IT has been a long year for Steph Twell since her last marathon appearance.

Fourteen months on since her run at the Tokyo Olympics, Twell is gearing up to once again face 26.2 miles at today’s London Marathon and considering the setbacks she has encountered to get to this point, it’s not a moment too soon.

Since her appearance last summer in what was her third Olympic selection, Twell has been plagued with injury which caused her to miss this summer’s World Championships and Commonwealth Games. It has been a period that tested her patience in the extreme, the Scottish marathon record holder admits.

“It’s been a rough year for me. Coming back from plantar fasciitis is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” she says of the injury that has caused her so much grief.

“I missed the winter, I didn’t get really going again till this March so it took me six months to get back to being able to train without pain. And March till now is a really short window so I’m coming into this race in a different place.

“Being injured does suck the life out of you. I’ve had to reframe my expectations and goals and be patient with myself and that’s hard because I want more, that’s the nature of being an athlete.

“But I have to be patient because I want to be in this sport for a long time so I have to look after my body now.

“It’s taken time to come out the other side and it’s been tough but that’s just the highs and lows of sport.”

Such a disrupted build-up to London is far from ideal for someone who is still a novice in the event.

It may be almost four years since Twell made her marathon debut – and three since she set the Scottish record of 2 hours 26 minutes 40 seconds in Frankfurt – but today will be only her fifth time standing on the marathon start-line.

The field in London is stellar, giving Twell, the sole Scot in the field, the opportunity to test herself against the best. The women’s line-up includes the Kenyan defending champion Joyciline Jepkosgei, the fastest-ever female marathon debutant Yalemzerf Yehualaw from Ethiopia and British No.1 Charlotte Purdue, while the men’s race is headlined by the Ethiopian duo of last year’s champion Sisay Lemma and Kenenisa Bekele, one of the greatest distance runners of all time. The highly-anticipated appearance by Mo Farah will not happen though, with the Englishman withdrawing a few days ago due to a hip injury.

Twell acknowledges she is still learning the event and that, combined with her injury woes, mean she has understated ambitions for today, although ironically, that has increased the pressure she feels upon her shoulders.

“I’ve still got belief in my capabilities but in London, with everything that’s happened this year, I’m not going to be looking for a PB, I’m looking more for a really solid run to remind me what the marathon entails,” the 33-year-old says. "This will be a bit of a cautious marathon before hopefully having a much stronger one in the spring.

“If I’m being honest though, because of my ability, and I think any professional athlete would say this, it’s not more relaxing going in with this approach – that’s not how my mind works and I feel like everyone is going to think it’s an underperformance and so I actually feel more pressure.

“If you look at a lot of marathon runners, they don’t run as well as they should until their fifth or sixth marathon. For me, all my marathons so far have been slightly different and it’s the kind of event that it’s never exactly the same. So I definitely feel like there’s more to come from me.

“This is the first marathon since the pandemic began that things are really getting back to normal and that’s a big plus for me – everyone will be back together on the roads and there’ll be the iconic landmarks of London so knowing all of that has really got me excited. I’m looking forward to racing.”

Twell has followed a different path to many of her peers; these days, she is self-coached and also coaches others in what she says is a welcome distraction from the stresses of elite athletics.

Working with other runners has helped her not only physically but also mentally after what has been a tough spell for the Aldershot-based athlete.

“I feel particularly motivated for this marathon because I’m giving back to others – I’m coaching whilst I’m training too and for me, that’s been great because it’s not just about me. For me, giving back and working with others has really helped get my mental health back in a good place,” she says.

“The pandemic was really tough. I just felt I didn’t get the support I needed. It was really hard to get access to facilities compared to athletes in places like Loughborough. I didn’t see a physio for eight months for example and that’s tough. Eventually I went to an intensive rehab unit but it was a hard period for me. So it’s good to be out the other side now.”