Living with Colitis

So it's two weeks to go before the London marathon and I get the first signs (from past experience) that my stomach and bowel are going to be poorly. I'd done all the training and p.b'd at the Fleet half marathon indicating that all my training had gone to plan and that I was on schedule for a 2hr 45 marathon. I was both excited and nervous but looking forward to the race. I went to the doctors with a week to go as things had gone from bad to worse and I was feeling very unwell. The doc advised that it would not be a good idea to race but me being ignorant and stupid thought I would do it anyway. I would rather know I failed than sit at home wondering what if? I spent most of the day before on the toilet with a bottom that wouldn't stop bleeding and stomach cramps that had me almost doubled up in pain. Why was I doing this to myself?

Sunday morning arrived and I couldn't believe I felt so much better and set off to the start with a confident feeling. The race started and I set off feeling good, I got to 9 miles and started thinking that I will have to stop at the next toilet I see. I went through 10 miles in a little over 58 mins but by now the cramps were starting in my stomach. I found the toilets at 12 miles and dived in, instant relief. I quickly re-joined the race and crossed Tower Bridge, but couldn't believe that within half a mile or so I needed to stop again. I got to 14 miles and stopped again, this was the begining of the end of my fast time. It was a case of stop start at virtually every toilet all the way to the finish. By 20 miles and after 6 stops my race was over, I struggled to get back into a running pace and cramp in the legs had started to set in due to the continuous stops I had made. I ended up run/walking the last 6 miles and dragged my extremely ill and battered body over the line in a dissapointing 3hrs 14mins.

So Monday morning I am beating myself up over the performance and doubting my future in any sort of endurance sport. But by Wednesday I was in hospital for tests and internal examinations to find the cause of my illness that had wrote off the second half of the 2006 and 2007 season. It was at this point I was made aware of exactly how ill I was, and the doctors were amazed that I had even finished the Marathon.

2 Weeks later I was informed by the specialist that I had Iflamatory Bowel Disease (Colitis) and that I needed to be put on a massive dose of medication to get on top of it as soon as possible. I was initially taking 19 tablets a day but have now dropped to 14. The medication took some time to kick in and is now working (touch wood) quite well. I will be on some form of medication for life, but this will be trial and error until the medication that works best for me is found and the correct dose to keep on top of things is worked out.

Hope to bring you up to date over the next few days with training updates etc to get me up to the 19th May as I have only just created the blog.

Daz