25–26 Jan 2025 84 days to go! #RunShow Tickets

Samantha Sutton

I started my running journey seriously in 2017 when I was 42 years old, which is quite late in life to start running.  I had tried running before but had always failed and given up.  I thought it was because I wasn’t fit enough or I simply wasn’t designed to run plus I had operations on both my knees in my 20’s and was always told “it’s bad for your knees!”  When I started running in 2017 it was different, I happened across an advert for a free beginners running group, I had no interest in running at that time but for some reason it sparked my interest.  This time I was able to stick at it and have run every distance from a 5k parkrun through to marathons and the 100k Race to the Stones.  (Oh and my knees are now stronger than ever!)

Being a slightly older runner, I felt there wasn’t much support aimed at specifically older runners, our needs and the issues we face as runners change so much as we age, with this in mind I created the Facebook group Veteran Runners UK.   A group aimed at people aged over 40.  The group is a friendly, non-competitive and wholly supportive community which I am so proud to be a part of.