The Survivor: Kirste Snellgrove

The Running Magazine has announced their 'Running Heroes 2010'
The Survivor: Kirste Snellgrove
On being told that she had breast cancer, Kirste Snellgrove's first question was unusual: would she still be able to run? Defying her doctor's orders, Snellgrove, 41, ran after her mastectomy and she ran during her courses of radio- and chemotherapy.
Snellgrove had only started running in 2001, as a way of losing a few pounds. "I caught sight of my backside in a shop's changing room mirror," she jokes. "But I got the running bug."
She did her first marathon at London the year after. Yet as her illness took hold, running began to take on a new significance. "It became more important than ever," Snellgrove says. "It was a way for me to step away from my own problems and leave everything behind for a while.
"I've still got health issues - the doctors found cancer in my lung and it's beginning to look like I can't get rid of that. But I always look on the positive side of things and I'm generally a very happy bunny."
Snellgrove, who lives in Benfleet in Essex, has made as few concessions as possible to her illness. She still works as a police training sergeant at Essex Police College and has no intention of stepping down. Fresh from completing her ninth London Marathon this year - her 19th marathon so far - she has also tried not to let the illness affect her running goals. "I've had to recognise that I'm a bit of a plodder now," she laughs. "I get tired quite quickly these days, so I perhaps don't get to do as much training as I would like. But I do at least one long run a week and still try to pack in the shorter sessions, too."
As in previous years, Snellgrove will run the 2010 London Marathon as a team, alongside friends Anna Spencer and Rachel O'Conner, and her husband, John Bowman. Now in training for her fourth triathlon (the London Tri in August) Snellgrove is due to start a new round of chemotherapy a few weeks before the event.
"It'll be a challenge," she admits. "But I did the Marathon last year four weeks after chemo. "I was never a quick runner anyway, so it's never been about times. I don't race so much as struggle through, determined to get to the end.
"But I'm addicted to that feeling of crossing the line and going to bed satisfied with your day. I'll never, ever stop."