A woman preparing for her 30th London Marathon said distance running is “the only thing I can do”.
Barbara Ralph, 66, of Chesham, Buckinghamshire, told the PA news agency: “I’m not good at any sport and can’t sprint to save my life.”
It had been thought that Louise Blizzard, 44, from Warrington, Cheshire, would be setting a new record for the most London Marathons completed by a woman if she collected her 26th medal this year.
The Chiltern Harriers Athletics Club runner has run 10 London Marathons under her maiden name of Barbara Sheldon, three as Barbara Sheldon-Ralph and 16 under her married name.
In 2009, aged 55, she finished in three hours, 18 minutes and 53 seconds and was the third woman to finish in the 55-59 age group, receiving a plaque for her achievement. She was also rated third in the UK in her age group for a marathon that year.
“That’s the sort of thing you are more proud of than getting a medal for finishing. It’s got more meaning,” she told PA.
“The plaque I have got has more meaning because I won something.”
“It’s the only thing I can do,” she said modestly.
Mrs Ralph, who grew up in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, started running regularly when she was 28 and signed up on a whim for her first ever race which was the Bedford Marathon.
She finished in three hours and 22 minutes, but said: “I could hardly walk for three weeks after it.”
“I think I had shoes and jeans type trousers on,” she remembered.
“I left my brother. I was 14 I think. He was two-and-a-half years younger than me. I came in about third.”
She added: “I was always first to the bus. I couldn’t sprint but if it was maybe a few hundred yards, I was always first there.
“At school I tried to do cross country but only boys were allowed to do cross country at the school that I went to.”
Instead she had to play hockey “which I hated” or netball which “I didn’t mind”.
“Taking a positive from it I’ll have more time to train as I’ve had a bad back and have been struggling to get the mileage up,” said Mrs Ralph, a part time admin worker for civil and structural engineering consultancy PTA.
“I can probably get myself fitter for October than I would’ve for April.”
