Meehan has her sights set on Tokyo Olympics

Jane Ann Meehan has always been prominent on the athletics scene – be it in her native Kildare or her adopted county of Galway – but over the last 18 months, the Athenry AC runner has really up the ante.

In April of last year, Meehan broke the three-hour mark for the first time in the Manchester Marathon, which placed her as the sixth female overall. Her time for the 26.2 miles – 2 hours and 54 minutes.

Later in the year, she again produced another sterling performance when recording the same time in the Dublin City Marathon on the October Bank Holiday Monday to finish as the fourth fastest woman.

Meehan, who was running the Dublin City Marathon for the fifth time, was also the second Irishwoman home, defeating pre-race favourite Sarah Mulligan, and her achievement secured her the silver medal at the national championships.

Notably, it was the first senior national marathon medal won by a Galway runner in a generation.

“The time was the fastest one in Galway for a female since Christine Kennedy,” says the mother-of-two, who sits in the lobby of Athenry Medical Centre where she runs her physiotherapy practice. It is also where her husband, Dr David Meehan, is stationed.

Both jobs are demanding and with two daughters – Sophie and Emma – to also care for, you’d wonder how she manages such a hectic lifestyle . . . particularly one which includes a sport that requires many hours of dedicated training.

This is where Meehan soars above her peers. Where some would use their business or children as an excuse not to exercise or push themselves, she credits both, especially her children, for the improvement in her running times.

“My eldest daughter is five and my youngest is three and since I had my children, I have ran better. I think it is because I trained the whole way through my pregnancy and literally went into labour out running with my first daughter. Jesus, don’t put that in the paper!” she laughs.

“It is like altitude training but you are running with increased blood volume. So, use it when you can. Then, obviously, you have weight on you. When you lose the weight, you have the benefit of that. It is brilliant,” she says a little sheepishly.

All joking aside, what it really comes down to, she insists, is organising her time. For instance, instead of going to the local or the cinema, she and her husband get a babysitter in twice a week so they can run or exercise.

“So, really, what’s changed is I have less time so my running is a lot more efficient. Instead of doing loads of junk miles, everything I do I do for a reason. I have a coach in Tullamore, Rob (Denmead), and basically I follow his plan to a tee.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.