Day 11 - Marathon 11 - 2nd April

Day 11 2nd April Frodsham to the Cristle Hospital Manchester

Great meal last night, best sea bass dad has ever had, Its been a while! Enjoyable night and back to our separate rooms, washing and icing and in bed by 11:30, too late but too much to do! Good night up late, no time to do morning workout so down to breakfast. Ate a bit more than recently and felt ok. Normal routine, and left the Park Royal Hotel in Stretton. Thanks again to Park Royal and Essential Hotels. Another great place and dads favourite. We had to drive west to the start position in Frodsham. We set the sat nav, route looked great a bit hilly but no long roads, good countryside and the weather was sunny and warm. We set off at 10:35, almost my first stride caused a ping behind my left knee! Dad had gone ahead so I carefully jogged along and hoped it would go away. 4k in and left knee holding out but lost dad! He followed the sat nav which is good but did not wait for me which was not. I ran across every junction and roundabout, no sign of dad. Long one short and after about 5 phone calls and 8k dad caught me up, I ended up running on major A roads and duel carriageways for 15 miles. My pace slowed at half way with problems mounting. Left knee and right shin lasting the longest. Head down arse up and pushed on, one more directional discrepancy and I completed the marathon distance 42.2k in 3'34"08 a mile away from our destination. I jogged to the entrance of the Cristle hospital directed by the sat nav, which was good, but it was the wrong entrance!  Very, very tough. My legs have gone solid and all the old issues are back in play. Tomorrow I run across the Peak District to Sheffield! I was met at the hospital by the lovely Michelle White from Teenage Cancer Trust who kindly got me and dad a nice cup of tea. Michelle introduced me to David Wright who is the Lead Nurse for teenagers and young adults for Teenage Caner trust TCT. They showed me around the ward and all the social rooms. It was very impressive, the same basic formula as the others but Dave? Has a great relationship with the kids like a good teacher would have at a school. Nearly 2 hours later I left, again with another Teenage Cancer Trust shot in the arm that made my injuries seem a lot less important. Dad said he was worried about the day and needed to get to the hotel and eat early. I then found out Barcelona and PSG, with Beckham, was on ITV at 7:30! All good up to our room, showered and down to eat. Food consumed very quickly and back to our very large room to watch the football. Dad watched and I iced my now very sore legs. Beckham was good Messi incredible, dad went to bed and I worked on my legs and tomorrows route. Eventually finished I went to bed at 11:30. A strange noise woke me, sounded like a rat scratching or a dull buzz! Pitch black I tried too focus on where the noise was coming from. I called to dad and asked him if he just heard a noise, he said no then it started again! I asked if heard that and he said, oh that, that's me I am winding up my clockwork torch! He has batteries in every bag he has and at least 2 other torches and the room has lights but he thought he would use the wind up torch to get to the loo in the night and ensure he did not walk into the chair by his bed! I moved the chair and eventually got off to sleep! Day 11 complete, tough but a good day in life not just this challenge. Thanks to Erik and Select Veneers for sponsoring today's shirt. Very generous again, thanks for your continued support. Tomorrow will be a challenge!