I originally had a place for this run in 2017 but deferred to 2018. This meant double the cost but as the worlds largest half marathon and one I felt I had to do at least once, I figured it was worth the extra expense. Now I have travelled a lot further for a race but this one can’t get much further north from me in England and with no flying option, train it was. It’s far away! The pre-race instructions were good, better was the advice from those who have previously run the race and I’m grateful to all who offered advice on travel, route, spectator points etc. I don't see this as a PB course as it is so busy so decided to enjoy this one and take it all in. Onto the day, I’d stayed with friends about 45 minutes way and was grateful for a lift to the start, we’d anticipated more traffic so I arrived earlier than planned which led to a bit of killing of time. I found a spot outside a cafe and settled in before heading to drop my bags. The buses were well labelled but I’m still not sure that putting your own bag into the bus is a very secure way of managing this. Anyone could have rummaged through your stuff as there were no checks of what people were doing whilst dropping bags off. Still, having dropped my slightly insecure bag, I was off towards the start pens. Start pens were labelled clearly and marshals were checking we were in the right pen, I can’t begin to describe how big this race is, and how many people are all doing the same. There are two sides to the start, I’m not sure it matters hugely which you go in, but this wasn’t clear in any pre-race information that I saw. We waited for a while as you always do and I was expecting a longer wait to get over the start line than the 8 or so minutes it took me but I imagine that for those right at the back, it was probably a good half hour or so if not more to get started. I wish organisers could do something about the dozen or so guy who were peeing up against the gantry in the start pen - is this really needed with loos on the course? It was a hot day, completely unexpected! This took its toll! There were plenty of water stations and the locals were out in good support, even offering ice pops! This wasn’t about a time for me and with the extra heat I eased off to take it all in, after all, you don’t get to run with 60k other runners too often! It was also more undulating (read hillier) than I had anticipated. This race is run entirely along the dual carriage way which is constantly climbing, and as it was a point to point run, there is no what’s comes up must go down to cling to. The two highlights of the route for me were going over Tyne Bridge, this is no London Bridge but it was still nice to have as part of the route, and secondly, having the red arrows zoom past over head. I was at about mile two at this point whilst friends were still trying to get through the start! But it really was an added bonus and nice touch. Outside that, being all dual carriage way meant that the main highlights really were the crowds as it doesn’t have much else on route to take in. That said, to cater for 60k runners it’s probably not able to be put anywhere else! Coming down towards the last mile there was some relief in a short but sharp descent, so much so they have hay bales to catch those a little over enthusiastic at getting down it! I was looking for friends and family at this point so had slowed to try and see them. Sadly I couldn’t spot them but they spotted me which made up for it! Along the finishing straight the crowds are in good voice, there are good and helpful markers at 800m, 400m and 200m, I really like this about Great Run Events, especially as someone who spends time on the track. With Sir Mo celebrating his sub 1-hour win (!) I even managed to come through the finish to the national anthem, cue whipping up the crowd with 200m to go, clearly there was more in the tank! A quick right turn and through the finish, the Great North Run could be ticked off. Water was handed out very quickly, as I mentioned it was hot and the medical services had been kept busy. I saw lots of runners down on the course and it goes to show that a half marathon cannot be taken for granted, and, you have to be sensible despite any desperation for a PB when the weather does something unexpected! The medals were nice, finishers t-shirts good, although I find it frustrating when races who hand out unisex t-shirts don’t offer an XS size as the small is too big for me to really utilise and it surely can’t be too difficult to provide one more option. Goodie bags full of the normal leaflets, discounts and samples and for me, only a short queue for a finishers photo. The baggage buses were a bit of a walk away down the hill and the sheer volume of people in the area meant trying to find people was a task in itself, the networks just couldn’t cope but finishing near the beach at South Shields was nice and there were various food vans catering for thousands of hungry runners! Would I do it again? I’m still not sure, that’s no slight on the race, if you love a big one then it’s definitely worth doing at least once but, the distance from where I’m based and without the crowds, a lack things to see along the route don’t make it one I’d hurry back to unless it was perhaps more of a group trip.