<center id="e206k"></center> 71-year-old, Helen Lloyd Jones from Cardiff recently completed her first marathon and is encouraging others of her age to take up the challenge. "Do it. We only live once," she said after the event.
Helen took up running in her 50's while working as a teacher. After jogging alongside one of her students during a sports day race, Helen said, "I felt terrible, absolutely terrible. It was a wakeup call and I started to practise jogging."
Helen started attending her local parkrun, but decided she needed a bigger challenge to keep her motivated. Once the idea of running 26.2 came into her head, she was decided, and set her sights on running a larger race, using the support of the crowds to get her round.
Helen didn't tell her husband for the first five months of her training as she knew he'd be worried about the toll the distance might have on her, saying g afterwards, "The difference between the man who waved me goodbye and the smiling man who greeted me when I returned was a reflection of how much he had been worrying. But he is very proud of me."
At 71, Helen explains how she didn't do her training "by the book". After trying to do a long run, a speed run and a hill run each week, she soon found her body was not able to recover fast enough between sessions. Instead, she chose one long run a week with her local running club Pegasus and friend Sally, so she could feel confident with the distance.
A proud grandmother, Helen is I now taking her grandchildren to parkruns and junior parkruns. She hopes that they will remember running with their grandmother when they grow up. Are there more marathons in her future? "I said I would only do the one, but have a feeling that if I got a place in London or New York... I might change my mind."
