Camille Widdison

I’m running the London Marathon 2025 to fight for lung health!

Asthma is a long-term lung condition that affects the airways, causing them to become inflamed. This makes the airways narrower, meaning less air gets into and out of the lungs. It is a common condition and in the UK, 5.4 million people have asthma, about 8 in every 100 people. There is no cure, but most people with asthma can control their symptoms with medication.

I have had Asthma since I was young and it has limited me. I had difficulties walking long distances and got out of breath waking up flights of stairs. The difficulties breathing and pain meant I avoided strenuous physical activity. However, thanks to medicine and all the support from medical professionals, I am able to manage my asthma successfully and complete challenges like marathons and ultra marathons.

Please sponsor me running the London Marathon in support of Asthma and Lung UK. Any donation, no matter how big or small is greatly appreciated. Every minute, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a lung condition. I want to make a difference. I'm running the London Marathon 2025 for Asthma + Lung UK, the only UK charity that fights for everyone’s right to breathe. Every pound I'm able to raise will take us a step closer to a world where everyone has healthy lungs.

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My Achievements

My Updates

LM 2025 December Update

Thursday 2nd Jan

I know this will be posted when we are in 2025 and this is the year I will taking on the biggest achievement I think will ever undertake! Yes, I have ran a marathon before and done a distance further, so why is this the biggest? It is due to is being one of the world majors and more importantly for charity - one that has personally supported me and my health.

I am running in the team for Asthma and Lung UK. Asthma, which I have, effects 8 in every 100 people (7.2million in the UK) and is well managed with medication but is a serious condition which can lead to death. The charity doesn't just support asthma, but numerous other lung conditions which will affect 1 in 5 people in their lifetime. Knowing what this charity means to me and how their support has lead be to be able to run and take on other challenges. The London Marathon’s official charity this year is Pancreatic Cancer UK, which we lost me nan too, so it is important to us and we miss her a lot. It feels like fate for me being able to take part, if you believe in that.

I have built a solid base in the 5km and 10km distances and achieved two personal best times in a weekend. I have spent the time leading up to the training doing what I can to raise the money to the halfway mark and I am finally over 50%. My brilliant mum, @, has been supportive by giving me loads of bits to sell to add to the fundraising which really made the difference. I have had another generous donation from @ ,sister and brother-in-law and from the Marafam community (The London Marathon support group).

There is less than 4 months till the big day. I have been selling items to add to my fundraising for the charity, so if you have anything donate please message me. Also, look out for further news as I have a little event up my sleeves.

Base Training

Saturday 26th Oct

Slowly I have been working on building my training load. I have been running 4/5 times a week and adding in workouts etc. On the 28th of October is the start of the London Marathon training plan. I cried when I saw this data - I know watch data is not accurate for VO2 BUT I was using this as a metric to look at my fitness.

It has taken three years to get back to where I was, before Covid, with the medication and dedication I am finally back there. I am looking forward to seeing how marathon training effects and supporting the charity to supports me.

Improvements

Thursday 10th Oct

As I continue in my journey in base building, I have noted that my VO2 max has improved massively. Haven't seen it this high for quite some time. It has had a great improvement even over just a month as I have been increasing my running load to 4 to 5 times a week as I gear up for the Great South.

The last time I saw it this good was before I got Covid and it's really promising that I'm seeing progression. All the extra work I'm doing has massively improved my oxygen levels as well as fitness levels. I'll continue base building for the rest of this month and then I will move onto proper London Marathon training in November.

Medication

Thursday 12th Sep

I recently looked at this, this is my inhaler the medication that keeps me breathing effectively. Without this I wouldn't be able to do physical exercise and would struggle to walk upstairs or like I currently do walk to my job.

I'm incredibly grateful for what this medication does for me and how it makes me feel. I do think back to those times when I was struggling to take the stairs or walk even the kilometre and how that made me feel. I am young and I should not struggle to do things that others find easy, but with asthma you feel restricted with what you can do as breathing is difficult.

Thanks to this medication and the lovely nurses that I see, I am able to run, cycle, walk and get up stairs!

Development

Monday 12th Aug

Currently base training is the current undertaking, this means I'm just running casual 5km to 10km distance to keep the fitness up. Combined with this I am doing zone 1/2 training on the exercise bike. I will be honest I'm not the biggest stats person for running I don't look at heart rate or anything like that.

However, I do care about my VO2 Max this is because of being an asthmatic. In 2021, I caught Covid and over those two weeks my lung capacity was incredibly impacted. Over that period of a year it took a lot to get back into running and I had to start couch to 5K again. Before that I was running on average over 100 km per month, running 4/5 times a week and had my fastest ever times that year. I noticed that my VO2 Max steadily dropped significantly, I was not able to run more than 1km and I struggle to even get upstairs. With new medication and a steady application to running on feel (and building up), I have now increased this back to where it once was.

I am looking forward to documenting properly my marathon training when it starts in November. For now it's just continuing the base training and new adventures.

Introduction

Wednesday 12th Jun

Hello Team Breathe! I don't know about you, but I am so excited and honoured to be part of this team. I am Camille and I am from Kent. I have wanted to take part in the London Marathon since I took up running 8 years ago and have enter the ballot every year. I was absolutely over the moon when Asthma and Lung UK gave me a place (to the point I thought it was not real). I have had Asthma since I was born and it has limited me in goals and achievements, but thanks to all the support and medicine allows me to manage it successfully and do crazy things like marathons and ultras... This will be my third marathon distance, I did Brighton last year and did an ultra on the beginning of this month (one walking ultra). Feel free to follow the journey on Instagram: camillionruns looking forward to seeing everyone's training and fundraising - good luck everyone!!!

Thank you to my Sponsors

£23.10

Jeremy Chappell

£23.10

Diane Sauerbbach

You’ll smash it girl!!!!X

£21

Sarah Poynter

Good luck, you will smash it

£21

Gurmeet Sidhu

Keep it up Camille, very best wishes from us.

£32

Alex Franklin

Smash it!

£5

Abigail Nethercott

Smashing it! Well done. Xx

£63

Peter Davis

£100

Anonymous

£21

Anonymous

£30