Carla Molinaro reflects on Land’s End to John o’ Groats running record, beginning to see the fun through the pain
- After the first morning, every step Carla Molinaro takes hurts but embracing the pain is the key to success
- She sets a new women’s record for running the length of Britain in 12 days, 30 minutes and 14 seconds, slicing 10 hours off the previous time
When Carla Molinaro arrived at the northeast tip of the British mainland, it was hard for her to feel anything but pain. She had just set the women’s record for running 1,400 kilometres from Land’s End to John o’ Groats.
“The reason I could do it was because I just accepted to the pain. I just accepted that it was going to hurt, and integrated that. I’d wake up and think, it’s going to hurt today and every step you take to the finish will hurt,” Molinaro, 36, said.
“It was so much harder than I expected. From lunch time on the first day, that first morning was awesome, then we stopped for lunch and my legs seized up. From then, every step for the next 11 and a half days hurt. I thought my legs would ease of and they just didn’t.”
Since finishing on July 28 in 12 days, 30 minutes and 14 seconds – breaking the record by 10 hours – Molinaro has been able to see past the pain.
“All the things I’ve done before, there’s been fun involved, but in this I just had to get my head down and move forward. It was quite difficult in that I couldn’t have banter with the team, I just had to keep moving,” Molinaro said.