Sunday 19 September 2010

Great North Run

I feel compelled to tell the story I have from the Great North Run today.


After feeling the pain early on I decided to power-walk it instead. Not far after the 4 mile mark there was a little kid in an England shirt ran onto the course shouting 'Purpley!' and dived at me shouting 'Monster Cuddles!!'. He very quickly asked if I could carry him along for a little while, to which I agreed so long as his parents consented, they quickly agreed on the proviso that they could walk along with me.


At this point I picked him up with my remaining good arm after I'd knackered my left arm out at the gym. I also made sure to carry him near to the crowd so he could high-five a few people. All the way through he was announcing to anyone that would listen that I was Christian an I was his hero, every time he said that I told him that he was my hero too because he was making me feel awesome. When it got to the time to put him down (about 0.3 miles after I'd picked him up), he got a runners magazine from his Dad and asked for my autograph, naturally I signed it for him with the side note to always be awesome.


Thinking that was it I let him go back to his parents and started to continue my walk. His Mum caught up and told me that his name was Jermaine, and I'd just made his and his familys day, particularly as he's a huge fan of running. As the conversation continued on she mentioned that he was set to turn 8 on the 29th of this month, but isn't expected to hit 9, as he's got an aggresive form of lung cancer, she also made mention that a lot of people running for other Cancer charities (I was running for KidsCan), had ignored him when he'd even asked for a high 5, and that she thinks he'd approached me because I was wearing a Purple t-shirt and that's his favourite colour. I ended up getting a hug from his Mother, and made a promise that no matter how much it hurt I'd finish the race for Jermaine.


After that humbling experience I also made a silent promise to myself, no matter how much I wanted to cry I was going to wait till I crossed the finish line, and sure enough as soon as I saw Elaine I burst into tears, I know I'm not a celebrity or anything, but that 7 year old boy just saw people running a half marathon and thought we were all celebrities, so to know I made his day has made my day as well.


Jermaine - that one was for you.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, how sweet! Well done to you & everyone who took part today raising money for such worthwhile causes.

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