Joyce Smith: 'I stopped running when I was 74. You don't pick up your feet as much'

One of Britain’s distance running greats on keeping fit at 77, the frustrations of not being allowed to race long distances as a woman and jelly beans, lemon squash and chocolate

Joyce Smith began running in the 1950s, at which time the longest distance for women in international competitions was 800 metres. She broke the world record for 3,000m in 1971, and ran at the 1972 Olympic Games. In 1979, she retired from track racing and turned to marathons. She won the Toyko Marathon in 1979 and 1980 and won the first London Marathon in 2:29:57, becoming the first British woman and the first woman over 40 to complete the distance in less than two and a half hours. A year later, she won the event in 2:29:43, again setting a new British record, and becoming the oldest woman to win the race at 44 years, 195 days – a record which still stands. She retired in 1986. She and her husband Bryan, who was also her coach, are on the board of trustees of the London Marathon Charitable Trust.

First, do you still run? No.