McCOLGAN Eilish

General
MARATHON PLAN
She plans to switch from track events to the marathon after the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "It's a scary prospect but it's always been something I've wanted to do. I probably would have gone to it a little bit sooner had the Olympics not been delayed. For the following Olympic Games [in 2024] I'd hope to challenge for a spot on the marathon team." She trained for both the 10,000m and 5000m ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games, having competed in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2012 Games in London, and the 5000m at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. "Being a 3000m runner, to move up to a 10,000m was a huge jump. But actually having another year to prepare [due to the postponement of the 2020 Games], looking at it now it's probably been a bit of a blessing because it's given me an extra year to get stronger, to build up my endurance - and just mentally to get round the idea as well of running a 10,000m on the track." (bbc.com, 20 May 2020; tokyo2020.org, 20 Jul 2020)

TOKYO SIGNIFICANCE
She says the city of Tokyo, Japan, has sentimental value to her as it is where her mother Liz won gold in the 10,000m at the 1991 World Championships. "Tokyo is a city that's close to my family's hearts because that's where my mum won the world championship in 1991, and I was only born November 1990, so it was less than a year after I was born and I don't remember it, but I was out there with my mum." (tokyo2020.org, 20 Jul 2020)

EARLY DAYS
She says that she did not take running seriously as a student, but that a comment from a family member changed her thinking. "It is no secret I enjoyed university life. I just wasn't a 'runner' as such. When I look back now, I know I was still training all the time and that was because I enjoyed it. I did have ambitions but not really to make a career from it - to be honest, I wasn't anywhere near good enough. I partied more, and harder, than I certainly should as an athlete. When I made the decision [to take running seriously] at the start of 2011, it was like throwing a switch. I stopped partying right away and trained harder. A family member had said to me, 'Why do you bother? You do all this training and put in effort but you are never going to make a living from athletics? What's the point?' I started to think, 'I will show you, I actually think I can become a professional athlete'. That was a light bulb moment for sure. I went from someone who was out drinking five nights a week, not sleeping and eating a kebab at 04:00 to someone who was teetotal and didn't go out. I just decided at 20 I wanted to commit 100 per cent to my running. The [2012] Olympics were looming up 18 months later and people were saying with it being in London it was a once in a lifetime opportunity." (scotsman.com, 14 May 2020)

RUNNING MADE EASY
She co-founded an online athletics coaching business with her partner, British athlete Michael Rimmer, called Running Made Easy. "Michael and I have been doing online coaching as a business for three or four years [speaking in 2020] and I enjoy it. I know remote coaching works because that's what I am used to with my mum being over in Doha [Qatar]. We can't coach a group at a track a couple of times a week in the way I grew up with in Dundee [Scotland]. It is all online right now because I'm still a professional athlete and we're travelling a lot. But I'd like to do that one day when I retire, have a group and see if we can make athletes better. Coaching does have an appeal for me." (Twitter profile, 09 Jun 2020; scottishathletics.org.uk, 13 May 2020; runningmadeeasy.co.uk, 01 Jan 2020; athleticsweekly.com, 19 Nov 2019)