Jessica Warner-Judd will make her London Marathon debut on Sunday, just months after suffering a focal seizure during the 10,000m at the European Championships in Rome. The 31-year-old collapsed with 600m to go and was carried off the track before being sedated. She has since undergone trauma therapy, been diagnosed with depression and autism, and feared she would never run again.
“It was hard to get back from but it does feel like a second chance,” she said. The seizure triggered a subconscious trauma response that prevented her from racing at full speed. “The brain is strange, and it doesn’t want you to go back to situations like that,” she explained. She now takes medication and is seizure-free.
Warner-Judd remains the third fastest British woman over 10,000m. She ran 2hrs 24mins 45sec on a tough New York course in November, her marathon debut. She targets the Los Angeles Olympics but must avoid triggers such as chocolate, junk food, alcohol and lack of sleep.
Alongside training, she works up to 20 hours a week behind the deli counter at Booths supermarket in Clitheroe, where she moved with her husband. Colleagues were unaware of her running until her New York result made the news. They celebrated her London Marathon entry with a cheese board featuring 26 different cheeses, one for each mile.
