Eilish McColgan crossed the finish line at the 2026 London Marathon on Sunday with her shoe soaked in blood and a look of pure frustration on her face. She had just run 2 hours, 24 minutes and 51 seconds, taking seventh place and finishing as the first British woman home. The number on the clock told only part of the story.
Somewhere past the halfway mark, a brutal blister had ripped through her foot. She kept running anyway. By the time she stopped, the skin had peeled away and a doctor was waiting.
“Not long after halfway, I had a really, really bad blister and it sounds strange saying it but the only way I can really describe it is that it felt like my foot exploded,” said the 35-year-old, the reigning Commonwealth 10,000m champion and a four-time Olympian. “It panicked me a little bit and from then on I was running funny. I couldn’t really put pressure on my foot so I began to hurt in other areas as well.”
The Dundee-born runner spent much of the second half of the race on her own, with no group to tuck into for shelter or rhythm. Her time was 26 seconds slower than the 2:24:25 Scottish record she set on her marathon debut in London 12 months ago.
She was quick to clear her ASICS racing shoes of blame, pointing out that she had worn the same model in training and competition for months without trouble. Anyone who has dealt with a race-day blister knows how quickly a small patch of friction can derail a long effort.
“I got to 24 miles and my knee started playing up and almost went on me,” McColgan said. “I was like, ‘I can’t get to 24 miles and not finish.’ I don’t know why my foot decided to be indifferent today. I was covered in blood. I had to go and see the doctor after my race because I couldn’t put any pressure through my foot. I took my sock off and the skin just fell out.“
Her finishing position improved by one place compared with last year. The time, given the circumstances, did not feel like progress. “It’s just frustrating to run the same sort of time as I did last year on my debut,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a fair reflection of my fitness. I just kept running, thinking: ‘Don’t let anyone past. Don’t let anyone past.'”
The British contingent
McColgan’s compatriot Rose Harvey crossed in ninth place in 2:26:14, a result that meant more than a number after a long winter rebuilding from a knee cartilage injury. Harvey only resumed running in January and had been swimming through her recovery, a sport she openly dislikes.
“I was really happy to get through it and hopefully I’ve done enough to be selected for the European Championships in Birmingham this summer,” said Harvey, whose marathon best stands at 2:23:21. “I only came back from injury at the end of last year and only started running at all in January, so I thought a spring marathon was not going to happen but I really wanted to make London. I could only swim and I hate swimming. I’m so grateful to my team who helped me and believed in me.”
Louise Small rounded out the British top three, finishing 11th in 2:28:29. Jess Warner-Judd took 12th in 2:29:28 on only her second marathon.
McColgan now faces a period of healing before turning her focus to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July, where she hopes to represent Scotland on home soil. After that, more marathons are on the horizon, and she has a clear idea of what she wants the next one to look like.
“I know there’s 2:20 in me,” she said. “I think it’s just a matter of time before that happens, so I’d like to target a Berlin or a Chicago where there are groups of people and it’s renowned for being perfectly flat. We’ll give it a go. It’s still on my bucket list.”
For now, the bucket list waits. The foot heals first.
