Sarah Bottomley only started running this year but she has certainly taken her new sport in her stride.

So much so that she is running the Cheltenham Half Marathon on Sunday 1st October.

“I’m loving it,” said the 33-year-old. “Last year I was a volunteer at the half marathon so to be running it this year is extra special.”

So, what motivated Sarah to take up running?

“A combination of things,” she said. “There was a really good atmosphere at last year’s Cheltenham Half and quite a few of my work colleagues ran it.

“And my youngest sister Zoe ran the London Marathon in 2014. She didn’t do a massive amount of training but she still managed to do it.

“So, I made it my New Year’s resolution that I’d take up running.”

She also put her name down for the Cheltenham Half, which was pretty brave considering by her own admission she’d not done any running since her school days back in Derbyshire.

The one-time University of Gloucestershire student was savvy enough to know that she couldn’t become a runner on her own so she joined Cheltenham Running Club where she came under the watchful eye of head coach Conor Graham.

“I signed up for the Cheltenham Half Marathon on 3rd January and joined Cheltenham Running Club straight after,” she said.

“In my first training meeting with Conor I told him I had signed up to the half marathon while we were discussing a Couch to 5K training plan.

“Initially he very politely said it seemed like a big ask to run a half marathon in such a short space of time… and there I was thinking I wasn't that unfit!

“It turns out he thought I had signed up for the Reading Half Marathon on 19th March with some other members from Cheltenham Running Club. It was a relief for both of us when we worked that out!”

Sarah found the 10-week Couch to 5K programme – which she signed up to with about a dozen others – easier than she’d expected.

“It wasn’t too bad at all,” she said. “Most of us hadn’t run for years but the programme was very well paced. There was quite a bit of walking to start with but then we’d start to do more running as the weeks went by.

“If it hurt to breathe we were going too fast!”

The programme ended with a 5K park run in Cheltenham on 8th April.

“It was my first ever 5K and I completed in a time of 35 minutes 51 seconds,” Sarah said. “I ran alongside the rest of the Couch to 5k squad from Cheltenham Running Club and other supporting members. It was the warmest day since we'd started training but a better time than I had anticipated.”

Spurred on by her decent showing, Sarah put her name down for the Cheltenham Challenge on 18th June – a 10K across fields and up hills around Prestbury and Cheltenham Racecourse.

After her warm weather experience at the park run Sarah could have been forgiven if she had performed a rain dance before her 10K challenge.

If she did, the weather gods were unmoved because when she drew the curtains in her Cheltenham home on the morning of the race the sun was already shining.

“It was really hot, the hottest day of the year up to that point,” said Sarah. “It was so hot – 26°C – that they had to add four water stations to the route.

“I had anticipated walking some of the route regardless with my target being an hour and a half.

“I was pleasantly surprised that I walked a lot less than I thought I would, and my chip time was one hour 30 minutes 45 seconds, so obviously I was very pleased with that.

“It was also lovely to cross the finish line and be greeted by volunteers from the running club giving out medals and drinks.”

The Cheltenham Half Marathon will be another step up in distance, of course, and Sarah admits to being both “nervous and excited” about running the event.

She has been training hard for the race three times a week, including a longer run on Sunday mornings.

“I’d like to get round in two and a half hours,” she said. “I know I’ve never run this far but I’ve got the running bug now and I want to do well.

“I was down in London the other weekend and I missed my Sunday morning run. I had runner’s guilt because I hadn’t been for a run!”

If the half marathon goes well Sarah, who works for Adey in Cheltenham, could be persuaded to run the London Marathon next year.

But even if she does she’ll still have some way to go to match her younger sister.

“I was very proud of myself when I signed up for the half marathon,” laughed Sarah. “I thought it was a great achievement. Then my sister tells me she is going to run 30 races to mark her 30th birthday – a combination of 10K runs and half marathons – and she’s well on the way to doing it!”

Zoe, who lives in Derbyshire, is heading down to Cheltenham with her husband Ian to support Sarah on her big day.

“I’m looking forward to the half marathon,” said Sarah, “but I’m scared at the same time.”

Whatever happens Sarah says she plans to keep on running and is indebted to the support she has received from Cheltenham Running Club.

“The running club really have been invaluable and I don't think I would have managed to keep up the training, let alone progressed as much as I have, without Conor's expert help and the amazingly friendly and supportive membership,” said Sarah.

“Also, my husband Adam who has been equally supportive.”

The half marathon starts from the racecourse at 9am on 1st October and Sarah is running to raise money for the Brain Tumour Charity and the Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospital Charity. To sponsor her, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/teams/Sarahs1stHalf