Ingrid Harris is a pretty impressive lady and a pretty impressive runner too.

The 56-year-old mum-of four – her two youngest still live with her at her home in Hatherley – has plenty on her plate and it’s a wonder she manages to find time to do any running at all.

“I’m working part-time as a domestic cleaner and I’m doing two days at a school as a volunteer teaching assistant while doing my Level 3 at college, it’s a busy life,” she said.

She’s also a distributor for The Local Answer – she’ll enjoy the October edition! – so it’s clear she has little or no spare time at all.

When she does have a bit of down time she likes to run and she’s been a member of Cheltenham-based club Almost Athletes for the past 18 years or so.

“I joined them just after my second child was born,” she said. “I used to run before but only on my own and I stopped when I became a mum for the first time.

“I joined the club for the company.”

And it’s a decision she’s certainly never regretted as she proudly says: “I also belong to the 100 marathons club.”

That only tells half the story, however, because she has run well over 150 marathons – it was 158 at the time of writing – and her target is to run 200 marathons.

“I’ll run anything from 10K to a marathon,” said Ingrid. “I’ve mostly run marathons, I like the longer distance although I need to run the shorter distances to keep up my speed.

”I have done five London Marathons, all good for age, and just secured a good for age place for 2020.”

She’s happy running road marathons and trail marathons – she’s also run marathons in Malta and Poland – but admits that she prefers trail marathons.

“These days they take me over four hours,” she said. “They’re a challenge, they’re much harder than road marathons. At my age I’m aiming for 3.40 to 3.50 on the road.”

Her best marathon time was at Stratford a few years ago when she completed in three hours, 25 minutes, which is a very respectable time in anyone’s book.

“I’m only an amateur runner but I’m reasonably good for my age,” she said modestly.

Ingrid is a pleasure to interview, happy to answer any question that is thrown at her and ending pretty much every answer with a ready laugh.

And she’s particularly happy to talk about Almost Athletes, a club that was formed in 1988 and these days boasts more than 400 members.

“We’ve got some very good runners in the club,” she said. “Some of them can run sub-three hours for a marathon.

“But the thing about Almost Athletes is that they cater for runners of all abilities, from the fastest to the 12-minute milers.

“Everyone encourages each other, we’ve got good coaches, it’s a really good club.”

Ingrid is also a member of Cheltenham Cycle Touring Club – she did a lot of cycling as well as swimming when she moved to Gloucestershire with her family at the age of 15.

“I was mainly a long distance cyclist with a little running before I had my children,” she said. “I stopped running for five years while having my first two children and then took it up after the birth of my second when I joined the Almosts.

“I have been a member of Cheltenham Cycle Touring Club for 36 years and go out when I can. I swim two or three times a week at Leisure@ and Cheltenham Lido.”

Born in Essex, she also lived in the US, Belgium and Scotland – her dad worked in computers – before moving to Winchcombe just over 40 years ago now.

And while she’s certainly packed plenty into her life so far, Ingrid is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

She reckons it will take her another couple of years to reach 200 marathons and when she reaches that landmark – which she surely will – she may cut down on the longer distance running.

“I don’t want to overdo it,” she said, before adding with a laugh, “hopefully I’ll still be able to run shorter distances, it would be nice to think that I can.”

She’s entering the Almost Athletes’ road and off-road race series again this season – she’s competed in both for the past three years – when she will again be hoping to give rivals half her age a run for their money.

Surprisingly for someone who has competed in so many races, she still suffers from nerves on the start line.

“I try not to get all het up but I get very nervous before a race, it’s pathetic,” she laughed. “There’s no need because I’ve run so many races.

“People ask me why I get so nervous and I have to tell them that I don’t know!”

And while she may not know the answer to that question, if anyone asks her is she enjoys running the answer is a very definite ‘yes!’.