Five years ago, Anya Culling took more than four and a half hours to complete the London Marathon - but in 2024 she will take her place among the elites.
Anya Culling set a marathon personal best time of 2:34:45 in 2023, four years after running her first in 4:34:23The Anya Culling of five years ago would certainly be forgiven for struggling to comprehend how much she has gone on to achieve so quickly.
She had also overcome serious health issues to make the start line in 2019, having a benign tumour removed and undergoing radiotherapy to treat an over-active thyroid."I was on steroids and the natural thing is for you to gain a bit of weight. I had been in and out of hospital - I remember getting my GCSE results in hospital and it continued for quite a few years after that.
"It wasn't until lockdown that I realised the peacefulness of running, and the simplicity of it. That really helped me get through lockdown and it was when I really started enjoying it. I just naturally progressed my training as that continued," Culling explains. "I have taken a lot of the pressure off myself compared to previous races. I know I just need to keep going and not overthink everything. Hopefully that will pay off," Culling says.
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