Day 18 - Marathon 18 - 9th April 2013

Day 18 9th April 2013 Bedford to Cambridge Addenbrooke's University Hospital

Alarm set for 7am woke at 6am! Gentle stretch, into the bathroom, all washing done last night still soaked! Towel rail goes off when bathroom light turned off! Light on and hope a few hours might do the job. Legs feeling sore and stiff generally with left thigh lump still there and sore. However I think I have a bit more movement following a light massage last night as advised. Porridge and 3 toast plus a plate of fruit and a croissant, felt a bit dodge but not the urge to get rid of it as before! Back to the room, kit not dry! Route planned, packed up, warmed up, kit still not dry and weather turning to rain, spot on! Reserve kit on, rain did not materialise and off we went to the start at Willington. Thanks to The Swan Hotel Bedford, very nice staff, all wishing me well and very nice evening. Nick from Essential keeps hitting the mark, thanks again. A little late start 10:51, but not too stressed. Very straight forward route, A603 to Sandy B1042 through Potton all the way to Croydon then A603 all the way to Cambridge, Easy! All went wrong at Potton! Road closed, I ran through, dad went round following diversion signs, dad went ahead as instructed, I upon leaving Potton, went wrong and ran up the B1040 to Gamlingay! Would not have been a problem but BBC Radio Cambridge were set to do an en route interview live at 12:30! Long one short, Dad flapped only a little and met the Radio man, I ran on my own in a fierce headwind to Little Gransden then on the B1046 to Longstowe. I then met with dad and the Radio man for a longish interview whilst running and eventually stopped to finish off and then on my way now with dad leading and only 16k to go! All good apart from my legs again stopped working! Massive effort to try and keep to 5 minute kilometres through to the finish of 42.2k just outside the massive hospital complex of Addenbrooke's in 3'25"23 (160m elevation gain, 195m loss) thigh is restricting my stride which is ok but it saps the life out of my legs! Anyway, very pleased to have completed number 18, we went in search of the Teenage Cancer Trust unit. Unfortunately we could not get near the unit firstly because we could not find it and unfortunately the unit was too busy with some very sick young people. We met Judith and Laura from Teenage Cancer Trust and my Cousin Simon's lovely wife Justine who works at the Hospital. Great welcome and again fantastic positive and passionate people. Great Cambridge Hat and University T Shirt received, which was nice, a good few photos and video taken and inside out of the cold wind to get a Costa and a Granola! Spot on. These people really are amazing, they cope so well with the tough job of fund raising and the highs and lows of being with young people with cancer, it was a pleasure to meet you both. All done, quick goodbye and we were off to Letchworth, our accommodation and the start of tomorrows run into my home town of Hemel Hempstead! Thanks to KLF Construction for being today's shirt sponsor, very much appreciated. Now in my room, have been icing for last 2 hours and having a hot bath before bed and in bed before 11pm! Very tough but very good day. Dad was worth his weight today, well done, keep calm and carry on! Goodnight.