In 2024, Janine Anderson’s son finished the London marathon, turned to her and said “now it’s your turn”.
All three of Janine’s children have completed the marathon, raising over £15,000 for Heart Research UK in memory of their father, Brendan, who died from an undiagnosed heart condition in 2013.
Following her son’s prompting, Janine, 63, applied for the 2026 London marathon though Heart Research UK in July 2025.
She said: “I haven’t run since my early 20s.
“I downloaded the Couch to 5K app and thought ‘I’ve just got to take it little by little’.”
Janine’s children joined her on some of her runs and, steadily, the running became “a bit addictive”.
Once she had finished the initial programme, she added a kilometre each week, building up to a half marathon in December 2025.
“Since I finished Couch to 5K, I’ve done 750km, in my mish-mash way of doing it,” she said.
As someone who has gone from Couch to 5K to a marathon in under a year, Janine’s top tip is to download the app.
“I think it would be hard to do on your own, without any support,” she said.
“I really liked that it started so small.
“The app was brilliant.”
