I had three hip operations when I was playing, so I never thought I would become a runner. But after doing a couple of half marathons and watching last year\u2019s London Marathon to support a friend, I thought I just needed to do it.<\/p>\n
When I was a tennis pro, you don\u2019t ever really go for runs. You might do some track sessions here and there, but in general it\u2019s short, sharp running, mostly on court. I\u2019m someone who needs a plan, so I stuck to a 20-week training programme<\/a> for the London Marathon.<\/p>\n As patron of a charity, when the chance came to run the marathon for it, I really wanted to do it. The charity Give It Your Max works with disadvantaged and vulnerable children aged between 4-18 by using tennis as way of tackling poor mental health<\/a>, inactivity and low self-esteem by raising aspiration levels. <\/p>\n If I\u2019m home, I like to do most of my runs with my dog, Winnie. She\u2019s a labrador who has figured out that she doesn\u2019t really like track sessions or tempo runs. She\u2019s more of an easy run kind of dog, so anything faster than that and she\u2019s not really on board. <\/p>\n At this year\u2019s Winter Olympics, where I was reporting, I was even doing runs in the snow, along with the treadmill when it was too icy. I just kept telling myself I was in an altitude camp.<\/p>\n I listen to stuff depending on the length of my run. If it\u2019s a long run, it\u2019s no music for the first 8km or so and then maybe half an hour of a podcast and then music to pick me up at the end. I listen to anything \u2013 Disney show tunes, country or dance music.<\/p>\n During training, I\u2019ve been good at keeping up with my strength and rehab work, which is important for me. That\u2019s because after about 25km I start to feel it in my hip, so it\u2019s about managing it. Luckily, running in a straight line is generally okay as the problem in my hip is a rotational one. <\/p>\n Getting back on the gels and electrolytes for long runs kidded me into thinking I was an athlete again. My go-to has been rice during my marathon training, as a bagel is just a bit boring and I\u2019m so over them. My reward afterwards is a coffee and pain au chocolat.<\/p>\n Going back to 18 months ago when I signed up for my first race, I was shocking. I mean, it\u2019s all relative isn\u2019t it, but in my mind I was pretty bad, and now I\u2019m okay-ish. At least I can see an improvement and that\u2019s the biggest thing for me.<\/p>\n Every day I went into work at the Australian Open they would ask how many miles I had done that day. Ex-players Tim Henman<\/a> and Mats Wilander would want to know about my run. It was fun being able to brag a bit and say \u2018just the ten miles today!\u2019 or whatever it was.<\/p>\n Everyone says once you have done marathon you\u2019ll sign up for another. But I can never see myself doing an ultra. Instead I want to improve my half marathon time, as that feels like the thing which has really changed and now I\u2019ve got a clear marker of what I want to achieve. <\/p>\n My tennis career highlight was the Olympics. It was really special, as was cracking the top 30 for the first time. But after retirement, the marathon is one of my biggest achievements because it\u2019s required so much effort and discipline. <\/p>\n