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Genevieve Gregson\u2019s body was broken. It wasn\u2019t just the Achilles tendon she ripped when she landed on her face out of the water jump at the Tokyo Olympics. It was the more than a decade of pounding her body over the steeplechase.<\/p>\n
Every tendon was sore. She has no cartilage in her ankle. Every time she went for an MRI they would find myriad other problems she didn\u2019t know she had.<\/p>\n
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Genevieve Gregson leaves the Tokyo track in distress. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Then the strangest thing happened; she got pregnant, and her body healed itself. Pregnancy fixed her body.<\/p>\n In Spain on Sunday, less than 18 months since she and her husband Ryan, also an Olympian, welcomed their son Archer into the world, Gregson ran a marathon in the third-quickest time ever by an Australian woman. It was only her second marathon, but it should now ensure she is on the team for Paris, her fourth Olympics, though this time as a road runner not on the track.<\/p>\n \u201cI do feel pregnancy changed me, but I am assuming [that]. I talked to Paul Blackman, the doctor with the AIS, and I think the hormones that your body produces when you are pregnant, especially I think with having a boy, change you. There are naturally a lot of human growth hormones floating around when you are pregnant, and I just think it healed me,\u201d Gregson said from Europe after completing the Valencia marathon in two hours, 23 minutes, eight seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cMy body was so broken, I know had my Achilles, but every tendon in my body hurt. I had been running my whole life in spikes and doing steeplechase; my bones were worn down. I am told I have no cartilage in one of my ankles (which she broke in a steeplechase race after the London Olympics). Every time I went for an MRI 100 other things would pop up that were wrong with me.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as I fell pregnant and had a baby, I would just wake up less stiff. Every run was enjoyable I just hadn\u2019t experienced that in so long, and I think my body just reset, and I think that is what childbirth does for a lot of women that have this comeback story. It resets your body. It changes you mentally, but also physically there is definitely some benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n Gregson doesn\u2019t doubt that the mental shift was equally significant. She is more relaxed now about results and injuries. An obsessive pair, Genevieve and Ryan would stress over results and injuries, but now Archer makes those concerns fade.<\/p>\n Genevieve Gregson and her son Archer.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>X:\u00a0@GenGen_LaCaze<\/cite><\/p>\n Clearly, the other significant change is she has stepped up a distance and moved off the track and out to the roads for the marathon. She doesn\u2019t know why she took so long to make the change, and admits her natural shuffle style offers an efficiency suited to the marathon.<\/p>\n \u201cThat (Valencia) was one of the best feelings I have experienced in my career,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cTokyo was such a heartbreak and such a part of my career where I thought it was all over. But now I am like \u2018thank God I snapped my Achilles\u2019 because it moved me to the road, and I feel like that is my calling. Ryan has said it to me for years; \u2018I know you are a road runner you need to get there sooner than later\u2019, but I wasn\u2019t ready to give up the track.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t ever hurt (running a marathon) anywhere near as much as I hurt running the steeplechase. In a marathon, I never have to hurt myself, it\u2019s just survival of who can last 42 [kilometres]. When I go to a track now and see a steeple[chase] I get a wave of anxiety. I know I am not missing anything.<\/p>\n \u201cI am ready to be done with that part of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n The run in Valencia should ensure she has a place on the team for Paris. Australia had four women run the qualifying times in Valencia: Gregson; Izzy Batt-Doyle (2:23:27); Lisa Weightman (2:24:18); and, Eloise Wellings (2:25:47).<\/p>\n Genevieve and Ryan Gregson.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Instagram<\/cite><\/p>\n Sinead Diver didn\u2019t run in Valencia this year but broke the Australian record when she ran there last year, finishing in 2:21:34, so she is a lock for the team. Weightman also has a quick qualifying time from Osaka (2:23:15) in February.<\/p>\n Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jess Stenson (nee Trengove) had been confident of qualifying for Paris, but her task has become more difficult because, with five women having achieved the qualifying time, she will need to cut two minutes off her personal best less than a year after having her second baby. Ellie Pashley is also in contention for the hotly contested team.<\/p>\n \u201cI am shocked. It was just not on the cards to run that quick, so when I crossed the line it was surreal,\u201d Gregson said of Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n \u201cValencia, you have to be honest, is a beautiful course, everything is in your favour to run fast. The way I felt in that marathon \u2013 and I have only done two \u2013 I have yet to even get close to what people say they experience in a marathon; even Ryan, his muscles cramped in the last five k[ilometres] because he extended himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was like \u2018what do you mean you picked it up at 37 kilometres?\u2019 I just feel like I haven\u2019t found my ceiling yet, and maybe in the marathon it\u2019s not a good idea to find your ceiling because apparently it\u2019s really traumatising. But I do feel like I am feeling too good out there. I am waiting, chomping at the bit, until I can sprint for home.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was such a big injury I had, and I think being an athlete, you know even more how big it is. I was well aware what an Achilles rupture meant at the time. I don\u2019t know why I believed I could get back, I think I just wanted to give myself a shot.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was cross-training and pregnant, I went easier on myself saying \u2018you are not an elite athlete, now just go easy\u2019, and it gave me a good refresh to start the gruelling comeback.<\/p>\n \u201cOne hundred per cent, motherhood changed me as an athlete. It takes away that obsessive mindset of \u2018you can\u2019t fail\u2019. Running was everything, for us, but for me now, having Archer, performance isn\u2019t everything.<\/p>\n \u201cI said to Ryan when I was coming back, \u2018as soon as I get another injury that is bad and sidelines me, I would like to have another baby\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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