MUIR Laura

General
VETERINARIAN
She has been a qualified veterinarian since completing her studies at the University of Glasgow in 2018, but after graduating she chose to pursue athletics full-time. "Deciding to leave veterinary behind has been hard. I did seven years at vet school when I didn't think about athletics, but I realise I've only got a 10-year window in which to give athletics my all. In a way it takes the pressure off. When you're making a living through performance it can be tough, but I've got something else besides athletics. Sport is so unpredictable as well. You hope injuries never crop up but some things do happen, and if your career's cut short, it's good to have something to fall back on, and to continue in something you love to do." (cityam.com, 17 Jul 2019; thecourier.co.uk, 09 Mar 2019)

FUTURE PLANS
She says after she retires from competition she plans to stay involved in the sport. "I don't know what I will do in the future in terms of my athletics. Could I be a coach? I'm not naive enough to think that there isn't a lot more to coaching than I'm aware of at the moment. I'd definitely like to pace races in later years if that helps other girls to run a good time. If my body allows me, I quite fancy that. Coaching is something that has crossed my mind, but I will only do it if I feel I can do a good job and help athletes really develop." (thecourier.co.uk, 24 Apr 2020)