can see myself finishing it.

I managed nine miles along my usual route the other week and could probably have gone on a bit further except I'd finished work late and it was beginning to get dark.

However, as the nights start closing in and the temperature cools, the real test will come. It's not too hard to go jogging on a pleasant summer evening.

However, in late September when it's pitch black and raining it might be a different story. Having said that, earlier in this entry I was complaining about having to run in the heat in France so I suppose I can't have it both ways. I've also got my 30th birthday party this weekend along with a full compliment of friends and family who are visiting and will need entertaining. It's at times like this when it gets hard to maintain any proper discipline in the training schedule. However, there's still the threat of Terry's fitness test hanging over me which should keep me going."

If you would like to sponsor David for the Great North Run, visit  www.justgiving.com/tbsf