Lizzie Lee will put on the Irish singlet to represent her country this weekend, more than a year after she believed her international running career had ended.
The Rio Olympic runner will line out in the European Cup 10,000m in Birmingham this weekend, 18 months after giving birth and just three weeks after she ran a time of 34:14.26 at an Athletics Ireland Micro Meet in Cork.
Lee is one of a five-strong team to travel for the international event and this will be the first time that she's lined out for her country since running the marathon in the 2018 European Championships.
The 41-year-old has been busy since then. Along with navigating the perils of lockdown, Lee has given birth to her third daughter and continued her day job as a project manager with a major international tech company.
A revival to her international career did not appear to be on the cards even a few months ago but as Lee explains, she just kept running and everything else followed on from that.
"I turned 40 during the pandemic, so to say there would never be another Irish singlet, I didn't. I really thought that retirement had come," she said. "I had a conversation and I just said, 'yeah, it's done now, but I'll train away'."
However, Lee’s training times proved that she still has what it takes to be internationally competitive and after speaking with coach Donnie Walsh, she decided to chase down the qualifying time of 34:52 for this weekend’s race.
Lee was nearly 50 seconds inside the qualifying standard when she stormed to victory in Cork back in May but admits that after being away from the track for so long, the nerves hit hard.
"I was terrified," she said.
"I was more nervous at the start line of that 10k than I was in Rio in the heat for the marathon because any woman who has been through having a baby, you really think you're running is done, that your competitive side is done.
"Then lump the pandemic onto that for a year with no races, add in no physios, no babysitters, the whole lot, turn 40 and make it so long since your singlet that you begin to just say, 'Nah, I'll just stay here in my comfort zone and do my training and I won't bother racing'.
"So I am pinching myself, I was grinning from ear to ear."
For Lee of the inspiration and drive to keep competing is to prove that it’s possible to combine motherhood and being a top class sportswoman.
The Cork runner is eager to support the conversation about elite athletes and pregnancy and to help remove any lingering taboos about returning to competition after childbirth.
"It's something that is getting more and more focus, definitely," she said.
"I see Lynsey Sharp is on Instagram now and she's 16 weeks pregnant, and she's doing her sessions. It's kind of become like that's the norm.
"You will see now if you follow the likes of Alysia Montaño, she's just had diastasis recti surgery. And Aliphine Tuliamuk, who's made the American Olympic team, she's up to a hundred and something miles and Zoe is quite young. It's becoming normal to talk about it.
"But certainly, when I had Lucy, it wasn't something that really people talked about, and they didn't talk about breastfeeding. It's really important to talk about it because when you are pregnant, especially with your first child, you don't think you're ever going to come back. I cannot describe it, you just think that you'll never run again.
"I love talking about it, I'd talk about it all day long. I'd do any podcast, anything anyone wants me to do on it. I think it's not taboo anymore to talk about it. And now what we're seeing, I think if you go back 10 years, there weren't that many mothers competing at the likes of the Olympics."
