January 2005 - The Las Vegas Marathon

It was at the end of January 2005 that I ran the Las Vegas Marathon. It was earlier, in October 2003 that I reached my lowest point when a business I had set up effectively failed leaving me with over £100k of debt and due to the pressures and stresses of the previous year I had succumb to depression. I was 29 years old with all my hopes and dreams destroyed and knowing that I would have to go back to my previous career of finance and accounting (which I did not enjoy!) to pay off the debt...   it was a huge personal mountain to climb... to pay off the debt, get back on my feet and overcome the depression that had taken a firm grip.

During 2004 I was still very low and although I had a decent job and the debt was gradually reducing, I had certainly not beaten the depression and was a long way to climbing my own personal mountain. I had always been active and healthy, taking part in a variety of sports and keeping fit at the gym... but I was still finding it hard to motivate myself to go to the gym and keep fit. I knew it would be good for me and I never let things go for too long without doing some sort of exercise.... but I needed something to aim for and help me with my motivation.

It was about September 2004 when I decided it was time for another marathon! Although the 2 previous marathons had been incredibly tough and painful... I had enjoyed the overall experience and they gave me a real sense of achievement. My life was pretty mudane... I hardly went out as a result of the depression and the financial debt situation... and apart from work and TV I didn't feel that I did much and nothing particularly positive. So.... I thought why not sign up to a marathon that would give me something to focus on and get a free holiday at the same time if I raised money for charity!

I decided on the Las Vegas marathon as it would give me a few months to train and it was somewhere I had always wanted to go to..... and something positive to look forward to. Then, literally a week after I had signed upto the race, I broke a rib playing in a 5 a-side football game! For anyone who has ever broken a rib, they will know the pain and the difficulty in breathing. There was no way I could train properly and it was many weeks before the pain subsided and I could start some gentle jogging and gym work.

Although it wasn't the main focus at all, I did want to try and run the marathon in under 4 hrs. Given my lack of training and knee problems with the previous two races, I wanted to give myself the opportunity to train hard and for a long period and that way I could do a half decent time. It looked like that was not going to happen with Las Vegas after the broken rib. However, I had nearly 2 months before the race at the end of January 2005 and managed to get quite a few runs in, albeit runs of no more than 10 miles in total!

I set off for Las Vegas with a friend and although I had not been able to train much I somehow believed that I could run under 4 hrs if everything went well. It would be incredibly difficult but I believed it could be done and that was what I was going to aim for. I didn't really know what to expect with the Vegas marathon, as my two previous races had been huge events in New York and London. Unfortunately, despite it glamorous location and name, the Las Vegas marathon was a huge disappointment....

We were taken by bus, very early in the morning, approximately 26 miles into the desert....  then with Elvis and Marilyn Monroe look-a-likes singing the American anthem, the couple of thousand particpants started the long race back to the city. I had decided to invest in a 'bum bag'... to wear whilst running that would store my camera as well as various painkillers, sweets and energy gels.... essential things to get me round! However, due to my financial situation (and being a tight-arse)... I bought a very cheap one... and after about 1 mile with the repetitive action of running, the stitching on the bag gave way and all the contents except for the camera fell out whilst I was running. I didn't know what to do and in a bit of a panic... I decided not to stop and try to pick everything up... but to just carry on running instead!

It wasn't long before I realised this was a mistake as the pain kicked in, especially on my knees and I was no where near as fit as I thought I was. I still had 20 miles to go and I was really feeling it.... and there was very little in the way of crowds and support which wasn't surprising as we really were just running along a desert road in the middle of no where! I think it was at mile 9 at one of thewater stations that a big problem first materialised.... they had run out of gatorade (energy drink like lucozade or powerade) which was essential for replacing energy, salts, sodium and electrolytes. They still had water but without the gatorade there was zero chance of making a good time.

Although the temperatures weren't too hot, there was a very strong head on wind.... and the course was pretty much straight into that wind all the way back to las Vegas. Without painkillers, sweets, energy gels and energy drinks..... no crowds or support, poor training and strong winds... and no chance of breaking under 4 hrs.... this became a major battle of determination and will to keep going. The pain was unbelievable and with every stride my head was telling my body to stop.....  but I kept going and staggered over the finish line in 4hrs 44 mins.....  why did I put myself through this?!

Despite the pain and again not being able to walk for about a week.... I had another fantastic medal and I really enjoyed Las Vegas and seeing the Grand Canyon... and I had raised a decent amount of money for The Alzheimers Society (my Grandfather had died of Alzheimers a couple of years before)...  so it was a positive achievement and showed me again that I could dig in when the going got tough.