Linda Robson is the ultimate 'marathon tourist' - in other words sight-seeing city breaks running on foot instead of an open-top bus.

However, in the past couple of years - due to the pandemic - Linda has had to run closer to home in Folkestone, Kent and has completed 22 marathons, 16 of which were in Kent.

As part of home-schooling her young son during the pandemic, Linda was doing some 'jigsaw geography' when she came up with an idea that has inspired her subsequent marathon running. Linda and her son took out some of the pieces of the jigsaw to show the counties her son had visited, as he learnt the names of those counties and then they started doing the same for counties where Linda had run a marathon.

Sourcing a 1974 map from the year she was born, which showed 35 counties, Linda realised that she had already completed marathons in 15 of those counties so she thought she'd make it her goal to complete the 1974 map. Once achieved, the plan would be to move onto a 2010 map showing 45 counties.
 
As part of Linda's challenge, her next marathon will be in the county of Greater Manchester on Sunday 3rd April as she takes on Britain's biggest spring marathon in 2022 - Therme Manchester Marathon.

Linda explained what it means to her: "Running is an important part of my physical and mental health. I do like the sense of achievement that comes from running, but it is much more about the positive benefits of running with a nice group of people and supporting each other. Part of the reason for doing marathons is to catch up with my running friends.

I work for the Open University so I’m hoping some of my colleagues from the Manchester office might also come out to support. I’m also looking forward to visiting Manchester again. My Grandmother lived there so I’ll be reminded of some of my childhood visits.

"I always love the atmosphere of a big city marathon and being supported both by other runners and spectators. I hope that my running also inspires other people to get out and give it a go. It’s lovely when you get to 16-19 miles and you catch up to someone who is struggling. I’ll walk a little bit with them and have a chat. It’s so nice to see them perk up, smile and get going again. Sometimes people need to be reminded that they can do it – pain is temporary, pride is forever!”

Entries for this year's Therme Manchester Marathon have sold out but you can still gain a place via one of the many charity partners.

Image: Therme Manchester Marathon on Facebook.