Sophie Raworth feels 'stronger and fitter than at any other time' in her life after running her first marathon at 42 - here's what she's learned since

“When I started running marathons at 42, I thought I was too old and that it would be a one-off. I never imagined 15 years later I would be running even further,” Sophie Raworth, now 57, tells me over video call.

Since her early 40s, Sophie has pulled on her running shoes for over 20 marathons and ultra-marathons. Her achievements include the 250km Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert, an ultramarathon from Orsières in Switzerland to Chamonix in France, and 55km through the rocky hills in Mallorca. She has also completed all six World Marathon Majors, from London to Tokyo.

For all the triumph, Sophie begins her new autobiography Running On Air: From BBC Headlines to Life-Changing Finish Lines by reliving the moment she collapsed from heat exhaustion towards the end of the 2011 London Marathon. Through sheer determination, she went on to complete the race, but it wasn't the finish she'd hoped for. “I knew I wanted to write that experience down as it is a bit of drama, but I didn’t know what chapter two was, so I didn’t write anything more for a long time,” she says.

Then, in 2024, she was diagnosed with a fracture, forcing her to quit running for a while. “I thought, I can't write a book about my love of running if I can never run again, so I only really knuckled down to write it once I knew I could,” she tells me.

The book is more than a record of races and medals. Running On Air is a personal reflection on resilience and the quiet transformation that comes from putting one foot in front of the other, on the road and in life. Like any endurance challenge, Sophie is thrilled to have completed it.

“I hadn’t seen it as a whole story before. I was just going from race to race, but I can see now how running has grounded me and given me physical and mental confidence.”

The first run is always the hardest

Sophie was not especially sporty as a child growing up in Twickenham, southwest London. At 16, she briefly took up competitive diving after being spotted in the pool, but academic pressures took over. “A-levels got in the way of training, and then I didn’t do any sport for 20 years,” she says.

Instead, Sophie focused on her career, joining the BBC in 1992. She worked behind the scenes in Manchester and then in Brussels before presenting Look North in Leeds in 1995. Two years later, she moved to national news, first on Breakfast News, and then the Six O’Clock News.

In 2006, Sophie started running as a beginner. She was 38 and had just had her second child when Brendan Foster, the former long-distance runner and founder of the Great North Run, invited her to take part in the famous half-marathon.

“I can vividly remember heading out with my husband, Richard, for a three-mile run and needing to stop at mile two to have some water,” says Sophie.

She subsequently started following a three-month training plan and running three times a week. “It is so hard when you start, but I loved the structure. You build up gradually, about 10% more every week, stay consistent and then it's race day, and the work pays off. I find it really fulfilling.”

The importance of community

After her collapse in 2011, Sophie returned to the London Marathon the following year and completed it in under 4 hours. A year later, she finished it in under 3 hours 45 minutes, which qualified her for the 2014 Boston Marathon. She has not looked back, and by her own admission, running has become something of an obsession.

It is not only the races she finds so rewarding, but the camaraderie and sense of community. “It's so welcoming and such a wonderful leveller, especially Parkrun, which you can walk, jog or run. Nobody judges you,” says Sophie.

The day before we chat, she completed a 32km training run with 12 others ahead of this year’s London Marathon. “You are chatting as you go, which is good for controlling your breath," she says.

Running's mental benefits

Long runs also offer space for reflection. "A lot of the time I run on alone. It is an escape. I’ve got a busy job with people talking in my ear while I am on air. When I’m running, it’s quiet, and I really value that," she says.

In Running On Air, Sophie writes movingly about her former BBC colleague and great friend George Alagiah and the profound impact of his death from cancer in 2023, as well as her father, who passed away last year.

As she recently revealed to her Instagram followers, he actually took the book’s cover photo.

“Running has made me more resilient, like I can cope with anything,” she says. And this mental discipline carries into her broadcasting. “When I do the news, it's always very last-minute. You might not know the top story until a minute before you go on air, but I can zone in and focus and trust it will be alright.”

It is the same skill she adopts on the race trail. “Don't look at the top of the mountain, you’ll slip on the pebbles. Just take small steps, and you'll be all right. You'll get there in the end,” she says.

Running teaches resilience

Whether you are running an ultramarathon or jogging around the park for the first time, you will ultimately tackle the self-doubt (something Sophie refers to as the ‘demons’), the voice on your shoulder telling you to take it easy, that you can’t do it.

“It is always a mental battle,” says Sophie, recalling her experience of the Marathon des Sables. “I was really scared beforehand and didn’t think I could do it, but a friend who had completed it said, ‘Just take it one day at a time. So, I did. I broke it down, and I got through it. That is a more extreme example, but the same approach applies at any level. You'll be amazed at what you can do if you just try,” says Sophie.

“We often tell ourselves we can't do something, it's easier that way, but when you do try and discover you can, it is incredibly empowering.”

Sophie mentions a friend of hers she has known for over 30 years. Inspired by Sophie’s running, she began with short runs and progressed to becoming a first-time marathon runner. “When I spoke to her a while ago, she was learning the violin and Russian. She said, 'You taught me that just by putting one foot in front of the other, I could do things I never thought possible.’ And I love that notion. Who knows where that mindset can take you.”

The importance of a well-rounded routine

For the past two years, Sophie has been incorporating resistance training into her routine, which she says has been transformative. “We can lose muscle mass as we age (around four to six pounds every decade), but we don't have to. I go to a small class where we do deadlifts and squats, things I have never done before and I really enjoy it. I wish I had started sooner,” she says.

“I feel stronger and fitter than at any other time in my life. And I think that translates to your headspace as well. You feel very grounded. It gives you resilience and infiltrates your whole life,” she says.

“Whether it is running or strength training, don’t write yourself off. Your body is so much stronger than your mind lets you believe. Just give it a go and chip away. Those small steps will take you a long way.”