Runner Profile: Ivana Listiakova

Thank you Lucy for the invitation to share my running profile. FRR feels very inclusive and true to creating a real sense of community and belonging. Being a newcomer is a common experience when you are used to moving (countries) quite a bit, but this was a new one for me. Being a newcomer to a sports club when I have never been part of one, seemed like a big step. Labelled an imposter as I kept showing up for Monday Morning runs before officially joining FRR felt right. That was a running identity I was ready to adopt, and it still feels more accurate than a member of an athletics club. So, thank you, Calli, for encouraging me to join and thank you all 6.30am people for being the highlights of my week. Infiltrating a Thursday morning group too, now I hardly ever run alone. But when I do, I play your dynamic voice in my head, Lucy, cheering me on! So, thanks for the nomination.

Showing up for others is usually the only reason why I make it to the pier on time. And on the rare occasion when I might end up being the only one there, it is worth it for the sunrise.

I was not always a runner. When I tell my friends that I run and go to the gym they look at me with disbelief in their eyes. They would have probably imagined me reading a book, painting a picture of the seaside, eating a cake or drinking a pint of beer rather than running. All of which are still highly likely. At school, I avoided PE as much as I could. It was very stressful – all that responsibility for catching footballs and volleyballs, trying not to disappoint the over-achievers who took it way too seriously made me clumsier than I actually was. Reflecting on these experiences and with my educator hat on, I appreciate how well-designed the FRR training sessions are with everyone being able to join, run at their own pace, challenge themselves and feel part of the group. Thank you! If PE looked like that, I might have enjoyed it.

So really, running came to me as an adult-age hobby. Shoes and a good bra – that’s all you need. Such low threshold access with no commitment needed, no fees, no skills required, no team to disappoint, nobody watching how red and sweaty I get, slowly transformed into the love of the body moving, the rhythm and the freedom, the connection to myself and nature.

Having said that, I have always enjoyed being active and would swap a can of soda with my younger brother for a ride on my old bike that I totally outgrew by then.

In Slovakia, we have beautiful mountains for hiking, uphill (and downhill!) cycling, ski slopes in every village, access to ice-hockey stadiums for Sunday fun-time ice-skating, and my favourite, crystal clear waters in the many quarry lakes where you might happen to be the only person disturbing the perfect mirror-like surface with your strokes. I have always loved swimming and grew up in a town with an Olympic-size swimming pool, so I thought all pools were like that. What a disappointing reality check. And a more recent discovery, upon joining the swim fit class at the leisure centre, I became aware that breaststroke did not count as swimming. So, I am now learning to swim – again and properly, thank you, Seamus. You can also find me at the Leisure centre in a couple of the evening body sculpt/pump classes on a regular basis. I like a bright pink outfit. It matches my face! And if you’ve ever thought ‘oh I used to have a sports shirt just like that’, it’s because I bought your old one in a charity shop. I love a good treasure hunt, pretending to be a detective on an adventure, like my favourite Agatha Christie characters. I also like dressing up and since I do not really go to parties, a fun costume run will do just fine.

Trying new things, always learning, exploring, being creative and playful is really why I always wanted to work in education and why I like research too. Driving to Ipswich most days to enjoy teaching future teachers at the University of Suffolk, I tend to stay in Felixstowe for the weekends, kicking it off with an attempt to beat my PB in parkrun, currently still sitting at 25:14 after 171 parkruns with 168 of them completed on the nice flat prom. I might refocus my effort on the age-grading now that I have jumped up a category to the 40s. Parkrun changed my running from an occasion to something I just do. As the weather changes throughout the year, I change outfits, and also the faces I put on.

Before all of this could happen, my running companion along the river Danube and later in the fields of Northamptonshire was our beloved dog Blue (R.I.P.), who also tripped me over on one of our runs and caused my first ever (and so far the only) broken bone. I will not go into the medical details here, because as my husband Eric likes to remind me, I am not that kind of a doctor.

Only three running medals hang on my wall – the 2025 half-marathon Orwell Challenge, accompanied by the 2024 and 2025 Coastal 10 that I completed at a very consistent pace one second slower than the year before. Seriously, maybe I should finally start wearing a watch. Not to be obsessed with the stats and because I cannot really see the display without my glasses I run ‘naked’ and just train the feel for a faster pace.

I really like travelling and working with people from different places, besides the fact that I really like working in general. And what a better way to explore a new place than to go for a run – you can cover more ground faster. Some of my favourite runs were the Lower East side of Manhattan with Brooklyn Bridge as the backdrop, the city wall of Nice in the south of France, dividing the holiday feel of the gleaming white beach from the busy lives and traffic in a strangely similar manner to the prom of Weston-Super-Mare separating the muddy black sand from the rundown Victorian hotels. Nature runs can be nice too, although the Shetland cows in Totnes were a lot nicer than a herd of cattle approaching me in Kingsthorpe.

For a long time, the different sections of the 5-km-long running track on Margaret Island in Budapest remained my mental checkpoints on any run. I love maps and I like drawing, so Strava became my friend having recorded 1,145.5 kilometres in 2025.

My absolute favourite remains the view of Bawdsey that opens from the top of Cliff Road just before I go look for the Roman fort at the Dip. Felixstowe is a beautiful and welcoming place because communities like FRR make people feel at home.

I would like to nominate Sally Garnham as our next representative of the Monday Morning Milers.