Well today was the Great Scottish Run 2010 (10K and half-marathon) in Glasgow. I made my way to George Square this morning to meet all our the runners participating under  Awaz FM / Islamic Relief banner, running to raise money for the Pakistan flood victims.

It was really inspiring to see runners from different religious groups and ethnicity included those from the Scottish government, the local city council elected members, professionals and students running for the same cause raising funds for  ‘Islamic Relief Pakistan floods appeal’.

I managed to meet Glasgow City Council Bailie Hanzala Malik who was participating in the run. He said “we don’t get a lot of opportunities like these for humanity, so here there is the opportunity for all us. I normally don’t participate in runs like this but I am here for the Pakistan flood victims.”

The Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicole Sturgeon was also there who unfortunately had to pull out of the run at the last minute due to a knee injury however she was there to support the runners and mentioned to us that “most of the Muslim runners were fasting and this is the sign of the commitment we’ve go.”

It was an amazing day; I could see the commitment, drive and determination in the runners which just lit up the day. A lot of runners I talked to had not prepared for the run and admitted they were not fit for doing this nevertheless they were still strong-minded and knew they had to do what they could for the victims of the floods.

It is the images everyone has seen on the news of the flood stricken areas in Pakistan that kept the runners on the road, especially the ones who were fasting during this month of Ramadan.

Humanity was definitely at its peak here with over 10,000 runners taking part to raise money for Oxfam, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief, Cancer Research UK and many more- local, national and global projects and campaigns.

I left Glasgow this afternoon on a high and while I am sitting here at Heathrow airport I can still hear the voices of support during the run in the morning. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to welcome the runners at the finishing line as I had to catch my flight to London on-route to Pakistan.  

I was given a yellow T-shirt which was signed by all the Awaz FM/Islamic Relief runners who were taking part in the Great Scottish Run this morning. I am taking this to Pakistan and I will also be showing the flood victims what the people in the UK are doing in order to raise money and support them. I will definitely assure them that the prayers of all are with them.

Time for departure- my final destinations are Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Southern Punjab and may be Sindh and Baluchistan. Please look out for my video blogs!!

Some of the video clips from today's run are under Video gallery.