A 54-YEAR-OLD York runner is preparing to take part in her 54th marathon on Sunday.

Janet Wood, a York-based Pilates expert and running coach who has competed in marathons in the USA and across the UK, will run in the UK’s second biggest event of its kind in Edinburgh.

Janet, director of MI Studio York and founder of Sweat-Equity York, a distance running training organisation, said her running passion started when she was 14 and her father took her into ‘The Runner’ store in Arlington, Texas, for her first pair of running shoes.

“I ran around the small indoor track and never looked back,” she said.

She credits her professional career to her running.

“I’m convinced Pilates has been the secret to my fitness and has helped me keep on running into my 50s,” she said, adding that the ‘Somatic Movement,’ which she also teaches, had contributed as well.