How do you run a marathon with two kids?

Jessica Bruce (née Leitch, 2002, Engineering Science) recently broke her second official world record for marathon running. Her first record had been for running a marathon whilst pushing her young son Daniel in a buggy, in a time of 3 hours 17 minutes. This time, she was attempting to run a marathon with Daniel and his baby sister, Emilia, in a double buggy – a feat she achieved in an impressive 3 hours and 22 minutes!

Jessica is now featured in a fascinating Oxford Sparks podcast ‘How do you run a marathon with two kids?’ in which she chats about her record achievements, and also about her work. She studied Engineering here as an undergraduate, and then undertook a DPhil with St Edmund Hall’s Engineering tutor, Professor Amy Zavatsky, looking at the biomechanics of knee pain. “Running is my passion,” Jessica explains, “and I soon realised that I could combine my work with my hobby by specialising in the field of biomechanics (looking at the way that people move). I stayed at Oxford to complete a DPhil and investigated the biomechanics of common running injuries.”

Jessica is now the founder and director of Run3D Limited, a company that develops 3D gait analysis systems that can be used outside of the gait laboratory, by clinicians treating runners. “After completing my DPhil I wanted to try and bring the technology that I had used in my research to real clinics and real runners,” she says.