The Baynhams

There is a great running event in Newcastle for runners and walkers alike. It is grouped under the name Hill to Harbour and is broken down into 2k 5k 10k and half marathon.

My workplace put a poster up in the tea room offering to pay the registration fees for any staff member and their immediate family to do any of the events. I registered us all for the 5k walk/run. We made sure to squeeze in a few weekend walks as the date approached to be sure that we were fit!

The day before we went in to Newcastle to pick up our race kits. We have never done something like this before and there was a great deal of excitement laying out the T-Shirts, Race numbers and timing chips before we went to bed.

It was an early start with our alarms set for 5.30am. Even with such an early drive in to Newcastle it was a struggle to find parking and we only arrived at the start line about 20 minutes before the start gun.

Sian and Byron actually ran the 5k race which I was very proud of them doing. Gareth, Rhiannon and I walked and ran, walked and ran.

As we neared the finish line Gareth decided to give it everything and run across! Apologies for the movie quality. I was doing my best to combine videoing, running and breathing!


OK, I just recieved an email from a friend who wad just read this post. She reminded me that there is a small element to this story that is missing. A minor detail in my eyes but to be fair and honest I suppose I should add it. When I said that Gareth, Rhiannon and myself walked and ran, walked and ran what I really meant was that Gareth and Rhiannon were very keen to run and I was happier to walk. For this reason we decided to break it up into little runs and then dropped to a walking pace when I thought I was going to die I thought Gareth looked a bit puffed. At one point Rhiannon asked could she run ahead of us on a straight stretch and that she would wait for us at the roundabout. Off she went bouncing on her nimble feet while Gareth and I sheepishly aimed for a brisk walking pace. When Rhiannon reached the roundabout she stopped, hands on hips and looked back at the throng of participants working their way along the straight. A race marshall saw her on her own and was concerned. He approached her and asked her was she ok. Her answer.... "Oh, Thanks. I'm fine. I'm just waiting for my mum, she's too slow...."

There you have it. Decide if you must whether Monica's insistance on the trivial details makes for a better story... I'm still not convinced you needed to know it.... !