The Great North Run

I was born in North Yorkshire and I’ve lived in a lovely part of County Durham for more than twenty years, but insofar as I have a spirit, poor, shrivelled black thing though it must surely be, my spiritual home is Newcastle upon Tyne. I lived there for a long time, worked there for longer and it’s where I met my wife. It’s where I made some of the most important friendships of my life; it’s where I was first truly creative and first truly happy; it’s where I began to form many of the perspectives and the temperament I hold today. It’s where I first began to throw off the shackles of childhood and become whatever it is that I am now. And it’s where I was first paid to sit in a little room by myself and think.

So I’m especially pleased that I’m doing the Great North Run this year. I’ve done two half marathons this year already and they were (for a given definition of) fun and they were challenging in different ways. But everyone knows those other half marathons are wannabes compared to the GNR (sorry, Sheffield and Leeds, but you know it’s true). The GNR is the big one and it’s hard to get into. Well, when I say ‘hard’ I mean that it’s a lottery. I didn’t have to actually do anything other than apply, but there was a significant chance that I wouldn’t get a place.

But I did! And I’m really looking forward to it, even though my excitement will definitely diminish according to a power law as it approaches.

Since I suddenly have a lot of new followers on Twitter because I tweeted a thread about dogs (reminder, tweet more about dogs, people like that) I’m going to briefly tell my already brief story again, then say a bit about the cause I’m raising money for: nia.

In 2020, at age 48, I developed a neurological condition which cost me most of the mobility in my legs and has left me in constant pain. Nobody quite knows what the condition is, least of all my neurologist who keeps describing me, irritatingly, as a ‘medical mystery’. Personally, I prefer ‘medical marvel’ but he doesn’t seem to want to run with that.

This condition has me mostly confined to a wheelchair so naturally I, an unfit, middle-aged man, decided the obvious thing to do was as many wheelchair half marathons as possible.

Well, that’s not really how it happened. The cause came first. The stupid idea came afterwards, around teatime.

The cause is this one: ending domestic and sexual violence against women and girls. These forms of violence are linked. From the nia site (slightly edited, see the site for citations):

We know that the majority of women who have experienced abuse will have experienced multiple forms, they rarely exist in isolation, for example:

54% of rapes reported to the police took place within the context of domestic violence, that is they were committed by husbands/partners/boyfriends or former husbands/partners/boyfriends

As many as 85% women in prostitution report physical abuse in the family, with 45% reporting familial sexual abuse.

Nearly 40% of the cases dealt with by the Forced Marriage Unit concern people under the age of 18 and 85% are women/girls

Nearly three quarters of children on the ‘at risk’ register live in households where domestic violence occurs.

https://niaendingviolence.org.uk/get-informed/what-is-violence-against-women-and-girls/

The common denominator is clear. Like nia, I believe that “artificially created boundaries between different forms of violence against women isolate organisations, reduce political pressure and force women to search out fragmented support”. What’s needed is a coordinated campaign to end all violence against women and girls.

“Violence against women” means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

United Nations’ General Assembly Declaration of the Elimination of Violence against Women (resolution 48/104 of December 1993)

This includes but is I’m sorry to say not limited to:

  • Domestic/partner violence
  • Female genital mutilation
  • Forced marriage
  • ‘Honour’ based violence
  • Prostitution and trafficking
  • Sexual violence, including rape
  • Sexual exploitation
  • Sexual harassment
  • Stalking
  • Coercive control

There are many organisations aimed at tackling violence against women and girls and shameful it is that they are necessary. So why am I promoting nia in particular and why should you definitely donate to them?

The first reason is the integrated approach I’ve just described. It’s always the radical approach, with me: tackle the common denominator.

The second reason is that nia prioritises women and girls over men at every level.

nia is for all women. nia is a women-led, women-only, secular, rights-based registered charity and has been delivering services to women, girls and children in East London who have been subjected to sexual and domestic violence and abuse, including prostitution, since 1975.

https://niaendingviolence.org.uk/get-informed/prioritising-women/

I cannot think of a more important qualification than that. Women must be able to describe their own oppression and be given the capability to build the resources they need to protect themselves from violence and to keep developing the political movement to end that violence altogether. The last thing they need is idiots like me telling them how to do it. nia is a feminist organisation, led and run entirely by women, and that’s precisely the way it should be.

Our work to protect single-sex services and spaces for women, particularly but not only women who have been subjected to men’s violence and abuse; and naming men as the agents or perpetrators of sexual and domestic violence and abuse, including prostitution, is not defining women through victimisation, it is not weaponising the violence perpetrated by men upon us and using it against marginalised groups. It is standing against male domination and abuse of women.

Feminism is a movement of all women for the liberation of women from subjugation and male domination under patriarchy. Women are not free until all women are free. nia is for all women.

https://niaendingviolence.org.uk/get-informed/prioritising-women/

Please, please support nia if you can. You can donate at their site, of course, but what you really came here for was my crowdfunder page, right? Right?

This is actually my second crowdfunder page for this cause and is the one that will remain open indefinitely (for full disclosure, the old one is here). So far this year I’ve raised around £2000 for nia through wheelchair half marathons. I’d really like to double that, if I can, and I’ll be annoying you all with repeated demands for money until the GNR in September. Then I’ll take a week off and start again.

If you want to see more about my (wince) journey (sorry), check out the rest of this blog. You can also subscribe to it for updates on my process.

All set

I’m as ready for the Sheffield half marathon tomorrow as I’m ever going to be. I’m resting this morning, getting plenty of carbs, protein and fluid, then travelling down to Sheffield this afternoon and staying overnight.

I did another half marathon once, back in the days when my legs worked, but that was 30 years ago so I’m not entirely sure what to expect on the day. There will be considerably more people and organisation, this time, I’m sure. The instructions say to go to the area with sign that’s the same colour as my race number, so I’m going to trust that the staff know what they are doing and just meekly go along with that. A bit like airports; I worked out years ago that airports are incredibly stressful places…. unless you turn off the greater part of your brain and just trudge along in the general direction the signs tell you to. So I’m going to do that. Only without the trudging.

I’m fairly confident that I’ll finish, but I don’t have the slightest idea what sort of time I’m likely to get. Neither do I have a goal. This isn’t because I haven’t been training properly, it’s because I don’t know quite what to expect of the road surface. How rough will it be? What sort of camber? Slopes, I can manage, but will I be able to get into a decent rhythm or will I be fighting the whole way? The broken and overgrown pavements around here are not necessarily a good match to the roads of Sheffield.

Having said that, I did find an excellent new training path that’s likely a lot closer to the race conditions than anything I’ve used regularly so far. Annoyingly, I only found it two days ago. I’ll write about it in a bit, because there are some useful things to learn from it.

Assuming I survive the course, we’ll be going to the worst pub in Sheffield on Sunday evening. If anyone fancies a pint, that is where you can buy me one 🙂

People have been amazingly generous in their sponsorship. At the time of writing, they have donated £1315 for nia. I’m touched and I’m heartened.

But it doesn’t end here. I also have the Leeds half marathon and the Great North Run to do this year, plus the Middlesbrough 10k. I’ll be back after Sunday with a new donation page that’s not tied to any specific event and I’ll be using that for general fundraising efforts from then on.

Assuming I survive.

Great North Run

I got a place in the Great North Run!

It’s a lottery: unless you’re participating as an elite or a member of certain clubs or for one of the official charities, your name goes into a hat. I was lucky enough to get picked at random. So that will be my third half marathon of the year, round about September.

I’m really pleased about this one and glad that I’ll get some practice with the Sheffield and Leeds ones first. Sorry, Sheffield and Leeds, but I still think of Newcastle as my home town, even though I haven’t lived there for more than 20 years. This year is back to the old, now traditional pre-COVID route, I’m looking forward to it.

Just to warn you: I’ll be asking for donations for that, too, also in aid of nia, which raises money to end violence against women and girls. Support them! Even if you don’t do it through my crowd funder! Which you totally should!

nia runs services for women and girls who have been subjected to sexual and domestic violence and abuse, including prostitution

https://niaendingviolence.org.uk/

I’ve raised nearly £1000 so far for the Sheffield half marathon. There’s a month to go, so I’ll be starting a big push for more donations soon.

And a big push in training, too. Next week is Intensive Training Week. I’ll let you know how that goes…

Fundraising page live

My fundraising page is now live here!

I’m raising money for nia, a women-led, women-only, secular, rights-based registered charity which has been delivering services to women, girls and children who have been subjected to sexual and domestic violence and abuse, including prostitution, since 1975.

I’m competing (although ‘competing’ might be too strong a word) in several wheelchair distance events through 2022 and beyond including the the Sheffield and Leeds half marathons (March and May), the Middlesbrough 10k (September) and hopefully the Great North Run (also September).

My JustGiving page for the Sheffield event in March is here.