Olympic gold medallist Eve Muirhead is running the TCS London Marathon to raise money for the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation; The curling legend spoke to Sky Sports about her training, pre-race nerves and how Steve Cram has helped her prepare for Sunday's event
Sunday 23 April 2023 07:04, UK
Olympic gold medallist Eve Muirhead is relishing the opportunity to embrace a new challenge this Sunday when she features at the TCS London Marathon.
Muirhead - who turns 33 the day before the race - will delay her birthday celebrations until after Sunday's event to run 26.2 miles in support of the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, the charity set up by rugby legend Doddie Weir to help improve the lives of those affected by Motor Neurone Disease.
The curling legend, who has represented Team GB in four consecutive Winter Olympics and was part of the gold medal-winning team in Beijing, says training for the race has given her a new focus after announcing her retirement last summer.
"The way I am, I am very driven to achieve in whatever I'm doing," Muirhead told Sky Sports. "When I decided to retire a few months back, I needed another goal to push towards, I needed something to get to. That is why I chose to do the marathon.
"Once I cross that line, I will hopefully realise all that hard work has paid off. I think the satisfaction of achieving what you want to achieve will be very similar to my career.
"I knew Doddie [Weir] well and I'm glad to have the chance to raise awareness for this great charity. I am very fortunate that I have had a lot of great donations so far and I would like to get some more donations if I can."
Muirhead posted an impressive time of one hour and 34 minutes at the London Landmarks Half Marathon earlier this month, although believes her hopes of a sub-3:30 marathon on Sunday may have been scuppered by injury.
"I guess I maybe pushed myself a little bit too much," she explained. "I was a little bit injured in the back of that, which hasn't been ideal. It was always going to happen and that was always my biggest fear, staying away from injuries with the amount of training I was doing.
"I have been seeing a physio regularly and I think when I did the half marathon it set the small niggles into slightly bigger niggles unfortunately. I am sure I will be able to get through in the day - I am definitely not one for pulling out!
"I would love to achieve something around 3:30 but I won't be disappointed if I don't because at the end of the day, it is about running for charity and participating in the event and I just can't wait for the day."
Muirhead, who has had the support of former middle-distance world champion Steve Cram during her training campaign, remains unsure whether Sunday's appearance in London will inspire her to compete in more events.
"I am very lucky I have had Steve [Cram] help me out with my training because if I am honest, I wouldn't have a clue what to do!" Muirhead admitted. "I am not really a runner or I never was a runner.
"It is funny because Steve says once you have done one, you get that bug and you go 'I could have done better', then you go on and do more. I can't say I have hated running, as I enjoy doing it and enjoy going out for a five or 10k, but I don't so much enjoy going out for 30k if I am perfectly honest!
"Dependent on how Sunday goes, I will probably finish and go 'I can do better than that' or 'I should have gone slower here or there', so time will tell. I am pretty sure I will still run in some capacity."
Nearly 90,000 are expected to feature in this weekend's marathon, with almost 50,000 scheduled to run the main event and 40,000 more taking part virtually, while hundreds of thousands of spectators are likely to line the streets of London once again.
"As it is getting closer, you get a little bit more anxious and a little bit more nervous, but I am really looking forward to it," Muirhead added. "It has been in my diary a long time now, so I am really excited to experience the big day because you hear so much about it.
"You hear how the atmosphere helps you along, then of course a lot of adrenaline as well. When you see people raising money and putting themselves through a lot of hurt to get that, it is really great to see."
Eve Muirhead is running the TCS London Marathon on Sunday to raise money for the "My Name'5 Doddie Foundation". You can sponsor her by visiting her JustGiving page.
