“It’s Mind-boggling”: How Anya Culling Went From amateur jogger to Elite Marathon Runner In Three Years

“I used to walk cross country,” at school, remembers Anya Culling, “I dreaded it. I was the one that always forgot their PE kit.”

On a recent trip back to that school, to share her story with the kids, her old teachers couldn’t quite fathom how this same girl was now an elite athlete representing her country.

“I don't think my parents still quite understand how I've done it or why I've done it, or what I've really done,” she says. “It’s mind-boggling for all of us.”

Anya’s running journey only really began in 2018, when she started jogging – slowly – round a local field, chiefly to get healthy again.

“I think I was a bit lost after leaving school, I'd lost my confidence and had some health problems” she explains. “I was cruising through life a bit and then running gave me something to really focus on.”

It was far from love at first jog though for Anya, who preferred team sports. “When I started running, I was really like, why would anyone want to do this? It's a solo sport. It must be so lonely,” she remembers.

Still, enjoying exercise again, she signed up for a 10k and then a half marathon before taking up a charity place at the 2019 London Marathon, where she clocked a very respectable amateur time of 4:34:23.

“I definitely said, like, I'm never doing that again,” she remembers.

For most people it might have been box ticked and back to the old routine. Then covid and lockdown hit.

“That's when running really lit a fire inside of me,” she says. “I wanted that feeling of freedom. I wanted to get out of my head and into my body… and then I realised how amazing it feels to really push yourself to your limits and to try to find your potential.”

Even as her pace quickened, though, there was no big plan in place at this stage.

“I didn't do anything consciously,” she says. “I didn't ever sit down and be like, right, I'm going to turn my life on its head. I just really enjoyed the way running improved my life. And so it was very easy to change little things, to keep feeling that great.”

Fast forward to the race that changed everything.

“I came back and ran the next London Marathon in 2022 because the previous ones had been cancelled,” she says. “And that's where I ran 2:36:21.”

Let’s let that settle for a second. Anya had taken two hours off her previous London marathon time, achieved just three years previously. She finished as the second female British athlete in the field. Her time also qualified her to represent England. This doesn’t happen.

“That was shocking to me,” she says. “I didn't know I was going to run that fast.”

She’d hit the peak of her sport largely, in her eyes, through consistency: “My running changed when I started structuring it, when I had a bit more of a routine and I was consistent… I still have that same approach now. Everyone says consistency is key in running, but it really is.”

At her first race as an elite runner in an England vest, the 2023 Copenhagen Marathon, she achieved a new personal best 2:34:45. It enabled her to quit her job in advertising and focus full-time on running.

Unsurprisingly, given such a rapid rise, it took time to mentally adjust to her new status.

“When I got selected for England, I almost put too much pressure on myself. I was going to stand on the sideline against some of my biggest role models, and I didn't want to feel out of place,” she says.

In fact it was a conversation with one of those role models, Phily Bowden, that helped her shed any lingering imposter syndrome.

“I remember us chatting and being like, ‘the battle really is getting to the start line. And we've done so well to be here. So we've just got to enjoy this. This really is the cherry on the cake.’”

Now operating at a world-class level, she’s started to fully embrace how details and marginal gains impact her performance.

“I do love data. I find that fascinating. I love the numbers. I love all the tech. I love seeing how I can make those little 1% gains,” she says. “But I think at the start I worried less about those 1% details – it was more for my mental health and the times were almost secondary.”

Recovery is something Anya takes much more seriously than before, especially as injuries and fatigue have affected her.

“I don't think enough people talk about the importance of recovery,” she says. “You need to recover as hard as you train. I think you can ride the wave for a while but at some point you're going to slip up. If you take a couple of hours a day to do recovery, to eat the right food, take the right supplements, that all stacks up. Prehab is so much better than rehab.”

It’s hard to think of anyone who embodies the ethos that we’re all everyday athletes in the making, more than Anya. She’s proof that you can not only transform your performance with the right approach, you can actually achieve what at first sounds impossible.

Through these shared values, Anya became an athlete ambassador for ainslie + ainslie in September 2025.

“I think it's a really amazing partnership and relationship we now have because I basically approached you. And that's not really how normal brand partnerships work,” she says.

But then Anya doesn’t really do normal. The philosophy behind NIGHT + DAY POWDERS, to bring elite sport performance to everyone, also resonates with her own story.

“Knowing that they've been tested, knowing that they're trusted by professional athletes, by Olympians, I can really relate to and aspire to be like. That's really important,” she says. “They are so easy to add in to my routine and they do work really well together with ingredients that are specifically designed to give you all the energy for the day, and then really wind you down and help you recover at night.”

For anyone embarking on a new fitness challenge of their own, Anya’s take is always worth listening to.

“I always say you don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to do something great – and that is the hardest bit,” she says. “You've got to know your why. Because that's going to motivate you when it does get tough, when it gets dark in winter, and there is also a part where your motivation will slip. That's only natural.”

Yes, even the pros like the idea of skipping that run sometimes.

“Even now, when I don't want to get out the door, I just tell myself, put your trainers on. Run for five minutes and if you still want to turn around? Fair enough, you've listened to your body. But I guarantee you won't want to turn around,” she says. “So yes, take it easy, have that consistency, feel well and recover well.” 

Next on the horizon for Anya is the Valencia Marathon in December where she’s going to push for a personal best.

“I really believe I can do it, even with a few setbacks, like injuries along the way,” she says.

There’s also the small matter of her first Ironman in 2026, though the specifics haven’t quite sunk in yet.

“Honestly, I'm not quite sure what it is,” she says. “Uh, I think it's a 3.8km swim, which I've never swum anywhere close to that. Swimming really, really does not come naturally to me.”

If her previous progress is anything to go by, that’s hardly going to slow her down.

After all, Anya really is the antidote to all of us who ever think: “I can’t do that.”

“I used to believe that,” she says. “But you can’t limit yourself. You don’t know your potential. Somebody has to end up doing it, don’t they?”