Sally Brider

I discovered the joy and benefits of running in later life after battling the anxiety and depression that came with the menopause.

I had been running for only eight months when I took on my first marathon at the London Marathon in 2017. I was 53 years and 7 months. It was only meant to be a ‘one off’ bucket list adventure but running, and especially that ‘finish line feeling’ had became addictive!!

I’m now 58, and with five marathons and one ultra under my belt, I’m on a mission to complete all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. I currently have three…London, New York and Berlin and with places for Tokyo and Chicago in 2022 I’m hoping to have five by the end of next year. That will just leave Boston and working towards a BQ, which realistically (even after a new PB in Berlin this year) is much more likely to be achievable after I turn 60 in 2023!!

I absolutely love to challenge age perceptions and assumptions of what women can / should be doing at this time of life and am intrigued to find out what my mind and body are still capable of achieving…one of the reasons I took on my first 50km ultra this year. In turn I hope to inspire other women that we are still so capable of setting ourselves and achieving big dreams and goals. I’m also a big advocate of breaking the taboo around the ‘menopause’ word and talking about this challenging time of life, sharing experiences and showing that there is life on the other side.

I’m not going to pretend that I always find the ageing process easy to accept or embrace because I don’t but, and I know it’s a cliché I really do believe that age is just a number. I think the secret is not to let that ‘number’ determine what you think you can or can’t do.

One of my running highlights was being selected as a member of the ASICS FrontRunner UK team in March 2020. I love being part of this diverse group of people as well as the wider running community which I find to be inspiring, supportive and encouraging.