Collette O’Hagan far from running on empty

Not many people run a marathon as part of their final marathon preparations which is a good thing because otherwise that would make Collette O’Hagan seem like an ordinary woman.

And that she most certainly is not; mother and grandmother, foster parent to around 85 children, and marathon runner extraordinaire, she’s also living and breathing proof that life sometimes only gets going at age 40.

That’s when O’Hagan first started running and, after turning 67 last month, she’s now clocked up a total of 425 marathons – and that’s not a misprint.

She's running the Dublin Marathon on Sunday, naturally. She ran her first marathon there in 1990, the same year her husband Larry first coaxed her into going for a run around their home in Bay Estate in Dundalk. She's run Dublin every year since, while also covering the classic 26.2 mile distance across the full variety of global locations.

“Except for Africa,” she tells me. “I haven’t run many marathons in Africa, so I want to conquer that next.”

O’Hagan comes across as an unstoppable force on many levels. (“I’ve got my bus pass now but I don’t need it, not as long as I can still run.”) She also considers a marathon all part of her marathon training, which is why on Wednesday morning, four days before Dublin, she ran a marathon in Armagh, a low-key event for around 30 runners, organised by the race director of the Armagh City Marathon.

“I know that sounds insane, but I just love it, especially the social side,” she says.

“And by running so many marathons I always feel like I’m in marathon shape. Like I did two marathons in England last weekend. More than any other distance, I just feel in my element running marathons.

“A 10k or 5k is too short, over before you know it. I prefer to ease into it, just switch in autopilot, and take each mile as it comes. I enjoy the mile I’m running. I never think of the next one. And all of a sudden you’re halfway. And then you’re on the way home.

Many options

“And the time for me is what the body allows, what is good for me, so that I enjoy it. I did I few sub-four hours in the earlier years, now I run them mostly just under the five. But I’m comfortable at that pace. I just have a fierce love of running. It’s the glue that keeps me together.”

In July, she completed marathon number 400, in Duleek, in Co Meath. Last month she organised the first marathon in Dundalk, and naturally ran that too, and admits part of the attraction now is having so many options.

“It all began for me at age 40, when I first thought about running the women’s mini marathon. It was quite competitive then too, less joggers, very few walkers, so I did a fair amount of training.

“But it was my husband, Larry, who originally took me out running. He was fit, and I certainly didn’t enjoy that first run. And there were very few women running at that time, especially around Dundalk. Maybe two or three of us. We were very much in the minority. Slowly I started to get better, and then one day I went ahead of Larry, and he said ‘that’s it, there’s no stopping you now’, and he was right.

"As soon as I finished the mini marathon, I thought about running the full marathon. So I just ran, with no real concept of time. I found a training plan in the Irish Runner magazine at the time, just followed that. There was no internet then, not much information. But I got through it and really enjoyed it.

“Prior to running, I also had some health issues. My metabolism was haywire. The doctors found it hard to get me back me on the right track but once I started running all that was gone, and I’ve never had any health issues again.”

In 1991, she doubled her number, running Dublin and Belfast. Then in 1994 she ran the Boston Marathon, and with that discovered the joys of foreign marathons, from Barbados to New Zealand, and China to Japan. (She’s run Boston 11 times by now, London 12 times, and New York six).

“Back then, you only had two marathons in Ireland, Dublin and Belfast. Now, you have over 100 marathons here every year. It’s unreal, really, the way it’s exploded. You have the East Antrim Marathon series, Marathon Club Ireland, the East of Ireland Marathon series, and they all provide affordable and easy-accessible marathons, every month.”

Ask her why she does it and O’Hagan has no easy answer, but suggests that it complements the time and effort she puts into fostering.

“That was just something I always wanted to do, mainly because I came from such a big family myself, and was always looking after children, my brothers and sisters, when they were smaller.”

So how many children exactly?

“Eighteen of us,” she says, without hesitation. “We grew up on the border between Louth and Armagh, our parents had a shop and a farm. So I was well used to a house full of kids, it never bothered me.

“By now about 85 foster children, at least 85 children, have come and gone in this house. We’re still fostering today. We also have the five children of our own. And there’s the grandchildren now as well.”

Indeed two of her children, her daughter Jacqueline Hughes and son Ian O'Regan, are also running Dublin on Sunday. "Jacqueline took up running because she said it was the only way she gets to see me."

It seems the satisfaction she gets from running complements the satisfaction of the foster caring too.

“We’ve had lots of children from abroad as well. Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa. I’m also attached to an orphanage in Romania and I’ve been out to that a few times, and done a lot of work out there as well, looking after the kids. And I really enjoy that role in life.

“We’d keep in contact with quite a few, might end up at the first Communion of their kids, or their wedding, or something like that. Not them all, obviously. But it’s great to keep contact with some of them, see them doing well, and there are some great success stories out of them.”

Despite the exhausting routine, she’s only ever had one injury in her life, a stress fracture in her foot – although even that didn’t stop her (she completed the Quad Marathons in Donegal while wearing a protective boot).

Started out

“For me, the marathon is the training. I’d still train a few nights a week, but if I’m doing two or three marathons a week, that’s enough. Of course I never started out to do this. It just happened. I remember starting out in those early years ad people said you could only ever do two marathons a year, no more. It was only when I met people abroad that I realised you could. Then I found the more marathons I ran the better I felt.

“It keeps me mentally strong, and I’m always motivated, have some goal. And my husband Larry is still my best supporter. And I’m always telling people you’re never too old to start, even into your 70s and 80s. There’s nothing to fear. There’s always someone there to help you through it. And for me the worst thing I could do now is stop running marathons. My body would go into cold turkey.”