{"id":14715,"date":"2024-10-01T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T09:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/?p=14715"},"modified":"2024-10-02T14:37:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T13:37:09","slug":"great-north-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/news\/great-north-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Great people do great things"},"content":{"rendered":"<html><body><p>Steve took on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/get-involved\/fundraising\/events\/great-north-run-2025\/\">Great North Run<\/a> for Family Fund. Though this wasn&rsquo;t his first rodeo, for his fifth and final Great North Run, he wanted to make a real difference to families&rsquo; lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tell-us-about-your-running-journey\"><strong>Tell us about your running journey<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;I started running 10 years ago, when I was 42-years-old and I couldn&rsquo;t run a mile. The Great North Run was my first big challenge to work towards, and I was dreading it. After I did it once, I&rsquo;ve ended up doing it five times in total. The Great North Run has the most electric and contagious atmosphere. It doesn&rsquo;t matter who you are or what you do, everyone just cheers you on and supports you.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Steve-GNR-2.png\" alt=\"Steve is sat in the last of the day's sunshine on a very large sunlounger, likely at an event. He is wearing running gear and a number, and he has just taken part in a running event. He is wearing glasses and smiling.\" class=\"wp-image-14716\" style=\"width:620px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Steve-GNR-2.png 800w, https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Steve-GNR-2-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Steve-GNR-2-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-family-fund-for-your-final-great-north-run\"><strong>Why Family Fund for your final Great North Run?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 52 now, and my body isn&rsquo;t doing what I want it to do anymore (or that&rsquo;s what I tell myself!) With arthritis in my left knee, I decided that this will be the last time I do the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/get-involved\/fundraising\/events\/great-north-run-2025\/\"> Great North Run<\/a>. I wanted to do it for a charity, and for a charity that supported children and families.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;I work at McCain, and we have a partnership with Family Fund to help support families raising a disabled or seriously ill child on a low income. There are hundreds of charities, but when you&rsquo;re at these events, it seems like there are some that get so many runners. I wanted to run for one a bit different.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&ldquo;As a family man with a strong family background, and a lot of people I work with also valuing family, I decided to run for Family Fund. I realised how fortunate I&rsquo;d been with my own children and grandchildren. If I was in their situation, I&rsquo;d need someone like Family Fund to turn to.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-did-it-go\"><strong>How did it go?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;It was much better than I ever could&rsquo;ve expected. I never thought I&rsquo;d hit a personal best on my last and final run. It must&rsquo;ve been the mentality of it being my final run and making the most of my last time. As I was just about to run over the Tyne Bridge, I saw a young lad in a Family Fund vest running. I tapped him on the back, tapped my shirt, and we smiled at one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Steve-GNR-copy.png\" alt=\"Steve is stood at The Great North Run holding his medal in one hand proudly. He is wearing his Family Fund running vest and a running number, and is smiling.\" class=\"wp-image-14717\" style=\"width:663px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Steve-GNR-copy.png 800w, https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Steve-GNR-copy-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Steve-GNR-copy-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;Though I will still run for fun, knowing it would be my last <a href=\"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/get-involved\/fundraising\/events\/great-north-run-2025\/\">Great North Run <\/a>made the last two miles quite emotional. But I was so happy to have helped the families that Family Fund supports. When I struggled or I was training, I told myself that my hour or two of pain is nothing compared to the 24\/7 struggle for the families that Family Fund supports. Putting myself in their shoes really helped with my training.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-would-you-say-to-anyone-thinking-about-a-personal-fundraising-challenge\"><strong>What would you say to anyone thinking about a personal fundraising challenge?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>&ldquo;You get so much euphoria from completing a challenge like this. It doesn&rsquo;t have to be a half marathon. It can be a 5km run, or something completely different from running. People can&rsquo;t tell you what you can and can&rsquo;t do, only you can do that, so go out and do it! I tell everyone that the Great North Run should be on their bucket list.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"panel\">\n            \n    \n    \n\n<div class=\"inner-blocks-wrapper\">\n    \n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"you-too-can-do-great-things-your-way\">You too can do great things, your way.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your fundraising could grant sensory toys to a family, bringing moments of calm and joy to children. Or a fridge to store a child&rsquo;s life-saving medication, lifting the weight of worry from a parent&rsquo;s shoulders. Your support makes a real difference to families who need your kindness.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/get-involved\/fundraising\/\">&nbsp;Fundraise for Family Fund today, your way.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve took on the Great North Run for Family Fund. Though this wasn&rsquo;t his first rodeo, for his fifth and final Great North Run, he wanted to make a real difference to families&rsquo; lives. Tell us about your running journey &ldquo;I started running 10 years ago, when I was 42-years-old and I couldn&rsquo;t run a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","_mixd_wp_review_post_reminders":[],"_mixd_wp_review_date":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[66],"class_list":["post-14715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fundraising-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Great people do great things - Family Fund<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steve took on the Great North Run for Family Fund. 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