Kiwi runner ready to go the distance for marathon dream

A lot has changed for Camille French since competing in the 10km and 5km races at the Tokyo Olympics.

Formerly Camille Buscomb, she has since had her first child, married Commonwealth Games hurdler Cameron French — and now she’s getting ready to race her first marathon.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but I had a few goals on track that I wanted to achieve, and some times.” French said.

“I always thought in the back of my mind I really wanted to go long but I wanted to go quicker first.”

Despite a big change in distance, her training hasn’t changed much apart from the addition of two long runs a week.

“You can only do a really big marathon block for a shorter amount of time, but the main work has been in the last few months.”

While French is used to having a big training load, she now has to factor in 15-month-old Sienna but family support means she can head out on those long runs.

“I’ve got a really good routine with help with Sienna. Sometimes she comes with me [to training], she’s been coming to the track. Training is really challenging so I guess it’s a balance trying to get in some recovery. It’s not been super easy, but she’s made it fun.”

Sienna will be cheering her mum on in Spain on December 3 where the Valencia Marathon will be French’s first test.

“Choosing Valencia for the marathon was the timing after Sienna, also it’s such a fast course.

“My goal is to run an Olympic qualifier and that’s two hours, 26 minutes and 50 seconds, but I really have to go under it.”