Asthma often limited what I could do - until I started running
Our supporter, 44-year-old Kevin Wood from East Lothian ran both the London Marathon and Edinburgh Marathon earlier this year. He’s had asthma since he was a child. Here he tells us how running has given him opportunities to do things he never thought possible.
I have had asthma since I was a young child, and living with it was very hard. Asthma attacks, wheezing, shortness of breath and hospital visits made growing up very uncomfortable and often limited what I could do. Until I started running.
Immersing myself in the challenge
I used to hate running at school and my preferred sport was swimming. But years later, in 2007, I found myself running my first London Marathon. Running any marathon, more so London, is one of those big events that if you get the opportunity, you have to take part. Nervous yes, but as a 27-year-old at the time, I just immersed myself into it and the atmosphere was electric! Because I thought I had achieved my ultimate goal, I stopped running.
Returning to the start line
Roll on to 2023 and I joined the Haddington Running Club in East Lothian. A year later I was running the London Marathon for the second time. And five weeks later, I laced up once again and ran the Edinburgh Marathon for the first time.
The support I received was overwhelming, and I was quite emotional at the start line in London. I was able to absorb the atmosphere - it doesn’t matter who you are, everyone’s there to support you and cheer you on. I had my name across my shirt so people would be shouting my name throughout the race. One of my friends said they’d double my sponsorship if I dyed my beard blue, so I did exactly that. Throughout the race, as well as my name, people were also shouting support for ‘the man with the blue beard!’ The support helped immensely, and seeing family and friends I hadn’t seen for a long time was really uplifting.
Edinburgh was a beautiful course, and you get to go along the coast which is nice to get an offshore breeze. It’s slightly more challenging than London because it can be sparser in places which meant there were no crowds in places, so you had to really stay focused.
Achieving things I never thought possible
Running has given me the opportunity achieve things that I wouldn't have thought possible as a child. I manage and control my asthma by using my preventer inhaler twice a day and I always have my reliever inhaler with me just in case I get any asthma symptoms. All of the running and training that I have been doing has increased my lung capacity too, which is brilliant.
For anybody thinking of taking part in a marathon I would say it doesn’t matter how long it takes you, or what time you run it in, the only person that you’re racing against is yourself. The sense of completion at the end can outweigh anything you’ve had to overcome.
Fancy taking on your own challenge to raise money for Asthma + Lung UK? Check out our range of events. We’ve got something for everyone. And if nothing takes your fancy, you can do your own and we’ll support your every step of the way.
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