Ms. Namita Nayyar:
On 14th April 2013 you won the “Lochaber Marathon” breaking the women’s record by more than four minutes, despite the heavy rain and strong wind, as you crossed the line in 2hrs 45mins 55 secs. Tell us about this ‘memorable win’?
Ms. Joanna Zakrzewski:
I ran the Barcelona marathon in March 2013 and unfortunately the race didn’t go particularly well. I found myself running alone for most of the race, as a small elite field were set off 2 mins before the rest of the field, so anyone else running my pace was 2mins behind me, and those catching up to me were obviously running faster. I wanted to run a smaller low-key marathon so that I had some company to run with (and I’d never run a marathon in Scotland) so I entered Lochaber. There was no pressure on me to run a specific time, as I only entered 5 days before the race and drove up with a friend that morning.
There was every type of weather possible during that race – sun, wind, hail and rain…but you could also see snow on the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately I did end up running alone again, but the out and back course meant that you did get to see and cheer other runners en route. With it being a well-known local race, there were mainly friendly faces out by the side of the road to encourage me, so I enjoyed it and completely surprised myself (and some of the men) by finishing second overall!
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You ran and won a unique format race where more than 35,397 runners from 164 countries took part in the first ever “Wings for Life World Run” on 5th May 2014. The race format involved runners of all abilities and ages competing simultaneously in 32 countries spanning six continents and 13 time zones. Tell us about this experience of yours?
Ms. Joanna Zakrzewski:
I thought this was a very interesting new concept, and it seemed to work exceptionally well. Basically, all runners around the world started running at the same time (it was 11am here in the UK), and then a “chaser car” started off from every start location exactly 30 minutes later. The chaser cars all speeded up at a constant rate, and the runners’ timing chips were deactivated when the car passed them. In this way, the event catered for runners of all speeds and all abilities, and it enabled people to compete against others (including friends and family) in completely different parts of the globe. I found it a very friendly and sociable event, and made some good friends as we ran along chatting away in the beautiful British countryside – and all the money raised worldwide is used for research into spinal cord injuries, so we were also running “for those who can’t”!
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What you wish to say about the website Womenfitness.net and message for its visitors?
Ms. Joanna Zakrzewski:
Thank you for contacting me and thank you to everyone reading this. I hope that I have helped people to see that it’s never too late to start running, or any fitness for that matter. there are endless opportunities and possibilities out there for people, whatever your background, body shape, speed, fitness or ability – and you’ll never know whether you’ll enjoy something until you give it a go….so go try!
To know the latest about Joanna Zakrzewski, check her out at: https://twitter.com/jozakruns
Her blog can be checked at: http://www.joasiazakrzewski.blogspot.co.uk
Women Fitness Team thanks Joanna Zakrzewski for giving her valuable time for this interview and quenching the thirst of her fans to know more about her and made this interview happen.
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