As most people will already be aware, I’m running the London Marathon to raise funds for the Epilepsy Society. A charity very close to my heart. Although the run isn’t until April 2024, I need to start ramping up my running in preparation and unfortunately, this is proving more difficult than I thought.

In December 2021, I got my third COVID-19 vaccine, the so-called winter booster. This started one of the biggest issues I’ve had to overcome in my life because it threw my life into chaos. I’d not experienced any side effects to the other two shots, but immediately following this one I didn’t feel myself and still don’t. After a few weeks of suffering, I discovered I had issues with my heart and lungs, leaving me unable to even walk very far without feeling out of breath.

This was devastating to me. I’ve always been active, raising money for charity and running was one of my favourite things to do. The inability to do much affected my mental health and my family, and that still continues to this day. Although I am much better than I have been, running and placing too much stress on my system has been frustrating.

I thought that these issues were starting to wear off, but as soon as I’ve tried to run again, doing anything but a mild pace results in my lungs hating me for days afterwards. So I’m trying to take this really slow and steady, but I think the pace I used to run at is ingrained in my legs.

I’m aiming to run the 26.2 miles in around 4:30, which is slow but a pace achievable for me. This is a little over 10 minute miles or 6:23 kilometres. My plan was to start off at this pace and increase my mileage very slowly over time. Yet, trying to slow myself down for my bodies sake, takes too much concentration at the minute. Any time I try to switch off and enjoy the run, my legs start speeding up again!

Within a few minutes, I realise I’m going too fast because my lungs are telling me off and I have to slow down again. It’s a ridiculous problem to have, and one that results in me running around a minute per km too fast. This has also put some stress on my body that I didn’t want, and my breathing is suffering at the minute. There is no question about me keeping going, but I may have underestimated the effort needed. As well, as its effects on the rest of my life.