Singer, songwriter and actress Alexandra Burke, 37, won The X Factor in 2008 before having that year’s top-selling single with her version of ‘Hallelujah’. As well as later being a runner-up on Strictly Come Dancing, she has starred in several hit West End musicals – including The Bodyguard, Chicago and Sister Act – and recently starred in I’m Every Woman: The Chaka Khan Musical. After making her London Marathon debut last year, she’s returning next Sunday, hoping to smash her previous time while fundraising for two worthy causes.
‘Last year was my first London Marathon and this one hopefully won’t be my last. As soon as I had crossed the finishing line, I said, “Can I do it again tomorrow?”
‘This year has been a very different training experience. Last time I took some time off between January and April to get my house in order, spend time with my two very young children and partner Darren [the former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randoph] and train. But this year has been so hectic, with creating the musical about singer Chaka Khan’s life.
‘Since August, I’ve been following an 18-week training plan. I haven’t got a personal trainer but instead my friend’s husband, Joe Clarke, a firefighter who runs marathons and does Ironman events for fun, helped. He’s been amazing and devised me a plan where I do four runs (rather than last year when I did three) each week. For instance, two weeks before the marathon I did a five-, six- and ten-mile run, plus a nine-miler in under 1hr 15min.
‘My longest training run has been a 20-miler. But it was on a treadmill and I started at around 10pm, so didn’t finish until the early hours of the morning because I had no childcare and the kids kept waking up. I vowed never to do that again.
‘I’m into strength training. Each week I do one full, one upper and one lower body strength session. I also do a spinning class as a recovery and twice weekly do a yin yoga [a slow-paced style of yoga] class, which I should do every day, really, but don’t have time.
‘Two weeks before the marathon, I completed the London Landmarks Half Marathon. I was aiming for 1:50 – six minutes faster than last year – and so was delighted to finish in 1:47. My brother David is now begging me to do the New York City Marathon with him in November.
‘When a guy collapsed in front of me at last year’s marathon, I had to stop. We waited for paramedics to arrive and luckily he was fine, so my time was much slower than I had hoped. But if it happens again, my heart wouldn’t allow me to leave someone there and run on. You don’t know what is going to be thrown at you during those 26.2 miles and you just have to adapt to whatever the circumstances.
‘Last year was all about soaking up the atmosphere. This year I want to go faster and break four hours.
‘I was very jittery on race day last year but it’s a different nervousness to performing on stage. I was most nervous about my tummy kicking off, so didn’t try anything new and my snacks were mostly natural ones. I even ended up giving some dates and broken-up banana from my bum bag to random runners who looked as if they were running out of energy.
‘You’re also nervous because you’re thinking about why you’re doing it. This year our team of five, including my brother David, are running for Parkinson’s UK and The Melissa Bell Foundation, which we set up after my mum died in 2017. She went through a really tough time when she was ill and so we want to give something back and keep her memory alive.
‘The atmosphere carried me along. There were even DJs playing and a drag act performing my songs as I ran past them. It was unbelievable when I heard them playing my song ‘Bad Boys’, which made me very emotional.
‘Chaka Khan said that I’d lost the plot. I told her back in December I was doing 12 shows a week, creating a new show about her and training hard for the marathon. I said I just had to get it all done. She thought was I absolutely mad!
‘I have given birth twice and they were the most exhilarating moments of my life. And it’s the only thing I can compare to the euphoria of when you cross the marathon finish line and you’re in that one percent of people to have actually done it.
*Alexandra is supporting Parkinson’s UK and The Melissa Bell Foundation, which helps young people to gain a summer scholarship at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, which is a cause that her mum cared about deeply. You can find out more here.
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