Who is Søren Lilleøre
NAME: Søren Kruse Lilleøre
AGE: 29 years
BORN: Thyborøn, Denmark
RESIDENCE: Copenhagen, Denmark
EDUCATION: MSc. Human Nutrition
EMPLOYMENT: Global Project Manager
NUMBER OF MARATHONS: 26
FAVORITE MARATHON: Big Five Marathon, South Africa
FASTEST MARATHON: Copenhagen Marathon (2:56)
TOUGHEST MARATHON: Olympus Marathon, Greece
COLDEST MARATHON: Polar Circle Marathon, Greenland
MOTTO: Prepare for the worst, hope for the best; Do or do not, there is no try.
FAVORITE RUNNING SONGS: Haddaway - What is love and Switch - A bit patchy (Eric Prydz Remix)
Søren Lilleøre still recalls that November day in 2002 when he and his friends had planned to celebrate J-Day, an event taking place annually when the Christmas Brew is released.
“Until that J-day in 2002 my life was mostly footloose and fancy free. I was a happy and carefree young man, perhaps a bit on the lazy side. My idea of exercise consisted of equal parts Ritter Sport (a chocolate bar) and Eurosport,” laughs Søren. More on J-day, November 2002 in a bit.
Søren Lilleøre was born on October 14th, 1979 in Thyborøn, a small fishing village on the west coast of Jutland, Denmark. His father Ole, was manager in a branch of the local bank for whom his mother Gerda, also worked. After high school Søren moved to Copenhagen to study biology and received a Bachelor’s degree. He later took his Masters of Science degree in human nutrition, and it was while he studied biology that his life suddenly changed.
“I started to drink a lot of water. I was thirsty all the time and urinated several times an hour. And, I was extremely tired,” explains Søren Lilleøre.
Within a 3-week period Søren’s symptoms intensified. He became more and more thirsty, and he had to urinate almost constantly.
One Friday morning in November 2002, Søren Lilleøre agreed to meet with his friends to have a few of the recently released Christmas beers. But Søren felt so ill that he decided to contact his doctor.
The doctor took some tests and found out that Søren most likely had diabetes, Type 1 diabetes. Søren’s doctor informed him that it was serious and that he should be hospitalized immediately.
“My doctor told me that if I didn’t have a friend or a family member that could take me immediately to the hospital, he would need to call an ambulance. That’s how serious it was.”
Søren phoned his sister who then drove him to the hospital.”It was difficult to accept that it was diabetes, because I had never imagined it was anything that could ever affect me. I knew nothing about diabetes. I didn’t think you could get it at 22. I had heard so many bad stories about diabetes, so I actually thought it was the end of a good life,” tells Søren Lilleøre.
“The physician at Steno Diabetes Center told me that I had a very serious disease and that it would forever affect my life. But he also said that I could do a lot to get my life to function anyway… ”
Søren Lilleøre’s friends stood ready to help, with understanding and humor when Søren was released. The following day his friends invited him to a concert. Søren had some juice in his pocket in case his blood sugar got too low during the concert. The doorman asked Søren if he had any beverages since they aren’t allowed into the venue.
“I explained that I had juice in case of low blood sugar. The doorman said ok and let me through. Behind me stood one of my friends. The doorman proceeded to ask him if he also had a beverage. My friend answered: “Yes, a beer. I suffer from alcoholism and have a beer in case I get symptoms of abstinence.” We all laughed at that. I truly appreciated the remark’s informal and prejudice-free manner.”
A year or so before Søren was diagnosed with diabetes his sister had started to tease him about never exercising. She more or less provoked him to start jogging. So a half a year before the diabetes was diagnosed, Søren ran his first half marathon.
“I was totally destroyed afterwards. I had never run more than 5 kilometers, but something fascinated me and I was bitten by the bug at that half marathon.”
Søren began to run a few times a week and became more and more driven by it. Shortly before Søren was found with diabetes he ran his second half marathon. But then the diabetes broke out.
At the time of his diagnosis, Søren’s HBA1c (glycosylated hemoglobin A1c) was measured estimating his average plasma glucose concentration for the last 3 months. It was quite high indicating that his diabetes had been underway for some time. However, as he had only been symptomatic for about three weeks, Søren’s doctor said that his running most likely had been able to postpone the onset of his diabetes.
“Physical training had deferred my diabetes outbreak. So I knew from day one that exercise had a positive affect on my disease. That is why there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that training would be a part of my new life with diabetes,” says Søren Lilleøre.
Exercise has become so much a part of Søren’s life that today we can safely say it plays an extreme role. Within the near future Søren will mount on a plane to Morocco where he will participate in one of the world’s harshest and also somewhat dangerous sport, namely Marathon Des Sables. 6 marathons in 7 days, through desert sand and 45 degree heat. And Søren can add an extra challenge on top of that list as compared to the other participants. His diabetes is something he cannot run from, but which has to be treated with medication throughout the entire 240 kilometer-long endurance race.