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Paul Sander

Great North Run 2025

Donate to Paul and help them hit their goal of £1000!

My Activity Tracking

1,490
kms

My target 1500 kms

As a stroke survivor I am taking part in the Great North Run 2025 as part of #TeamStroke

In 2024 I too suffered my second stroke, my first being as a young person in the 1980's.  I was lucky twice with perhaps the most luck being with the second one as the cause was diagnosed to a large congenital hole in my heart which was closed through some magical surgery.  With excellent medical support, support from my wife, my children, friends and work colleagues I have made a good recovery.  I am active and I am back teaching at the university.  However I am left with a visual deficit that has to be managed.  My outcome has been good but many others are not so lucky ...

but...

There is the Stroke Association to help rebuild lives.  There are over 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, with 100,000 strokes happening in the UK each year. That's one stroke every five minutes.  We believe everyone deserves to live the best life they can after stroke, so we work with the stroke community to make sure people affected by stroke get the very best care and support. We rely on your support to provide vital services, campaign for better stroke care and fund research into preventative and rehabilitative treatments.

That is why I have joined #TeamStroke for the Great North Run 2025 which is a half marathon (13 miles 192.5 yards or 21.0975 kilometres.


Please help me reach my goal

Raised

£635 + £101.22 GiftAid

My Goal

£1,000

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My Achievements

Fundraising page set up

Added a profile pic

Made a donation

Shared your page

Reached 50% of target

Reached fundraising target

My updates

Early days but preparation going well

Friday 21st Mar
The Great North Run is still a good few months away which could mean time to build speed, strength and fitness or time in which the body could fall to pieces.  I am doing my best to fit in with the first of these two options.  To that end I am following a training programme through my Polar Pacer watch not so much for getting me out doing things but to stop my body (and mind) falling to pieces through overtraining.  So far everything is going well.  I have manage three cross-country races, I do a ParkRun most weekends and enjoyed them all.  I am just appalled at how slow I am compared to what I did when I really was a runner 45 years ago.  There are signs that I am getting faster.  I know that it is not going to happen overnight but I think it is happening, if all too slowly for patience-less me!
I am enjoying identifying as a runner again although, as the weather gets better, I am missing the bicycle.  I am not sure how well, if at all, I will manage to combine racing the bicycle with the running.  We will see!

Half Way There

Friday 7th Feb
This week, thanks to kind and generous donations from colleagues at work (Teesside University) and one from Mexico (where a pound is very much more expensive than here) have taken us over the half way point to my fundraising goal of £1000.  Of course, like the race itself, the first half is the easy half.  All my good friends and colleagues and indeed, some friends and colleagues of Alex's and Molly's have very generously made donations.  Now the net has to be cast further afield or maybe I have to make the message a little more emotive, to pick up the remaining donations.  If you have given, thank you so much.  If you haven't got around to it yet, please find a moment to donate, whether big or small.  It all adds up helping take me to my target - maybe quite an ambitious target.
The running is going smoothly if too slowly for my liking.  I raced, or perhaps I should say "raced" North East Masters Athletics Association open cross country race at Acklam Grange.  At the time I was a little disappointed to come just the wrong side of halfway down my age group and, indeed, just the wrong side of halfway in the race overall.  On reflection, though, it is about right considering my ParkRuns (well, ParkJogs) and given that 9 months ago I was following a couch to 10k programme following heart surgery I should be delighted that I even made it to the finish.  Sunday will see me in the North Yorkshire & South Durham Cross Country League race at Whitby, in fact at Caedmon School where I raced cyclocross a couple of times before the ankle breaking experience.  In comparison to the stroke and the heart operation, that was just inconvenient and painful.  I wonder how I will do there.  I have already got my club vest out and put 6mm spikes in my shoes.  I am keen.
In between the races I have been running to work in the morning and catching the train home in the evening.  I may try going back to running each way which I gave up on as the days drew in.  We will see.
I mention all this to show that I am working hard towards my goals, the dual goals of finishing the Great North Run in a respectable time and meeting my fund raising goal.  Please help me with the latter.  That one I can't do on my own.  Please, please, please...

A big thank you to all who have donated so far but there is still a long way to go

Thursday 30th Jan
Alex and I are overwhelmed by the support we have received to date.  In 10 days we have raised a lot of money, really.  For my part, I have been running steadily, during the week to work along the river and at the weekends at Wynyard Woodland Park and Hardwick Park in Saturday's ParkRuns or often with Alistair for company.  It is wonderful to have a like minded person to run with.
I must have tried harder than I thought in last week's ParkRun at Hardwick as I have had groin and Achilles niggles so have had a more gentle week, especially with the weekend's cross country race looming.  I am really very excited to run a cross country race although I am not sure why.  Maybe it is just part of me?  There is a league cross country race the following weekend in Whitby that I will be going to as well.  The combination of steady pace (zone 2) aerobic running and quality efforts either with intervals or racing (which includes ParkRuns) will build the stamina I will need and hopefully improve my pace from the current painful shuffle.  To think that I once ran a 70 minute and just a very few seconds half marathon.  Now I am targeting under two hours, although Garmin is slightly more optimistic.  Emphasis on slightly!

Official Entry Done!

Tuesday 21st Jan
I now have an official entry for this year's Great North Run.  Now I need two things: Firstly to train sensibly with the emphasis on sensibly to be able to perform to my best on the day and secondly I need your support.  This is fund raising project with the Stroke Association. Please help me help them so, in turn, they can help the many stroke sufferers who have been much less lucky than me.  Please support me

Monday Jan 20

Monday 20th Jan
It is the start of semester 2 and the first day of my preparation for the GNR in September. It was a good start.

Thank you to my sponsors

£53

Alistair Plenderleith

£26.50

Paul Sander

Am anonymous donation via me.

£26.50

Richard Leane

Good luck Paul, don’t try and do a PB.

£25

Christopher Halls

Good luck Paul a great thing to do

£25

Richard House

£22.40

Paul Sander

£21.84

Neil Henderson

All the best Paul/Molly, it's a great cause, hope the weather is on your side.

£21.36

Emma Neill

Amazing!! Good luck Paul!

£21.20

Jo

Good luck Paul - you are definitely a superstar!

£21.20

Ian & Pat

Well done Paul, Pat and I wish you all the best

£21.20

Molly Sander-daniel

Absolute superhero!

£21.20

Edwin Squire

All the best Paul

£20

Laura Gair

£20

Alex Mondragon

Proud of you!

£20

Sharon Gayter

Inspirational to start running again after such set backs, not forgetting a broken ankle to recover from too.

£20

Jack Dixon

£15.90

Shani Burke

£11.33

Jill Clark

The very best of luck Paul.

£11.33

Jannine Robinson

Good luck Paul! Great determination

£10.60

Sam Richardson

Good luck work hubby!

£10.60

Paul Van Schaik

£10.60

Marco Flores

Mucho éxito Paul, mis mejores deseos.

£10.60

Natalie Featherstone

£10.60

Nikki Carthy

£10.60

Neil Hawkins Ppg

Good luck Paul

£10.60

Sally-anne Flanagan

£10.60

Adriana

Come on Paul… you can do it 🥰

£10.60

Daniele Meucci

£10.60

Anonymous

You are amazing Paul! Much respect to you for what you have achieved in the last year and are going on to achieve now!

£10.60

Alex Kyriakopoulos

Best of luck with your run :-)

£10.60

Heather Clements

£10.60

Anonymous

£10.60

Helen Limbrick

Good luck for the run Paul!

£10

Sally Willoughby

Very inspirational, best of luck!

£10

Thomas -sander Daniel

Good luck for the run!

£10

Daniela Martinez

£6.11

Chrissie Kennedy

Thinking of you and wishing you all the best with your training and the run. You're an inspiration

£5.30

Anonymous

Go Paul! SM

£5.30

Mia Campbell

£5

Dani Begey

Good Luck!!!!

£5

Alex

Good Luck!

£5

Anonymous