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days she works as an investment analyst for an insurance company, handling deals worth millions.

      ‘It’s a challenging job,’ she says, ‘but I do enjoy it.’

      With over 100 marathons, training five times a week plus a challenging job, does she ever sleep?

      ‘I love sleeping!’ Naomi responds enthusiastically, sounding like Pollyanna. ‘I like eight or nine hours a night and I sleep like a log!’

      Hardly surprising given that she gets up every morning at six o’clock, or earlier if she has meetings at work or needs to run longer.

      ‘I always run in the mornings,’ she explains, adding rather reassuringly, ‘evenings are for drinking wine. I’m hopeless at waking up; I have a cup of tea and half a bowl of cereal. I can run on empty but I get more from training with a kick-start, especially for harder or longer sessions.

      ‘I have a fast metabolic rate, which means I can’t eat earlier than 45 minutes prior to running as I get too hungry,’ she explains. ‘During the 10-in-10 eating was difficult – obviously the amount of food you need is so different to the amount of food you want to eat, or would normally eat. I ate jam sandwiches – they were fantastic – and ginger cake; I had no problem digesting them. My mum actually fed me sausages and chips, which I managed to eat but they were a bit harder to get down.’

      Whereas marshmallows would have been perfect!

      ‘During races, I don’t take on gels as I don’t like them and only drink water or sports drinks. Cups of tea are good, too,’ she adds, ‘I love a cup of tea. At the 10-in-10, my mum made me tea to drink with my jam sandwiches!’

      So, what does her mother think of her daughter’s running exploits?

      ‘My family are really supportive,’ Naomi says straightaway. ‘They came out for my early marathons in Paris, Dublin and Barcelona, and the 10-in-10. They were unbelievably wonderful, making the tea and jam sandwiches, and giving me their support. They are very proud of me – I find it very touching. It makes me feel a bit guilty about the amount of effort they expend. I wonder why I deserve it, I guess.’

      Because you are family – unconditional love and all that, Naomi! It’s so much a right as a living inheritance.

      ‘My friends are also very supportive,’ she continues. ‘Many of them are runners of course, so they understand my motivation. Many of them run faster than me or do ultras [races further than marathon distance] and juggle lots of other commitments, so you never feel like you’re on a pedestal. You all have your own challenges. They’re good, too for pulling your leg as much as celebrating your successes,’ she adds, with a soft chuckle that speaks clearly of her fondness for them.

      ‘Work are the most baffled. Most of them are not runners and find it hard to understand why I run so many races. It’s amusing how they adapt to the idea, though. Once you’ve run a few marathons on consecutive weekends, they wonder why you have a weekend off!’

      Surely they must also envy Naomi’s impressive race travelogue, from which I ask her to select a few favourites.

      ‘There are many,’ she says, ‘but Rome is definitely one of them. It has a really good atmosphere, beautiful scenery and is a fast course. Also, it’s held in March, so it’s a good time of year weather-wise, too.

      ‘Marrakech last January was also very enjoyable and Mauritius is also worth mentioning. It was the first time they’d held a marathon and it started at six in the morning to avoid the heat. It almost succeeded,’ she adds with a laugh, ‘it was about 20 degrees when we finished, but we finished on a beach and ran straight into the sea at the end. It was beautiful!’

      It sounds like it – apart from the 6am start and the 26.2-mile run, that is.

      I wonder whether Naomi has any interest in running ultras and off-road races.

      ‘I do at this time of year [February],’ she tells me, ‘just because there aren’t that many road marathons and I want to keep the pressure up. In fact, I’m doing a 50-kilometre race this weekend [a week before Malta].’

      Coach Summer rises to the surface and can’t help but ask if Naomi really thinks this is a good idea.

      ‘I wanted to do something that will keep me working before I do the 100th next weekend,’ she offers by way of defence.

      Well, by my reckoning, a 50K run should just about do it. I push the coach in me away. After all, this woman has run more marathons than I’ve watched so she must know by now what suits her.

      And if Naomi is someone who is not afraid to push herself, she is also a person who likes to do things properly.

      ‘I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to counting marathons,’ she explains. ‘I like them to be run on road in a proper marathon race as opposed to part of an ultra or off-road race, where it’s difficult to measure the course accurately.’

      Regardless of this approach, she tells me that she prefers road races anyway as she finds off-road/trails more difficult.

      ‘They are much more tiring, heavier on the legs. Plus, you can’t allow your mind to roam free as you have to concentrate on the uneven terrain.

      ‘I can only get into my running rhythm in road races and can run faster times because of it. The time also goes more quickly. I find I can switch off and let my mind go wherever it likes, then I look at my watch and 40 minutes have passed. Running on the road it can feel effortless – you don’t have to consciously think about where your feet are going, you are free to enjoy the movement, the surroundings and lose yourself in your own thoughts.

      ‘Last year I ran loads of races – 52 in all, including the Brathay 10-in-10 and four or five doubles [two marathons in two days] but I’ve eased off a bit since then. My last race was four weeks ago.’

      It’s lucky I’m doing this interview over the phone and she can’t see me at this point because my mouth has flopped open and my chin (of which, by the way, I’m pleased to report at this stage in my life there is only one) has just landed on my chest. I can’t see myself, of course as I’m not conducting this interview in front of a mirror, but I know that if I could then it would not be pretty.

      ‘I think it’s possible to do lots of marathons so long as you listen to what your body says,’ avers Naomi.

      As a runner from the days of yore when heart rate monitors and Garmins [sports watches that measure distance, speed, altitude, heart rate, time and pace and whose data can be uploaded to a computer for recording purposes] hadn’t been invented, yet we were able to tell to the metre exactly how far we’d run just because we knew what it felt like and had learned to listen to our bodies, I find myself in total agreement.

      So, moving on to the future. Where does she see herself going once she’s completed the 100?

      ‘Originally,’ she says, ‘I thought that when I’d completed 100, I maybe wouldn’t run any more marathons but now I intend to carry on.

      ‘I enjoy it too much,’ she expands, ‘the European cities, the travel, the weekend away in the sunshine, seeing different places… I will keep doing it but run fewer, hopefully faster.’

      Interestingly, a few months after Naomi’s 100th, I caught up with her again and asked how she now felt about running marathons: had she made any changes or set herself any new goals?

      ‘My attitude is totally different now!’ she says. ‘I categorically won’t run a marathon I don’t like – for example, if they’re badly organised or have a horrible route, or are over-priced or off-road and you have to find your own route with just a set of printed instructions. Before, the motivation was to get to the 100th – it was part of a bigger picture. Now I have to want to finish each race or the motivation isn’t there.

      ‘I’ve decided to do far fewer races, bag a few more “destinations” and target some fast times. I’m hoping

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