The Great North Run was an extremely emotional day for myself and my family! Having lost my Dad in the year 2000 to a heart attack whilst he was running the Great North Run himself, as you are probably aware, a lot of my family were telling me it a stupid idea to do it myself!

However, 22 years later the day was upon us and I was stood on the start line with 2 of my best mates (who one of them was also running for CRY David Evans) ready to endure what was probably the most physically and mentally demanding thing I’ve had to do in my life!

I started great and thought this is a breeze but as I hit the 6-7mile mark I felt a slight pop in my groin and that’s when the demons started to tell me to stop! Luckily I had my friends to pull me through and keep me distracted!

Coming down that final mile seeing all the people who lined the streets was one of the most amazing feelings and when I got to the finish line seeing my family and girlfriend waiting for me knowing I’d finished what my dad set out to do all those years ago!

Running for CRY meant a lot for my family and myself due to what we have been through with my dad, but in recent times I had my regular heart test with CRY and I was sent for further blood tests which found a few underlying issues I wouldn’t have known about if I hadn’t used one of the CRY screenings.

To put it in a summary, it was one of the hardest but best days of my life and thanks to CRY I was able to experience that!

The pictures I have attached show the emotion I was going through as I crossed the line!

THAT WAS FOR YOU DAD!!!