We talk to the 50-year-old who set new marathon standards in Frankfurt.

Alice Braham believes the best is yet to come. “I think I can run 2:33 for the marathon,” she says. In Frankfurt the 50-year-old recorded a mark of 2:35:46 [gun time 2:35:48], not only the second-quickest performance of her career over the distance but it also lowered the British W50 record of 2:36:25 she set in London in April.

Perhaps even more impressive was that her performance in Germany came in conditions that were far from ideal.  For the first 10 miles or so it poured with rain and Braham, usually one to look up and take in the sights, spent most of the race looking at the floor, laser-focused to prevent slipping. 

Having passed halfway in 67:10, she slowed in the second half (78:38) but still crossed the line as the 14th-quickest woman in the entire field. She was also faster than the women in the two age categories below her [W40 and W45]. 

“I’ve never had to dig so deep mentally in a marathon,” Braham tells AW just a few days after Frankfurt. “There was elation to just get it done. I just wanted a sub-2:40. I thought that if I could keep to that pace in the last 10km, given I had gone out quite quickly, I would have still done well. I didn’t think I was going to beat my London time and I only realised that would happen in the last kilometre.” 

Braham’s preparation for Frankfurt was far from ideal. During an 8x800m event at the Blondin Relays back in July, representing her club Ealing Eagles, she suffered a grade one hamstring tear after trying to overtake on a tight bend. 

After a period of gradual rehabilitation, she had six weeks’ worth of “solid training” of  60 miles per week, with a couple at 70 miles, ahead of Frankfurt. She also competed in various races over a variety of distances, clocking 17:07 at the Sri Chimnoy 5km in Battersea to finish second in the women’s race, won the Ealing Half Marathon in 67:23 and placed fifth with 56:41 at the Cabbage Patch 10-miler. 

That build-up provided confidence for Frankfurt, but keeping a sense of perspective has helped, too. 

“Mindset plays a huge part,” she says. “It’s about filling your cup. Do things that make you happy, find a balance in your life and throw yourself wholeheartedly into every situation. 

“Whether that be making a meal for your family, catching up with friends, dancing until dawn or running a marathon. Running can bring you so much joy but it can’t be your everything. 

“We can become so focused on getting better at running that we forget about all the other things that make us us. The things that give us perspective, make us laugh, challenge us in different ways and remind us there’s so much more to life than splits, sessions and a race.

“I genuinely believe those things make you a better runner, too.” 

Braham is now focused on running for England at the Masters Cross Country International on November 14 in Dublin. It will be a full-circle moment for the woman who finished 20th – the highest placed British athlete – in the junior women’s race at the 1995 World Cross Country Championships. 

She plans to run the London Marathon again next year and the prospect of 2:33 or 2:34 isn’t being ruled out – a time which would be well under her personal best of 2:35:20 from Florence 18 years ago. 

“I have such a connection to how I feel now and I have built up my mental endurance,” she adds. “I try not to look at my watch as much as possible now. I also talk to myself and I don’t even know I’m doing it. There is this internal monologue going on in my head, so if I have any negative thoughts, my brain goes: ‘Come on. You’re strong and you’ll be okay’.”