With school visits, press calls and a curry challenge on top of all the running it has been a busy couple of days for Team Happy. Most importantly we have now run more than 500 miles and passed the 30,000 pound mark for donations. Both are incredible achievements which we celebrated in style on Tuesday night with a couple of beers, England-Ghana and the largest curry I have ever eaten!

However, first there was the small matter of an early evening visit to some very excited Rainbows in Nelson. 2nd Nelson Rainbows are another group that have been raising money for the charity through the Children’s Marathon Challenge which involves pupils doing a series of challenges around the number 26. 

The girls of 2nd Nelson decided to do 26 different games for their Challenge including sleeping lions and plenty of others that I can safely say that I have never heard of- what’s Little Laura?!! They raised well over £100 which is fantastic for a very set of Rainbows and most importantly the girls appear to have really enjoyed themselves doing it.

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The only downside to the visit was that it was an hour’s drive away from the YHA in Manchester. Having not finished the run in Bolton until gone four we didn’t feel we had time to comfortably check in, have a shower to get their in time for the meeting so we went straight there and didn’t check in at Manchester YHA until gone 8 o’clock by which time we were all absolutely starving!

Up-step Akbar’s curry house- a curry emporium that is peerless in my eyes and will eternally be remembered for the chef’s challenge and naan bread’s bigger than the size of my head!

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Caught up in the euphoria of a couple of beers and completing 500 miles Dad and I decided to take on the chef’s challenge- a massive bowl of steaming rice, curry and one of those ridiculous naan bread- thinking it would be pretty easy.

This was foolhardy and by half way through was a real struggle. We did manage it in the end (it took me more than an hour and a half) but it was by no means enjoyable and I was very thankful that we had a rest day yesterday as there was no way I would have been able to run anywhere having eaten over 2000 calories in one sitting!

Yesterday’s rest day was equally action packed. First up was a visit to Withington Girls’ School in Manchester, which purely by coincidence, is where Oly’s girlfriend, Emily, used to go to school.

Withington Girls’ is a private school with fantastic facilities and the girls were all incredibly polite and very, very intelligent. So intelligent, in fact, that they had me generally stumped for a couple of answers during our Q&A!

Next up was a trip to the Manchester Children’s Hospital to visit Dr Malcolm Taylor who is currently doing a research project backed by the charity that is looking to develop a vaccine to prevent leukaemia. The research is still very much in its infancy but if successful could herald a cure for leukaemia which is what we are all striving for.

Sadly we weren’t allowed to go on the wards to visit the children or have our picture taken with Malcolm inside or outside the hospital (such is the level of bureaucracy within the NHS these days) but we did get a few good shots with a photographer from the Manchester Evening News in the park nearby.

On the way back from the hospital we popped in to BBC Radio Manchester to see if they might be interested in covering our story. They seemed fairly keen but you never know with the press until the last minute. Fingers crossed they get back to us…

In the evening we met up with Nick, my girlfriend Lauren’s brother, for a quick drink and a really enjoyable Chinese in Manchester’s version of China town. 

It was great to catch up and nice to have a break from all things run related even if only for a few hours and I feel fully recharged and ready to go ahead of restarting again tomorrow from Bolton.

Before I go a special mention is required for Richard for defying his doctor and his body by running for four miles up some ridiculous hills in less than 3 months after breaking his hip while skiing in Switzerland.

Cheers,

Mr H