The Run up to The Great North Run - Joe
As we get closer to the great north run people will be preparing for the half marathon. As part of our run up to the great north run series we are speaking to people as they prepare. We spoke to Joe as he helps his running club to prepare for the race in a few weeks time.
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00:00 So it's called Believe to Run. I started, as I say, in April. I was like a full-time
00:06 office worker for about 10 years. Just living miserably, hating it, like, don't get us
00:12 wrong, it is for some people, but I just, I don't like sitting down. I just knew it
00:16 wasn't my purpose. And so I just took that leap, I quit my job, had no clients or whatever,
00:22 and I just went for it. I had a bit of help of friends and stuff like that, and I just
00:26 went for it, and I just had full belief that it was going to work out, and it just has.
00:32 It's just getting better, going from strength to strength. And I'm just a client base, I'm
00:38 attracting people who are like me, you know, like positive, want to get better all the
00:42 time. And as I say, I just absolutely love it. I love it, I do group running, one-to-one,
00:48 coaching, I just, I like helping people, even if it's an hour out of the day, just come
00:54 and escape life and come and just feel good for that hour. I've had a few of them running
00:57 the Great North Run. We've done a few events this year, we've done the Sutherland 10K,
01:00 we've done the Great North 10K, people have done, like, trail runs on the weekend, stuff
01:04 like that. Some people don't run to race, they run just to feel good, but as most of
01:08 it, I've got a big client base doing the Great North Run, so I'm doing a lot of training,
01:13 helping them certain parts of the run, so I've got, like, the Felham Bypass, so we're
01:17 working a lot of hill sprints and stuff like that to get them stronger to go up there.
01:20 And there's just a few clients just absolutely giving it all, like, on the weekend when they've
01:24 got no time still going out doing long runs, and that's what I'm there for, to accountability,
01:29 to make sure that I'm doing them, and I just know I've got a great team around me and we're
01:34 going to start strong and finish strong. I've done the London Marathon in April, and I felt
01:40 strong there, I've done that for the memory of my granddad, I lost my granddad in February,
01:44 so I'm, and I'm also running the 150 mile run in October for Calm charity. I know I've
01:50 lost friends because of mental health, my friends have lost friends because of mental
01:54 health, and I think it's a big pandemic of, especially men, you know, like, feeling like
02:01 they've just got no purpose in life, and Calm relates to that charity, like, that charity
02:06 relates to that, so I want to be a big part of that, so I'm running the Great North Run
02:10 for Calm, and I'm going to do 150 miles, so I also do my own events as well, so I'm going
02:16 to do, like, a mental health 10k in South Shields, so I just want to try and raise as
02:20 much money as I can for that. If it's the first time, obviously enjoy it, that's the
02:24 big thing, don't sprint at the start when you're running downhill, I even do it now,
02:31 like, people get, even with training, people just get ahead of themselves and just want
02:35 to start, like, so fast, but you've just got to, it's a half marathon, you've got to take
02:41 your time, be patient, bring it back for the hills, go slow up the hills so you can continue
02:47 at that pace as soon as you get above the hill, and as I say, just take the energy in,
02:53 you know, you've got the crowd there clapping, giving drinks out, you'll be people there
02:58 just doing it for different charities, so just make yourself proud and just finish strong.