Leo Smith - Reading Half Marathon
In Spring 2007 while Leo Smith was taking his final exams at Bournemouth University, his father was diagnosed with cirrhosis. As a result he had to receive two liver transplants at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
Following this, Leo decided to run the Reading Half Marathon to raise funds for two charities which he considers to be very close to him - the British Liver Trust and the Queen Elizabeth Liver Unit.
Here he explains his touching experience:
"It was unreal. I knew it would be a huge test of my mental and physical endurance but I honestly didn’t think it would be that hard. It was such an achievement to cross the finish the line, so much so that I forgot to look at my time. I also now understand what Paula Radcliffe meant when she describe the pain in her calf as though ‘someone stabbed red hot poker through them’...except I had that in my calf’s, knees, thighs and chest. They all seemed hit me around the 7 mile marker, I guess that’s what I could call ‘hitting the wall’. To make things worse, my iPod crashed and stopped playing music for the remaining 6 miles. But I got through in 2h 08m 23s.
In fact I’m still having trouble walking but nothing a good massage won’t fix. I also met a really kind lady during the run, who patted me on shoulder and told me that this was a brilliant charity to run for and that there was a friend of hers, who had just had a transplant, running in the half marathon as well.
The competitors were really really supportive; it’s like nothing I’ve experienced before. But on the whole the only thing that got me through all 13 miles was my dad, family, friends and all the sponsors.
I chose this event for three reasons, firstly to raise the money for the BLT and Queen Elizabeth Liver Unit, secondly to prove to myself and friends that I had the physical and mental will to get through something like that, and thirdly because you only live once, so why the hell not.
Inspirations were purely my dad and what he went through. I can’t imagine what he went through and is going through, but it was that believe that if he can make it through two transplants then I can at least run 13 miles!
One of my biggest highs during the run, was high fiving three kids that were stood on the side line as I ran past. Another would have been entering the stadium and sprinting the last 30 metres across the finish line. I don’t think I had any lows, it was just the constant pain, but looking back the fact that I manage I keep going despite the pain, shows me what I am capable of.”
Leo appears to have caught the ‘runner bug’ and has been in touch again to ask about upcoming events, so we will keep you updated with any developments!
You can still raise funds for Leo, at: www.justgiving.com/jamesleosmith
