For fun...

times each. She retired from competitive running in 2015, but says: “I still run pretty much every day – I’m not really strict, it’s just what I can fit in. I think I was lucky to have as long and as healthy a career as I did.”

Isla and her brother Raphael, 10, are also keen runners and are members of an athletics clubs in Monte Carlo, where Paula and her husband Gary Lough, a former Northern Irish 1,500m runner, moved to in 2005.

“Isla likes to listen to music when she’s running – I don’t,” says Paula, who proudly says both children are competitive runners and Isla has already won a regional cross country title.

“I’m really keen that they do a sport they enjoy, and don’t just do it because their parents did it. But I would love it to be running,” admits the proud mum.

Thankfully, Isla has been well enough to resume sport – but after what the teenager has been through with cancer, Paula is keener than ever to make sure her kids get plenty of exercise and eat well.

“As far as nutrition goes, it should be everything in moderation, and I try to make sure my kids eat a balanced diet,” she says. “I try not to say ‘You can’t have that’, but the one thing they can’t have is coke, because they’re still young.”

Living in Monte Carlo, Paula’s family often eat a healthy Mediterranean diet packed with fish, vegetables and fruit, and Paula says one of the first solid foods Raphael ate when he was weaned was calamari.

Both children are bilingual, and Paula studied French at university and is also fluent in the language. Just like children in the UK, both kids missed a lot of school and had to be homeschooled during the pandemic, and Isla missed even more because of her illness.

“It was more challenging for Isla, but I think a lot of kids, including mine, have done really well during the pandemic,” says Paula.

“It’s been hard for so many people, and I feel lucky that my sport is one I’ve been able to do throughout it. I try to take the positive out of everything – I think it’s made us appreciate what we have. Being able to spend quality time with your family is so important – I think it’s made families stronger.”

The next Families on Track fun run events are at Newcastle Try on the Tyne on August 21-22, Run Fest Run at Laverstoke Park on August 27-29, and Worcester City Run on September 4-5.

“My message is to get running as a family,” stresses Paula. “Spend some quality time together, and not only will it be fun, but it’ll be so good for everyone in so many ways.”

Get running as a family. Spend some quality time together