“There’s nothing better than going for a run on the Northumberland coast.”

Laura, how has your year been?

2020 has been an extremely strange year, a year I’m fortunate to have had professionally. In March when the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed, I was obviously really upset because I’d trained for 4 years post Rio and I was targeting a really good games. I also think Tokyo would have put on an absolute spectacle of an Olympic Games. Obviously, postponing was the right decision: the spirit of the Olympic Games is about fairness and equal opportunity for everyone around the world. I don’t believe that all sports and competitors would have had an equal opportunity to be fully prepared

How was your training affected?

Being an endurance athlete, I felt extremely fortunate that my training wasn’t overly affected by the pandemic. We were lucky that we could go out training once a day: it was beautiful weather so I could go out for a run then do my gym exercises at home. Where I live in Leeds, there are beautiful running routes and trails: I just had to adapt. I didn’t have a track to train on, but I used cricket pitches, road circuits and I had to make the best of a bad situation. I felt very fortunate because so many athletes in team sports or gymnasts or swimmers need facilities. I made the best of a bad situation.

You live in Leeds now but does where you grew up hold a special place?

Northumberland will always be home – I’ve lived in Leeds in for 10 years now but going back to my parents’ in Lesbury, that is home. I don’t mind being at home and having to “work” because there’s nothing better than going for a run on the Northumberland coast, is there? I can see Alnmouth beach from my parents’ house and within seven minutes I can be there. I love nothing more than running up the Northumberland coastline, as far as I can go. To me there’s no more beautiful run so I’m very lucky. I love running in Kielder forest when I have the opportunity too.

Will you get to indulge over Christmas or is it strictly food for fuel?

November in December is base building time – working on strengths and weaknesses ready for hard work in January. I do indulge at Christmas. For me, life is all about balance. My job is being a professional athlete and part of that job is fuelling my body in a certain way and training hard. But there are other things to life and I absolutely love Christmas. For me, it’s going home and spending time with my family, I’ll train over Christmas but we’re an active family – we often go out for walks and my mum loves to run as well. I might have a day off over the Christmas week because I do have a day off or a rest day every couple of weeks. Doing the mileage I do, I can enjoy the sweet treats and I would never restrict myself.

The Olympic Games will hopefully happen next year: are you excited for that?

I hope the world will be in a better place next year and the Olympics will go ahead. I’ll be really sad if they don’t. I like to err on the side of positivity about next year but, having said that, the health of the world comes first. The Olympics is a very special event and should only go ahead if it can be done safely but from an athletics point of view it would be an incredible achievement if I can go to my third Olympic Games.

Follow Laura on Instagram @lauraweightman1