He started out as a long-distance track runner and he represented Australia in the 5000 m at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and attended his first World Athletics Championships the following year.
He became involved in athletics at the age of 11 when he joined his father's weight loss campaign by taking training runs around the Geelong suburb of Whittington.
During a brief stint in the 1990s Lee competed on a second-claim basis for the cross country team from Ballarat Harriers in the Athletics Victoria winter competition series.
Troop said he wanted to emulate the feats of Australian marathon legends Robert de Castella and his coach Steve Moneghetti in achieving a top 10 placing at the Olympic Games.
In October 2008, Lee announced that it was likely that he and his family would make a move to the United States no earlier than March 2009 with a desire to run in the Boston and New York Marathons.
Boulder with current elite runners Alejandro Ambrosio, Abdulmuhsen Mubarak Alali, Melissa Dock, Samuel Lanternier, Jacob Riley, Carrie Verdon, Ericka Waterman, and Chase Weaverling.