Jo Pavey is the first to admit that one of the last things that she expected to be doing as she approached her 41st birthday was representing her country at a major athletics event.
Yet, just 10 days after she had won Commonwealth Games bronze in an England vest over 5,000m, a 40-year-old Pavey defied the odds and the doubters to clinch the first gold medal of her career for Team GB in the 10,000m at the European Championships in Zurich.
So, does she now intend to go again at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro? We caught up with the 2014 Sunday Times and Sky Sports Sportswomen of the Year nominee to discuss that possibility, as well as missing out on funding, thoughts of retirement and why having children has boosted her career.
You've been nominated for the Sportswoman of the Year award, which has been won by the likes of Sally Gunnell, Paula Radcliffe, Denise Lewis and Dame Kelly Holmes. What would it mean to follow in their footsteps and win the award?
"It's absolutely unbelievable. I feel so honoured to be nominated for an award like this that I just cannot believe it. I'd be very surprised if I won with all the amazing nominees, but all those past winners that you mentioned, they are people that I totally admire and have really looked to for inspiration. Plenty of athletes have won it and the likes of Sally and Paula, I have nothing but admiration for their achievements. Just to be nominated among the amazing sportswomen from this year is massive for me."
Would winning the award be the perfect way to round off the last 12 months for you?
"To win such a prestigious award would be so amazing. It would round off a great year without a doubt, but as I say there are such strong nominees and they are people that I really respect. It's a big ask [to win the award], but I'd be so proud."
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You won your first major gold medal at the age of 40 in Zurich back in August - why do you think that was? Had you made any significant changes either tactically or in training?
"I've been more surprised than anyone else because I really thought that I'd be retired by now. At the start of the year I was coming back from having a baby and I thought that making the team would probably be beyond me, which may have forced me to retire. I was still breastfeeding in April and the 10,000m trials for the Championships were in May. I thought then that I might possibly scrape into the team, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be able to get a medal. I thought that was impossible!
"What has done me some good is having that balance in my life. I train really hard, but I don't stress about the sessions, whereas I used to dwell on things before I was a busy mum. I was always worried if the sessions were going well at the track and if I was meeting the targets that I had aimed for. Now, I'm busy all the time and it's done me a lot of good. When I train, I do it harder than ever, but there is no stress. I'm much, much happier in myself because I feel very fortunate to have two lovely little children and a supportive husband. It makes me feel happier in my life, which has reflected in my running. I'd got to a stage where I wasn't enjoying my running much because I desperately wanted to be a mum. Being happy has helped things massively."
Your children go to all the major events with you, don't they? Do you find that it helps to have them close by?
"We've made running a family thing. Often we will be down the track and [five-year-old son] Jacob will be running about and [one-year-old daughter] Emily would be sitting on a rug playing at the finish line during the summer. It's nice having the family there. When I won my gold medal and I saw them on the lap of honour, it was really special, not that I was intending to see them on the lap of honour because I wasn't expecting that one bit! It's took me years and years to finally achieve that aim of getting a gold, but I thought those days were gone. Being over 40 and a mother of two, having just had a baby, it seemed impossible, but maybe waiting this long has made it extra special."
You mentioned retirement earlier - did it ever cross your mind to call it a day?
"I didn't want to retire because I was still enjoying running and had some goals that I wanted to achieve. I didn't think that I was going to make any of the teams, though, and it was also important that it worked for us as a family. I didn't know if that was possible. Being a mum is my main priority, but fortunately it's worked for us as a family. The nice thing about my husband and I working together is that we actually get more time together as a family."
A couple of weeks ago it was announced that you would not receive any lottery funding, despite the successful year that you had. Was that something that surprised you?
"I wasn't expecting to receive any funding. Obviously it's always disappointing to miss out because it's helpful, but I don't want to get controversial and upset about it. It's just another obstacle to overcome. There was a lot of people asking to speak to me on the day that it was announced, but I'm being totally truthful when I say that I had no idea the news of who was going to be funded was released then. I wasn't on tenterhooks because it wasn't expected. It's disappointing, but I've had years in the past - like last year - when I wasn't funded and I won my gold medal and earlier in my career I was funded, which I'm grateful for. I'm not dwelling on it, just looking forward."
Does the lack of funding add to your determination to prove people wrong?
"I just want to keep going out there and try my best. I trained really hard this year, but I didn't have that expectation and I came out of it with medals. That probably taught me a lesson because I used to make the situation too stressful. I'm a lot more flexible now that I have to work around the kids, which is a better mental way to approaching things. I'm still determined to do well, but there is less pressure from myself."
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The buzz now is all about Rio in 2016. You'll be approaching the age of 43, but has this last year whetted your appetite for it? Will we be seeing you in Brazil?
"If you'd asked me a few years ago if I'd have been retired by Rio, without a doubt, I couldn't see me competing there. I thought this year would be my last year. Now, these last few months have given me the encouragement to carry on and I'm intending to try to get there. Obviously I've got to qualify. I can't just do it because there are some good young girls coming through and I have to get a team place. I do feel that it's much more realistic, though."
Do you have an event in mind? Either the 5,000m or 10,000m? Or both?
"It could be both, or maybe just one. I will have to see how things pan out. The qualifying is always separate, so at times you have to see what fits and how the training is going. I always find it hard which one of the 5,000m and 10,000m to target because there is not one that I prefer. I just take it each year at a time."
Being the longer event, does the 10,000m provide you with more options tactically? Could that sway your decision?
"It does, but that is probably what makes the decision [of what to run] more confusing because there is more that can happen. When you pick a distance race, you'd love to be able to watch the races, see what happened and then decide! It's a lot to do with how the tactics go during the race. When you're out there, you obviously run your own race and try to get your gameplan out there, but you do very much have little idea of how the race as a whole is going to be run. Sometimes that makes it a hard decision what event to go for because you want to finish as high up as possible. It's not like a shorter race where you only concentrate on executing your own performance, you have to find out what the others have planned as you're running around."
Of course, if you do compete in Rio, that will be your fifth Olympic appearance. That is some milestone, isn't it?
"I'm so old that I could have already done five! I didn't get my act together in 1996 when I would have been nearly 21, but it would be a great milestone to get to for sure."
So, if we see you showing off your Olympic gold medal in Rio, will you call it a day?
"Getting on the podium in Rio is going to be really, really tough. The way I've operated in the last few months, I've taken things one stage at a time and that has helped me massively. This year, it was very much about doing the 10,000m trials and then making the qualifying time. Then I needed to do the trials for the 5,000m and get that time. I'm seeing each obstacle as a stage, which is the best way for me to do things."
Jo Pavey is shortlisted for the 2014 Sunday Times and Sky Sports Sportswomen of the Year Awards, celebrating women in sport at all levels. Watch on Sky Sports 1HD from 8pm on November 19.
Liam Apicella
