#12 - Aoife Cooke, Irish National Marathon Champion, 2:32:34

Aoife Cooke had a promising junior Cross Country career that brought her to Arkansas Tech on a scholarship. She initially had success at college, but she struggled with osteopenia, the resulting injuries cut her college time short and she returned home. With the pause in her running career, she dropped off the radar, and she went through a challenging time as her running future looked uncertain. We dive into this and explore the steps, she took to have run the fastest marathon ever run by an Irish woman in Ireland in Dublin 2019 2:32:34. Coached by John Starrett, she has run the 5th fastest marathon time ever recorded by an Irish female runner. Her goal following Dublin is to achieve Olympic qualification. She needed more than motivation, to be the runner she is today. And I know you’ll leave this conversation feeling inspired.