Magpie Matthews excited to hit the streets of London
Having been preparing to run a marathon from 2020, Maidenhead United Women’s Kirsty Matthews said she is ‘excited and nervous’ to be finally hitting the streets of London this weekend.
Kirsty, unknowingly, qualified for the major event after running Madrid’s half-marathon in a time of one hour and 29 minutes back in 2019.
As a result, she will start this Sunday’s race in the Championship section which will set off just after the elite runners.
Out of 50,000 participants, Kirsty will be donning number 630 and speaking to the Advertiser earlier this week, the 23-year-old revealed her mixture of emotions.
“I am very excited to finally do it but it’s also my first proper marathon, so those nerves are definitely going to be kicking in closer to the day,” she said.
“I qualified for the London Marathon back in 2019, but because of COVID it didn’t go ahead.
“I literally did all the training but didn’t actually do the race. Back then, I was at University so I had so much more free time to fit in the long runs.
“Now that I’m working, it’s a case of waking up at 6:00am, go on a run for three hours, and then start work.
“It’s been tough, but I’ve always lead a healthy lifestyle and playing football requires plenty of running anyway.”
Kirsty added: “I ran a 1hr29m halfmarathon in Madrid a few years back and, I didn’t even know this at the time, people were saying I qualified for one of the major marathons.
“I only started properly running in 2019 as well – I wasn’t even part of Maidenhead (Athletics Club) at the time.
“I think only now am I realising how big of an achievement it was. I received my kitbag the other day and
I’m number 630 out of 50,000, and that’s a big expectation.
“A time below three-and-a-half hours will be good.”