How athletics beat lambing – but only just – for Olympic hero Laura Muir

Laura Muir could be pounding round the last lap of the Olympic track, chasing the finish line as hard as she can. Or she could be riding a noisy quad bike, flying up a steep grazing hill in pursuit of itinerant sheep during lambing season.

It doesn’t really matter what this record-breaking, nation-wowing runner is engaged in – once the starting gun goes off, she gives it absolutely everything.

Even if that sometimes means trading dreams.

The 1500m athletics superstar from Milnathort, near Kinross, has been one of Scotland’s most successful competitors across the last decade, earning prestigious Commonwealth gold and Olympic silver wins.

But Laura only discovered her elite level athletic ability when she embarked on her childhood dream of studying to become a vet. The talented all-rounder became a star athlete while still studying for her degree. When she graduated in 2018, due to the demands of athletics, the world’s fastest vet chose to postpone her clinical life to take her sporting career as far as she could.

Laura Muir exercising with Dollie for the YuMOVE campaign.

Laura, 31, admits she is now unlikely to pick up her former dream job, feeling she has been away from the field too long to return in the manner she would need to.

“It was something I wanted from a very young age,” she says. “I had a pet rabbit, a pet guinea pig and got a dog when I was eight years old. I just remember growing up thinking animals are amazing and I love the sciences, so just naturally chose veterinary.

“I was pretty good (at running) in school but it was only once I started in veterinary and then I was on that path that my training progressed very quickly, so I ended up with both at once.

“I graduated in 2018 and I did look to be involved in veterinary in some way. But it requires a lot of attention and I just felt I couldn’t stretch myself between the two, so I’ve focused on running since I’ve graduated.

“If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it properly and I just felt I wouldn’t be able to commit to the level I’d want to with two things going on. They’re both very full-on careers.

“The veterinary community is just incredible and loads of people were really supportive, saying: ‘Do your running because you can only run for so long.’”

It was at the height of her studies that Laura became one of the country’s flying stars of the track. She set a British record at the 1500m in Rio and continued to star in championships all over the world.

When the race was over, she’d dig out the veterinary scrubs and rejoin her classmates in the animal hospital, clinics or placements in farming communities.

She was often amused at the double-takes from pet owners wondering why an Olympic middle-distance athlete was examining their sickly cockapoo, while her glam adventures at the likes of Rio 2016 led to plenty of ‘What did you do this summer’ jokes at the start of term.

“(In clinics) we had a little name badge with my name and University of Glasgow Veterinary Student on, and sometimes I’d have to say to the vet that I might have to take it off because when people read your name and put two and two together, it’s like: ‘Oh, OK.’”

Her studies also saw her try an altogether different form of racing.

“Lambing was quite good fun because me and the farmer had a good routine where I’d sit on the back of the quad bike and then we’d get up to the sheep on the hill and I could jump off and catch the sheep and then we’d spray it and get back on,” she says. “I was pretty fast being able to catch the lamb.

“I worked with so many sorts of different animals over my time at university on placements and it’s so rewarding when the patient got better. When they were wagging their tail and going up to their owners it’s so lovely and that feeling never gets old.”

Fame isn’t something that has ever come too easy, Laura admits, but she is grateful that it’s always been expressed in positive messages and tributes such as a street in her home town named after her.

“I guess over time you get used to it. I’m not someone that naturally would want to be in the spotlight but I know that with what I do and the success I’ve had, it’s going to come with it. Sometimes you’re surprised with where you’re recognised – it could be quite random sometimes but it’s very nice,” she says.

As an unrequited dog lover – her training and travelling schedules render having a pet impractical at the moment – she recently combined career paths to launch a campaign encouraging pet owners to make sure their animals are properly exercised.

She is behind the YuMOVE Joint Effort dogs’ relay race, which helped launch this year’s Crufts, and has developed a canine Couch to 5k-style training programme for dogs needing to stretch all four legs.

The runner is delighted to use her profile to spread such an important message and hopes it can set a template for her working life after running.

“I’ve been really lucky to be involved with things like this campaign working with YuMOVE to try and raise awareness of dog health, because it means that I can get a bit of veterinary into my running career,” she says.

“I don’t know if I’ll get back in a clinical sense but it’s so nice to be involved in campaigns like this. I’d like to use the profile that I have to help in that way. I think that’s where I can make a difference.”

Not that she has any plans to quit the track any time soon, with the bright lights of the Los Angeles Olympics just three years away. After taking silver in Tokyo 2021, Laura improved her time in the final of the Paris games last year, but still came fifth. She’s now working to meet that fresh challenge.

“Each year you’re like: ‘Right, where can we get faster, what can we push, what can we do?’ I want to be in the Olympic cycle and I want to be competitive in the next Olympics.

“I think I’m not going to put a date on retirement. Hopefully I’ll be able to call it on my own terms. Just as long as I’m enjoying it, that’s the most important thing. If you’re having a difficult time or you’re injured it’s like you go back and think: ‘Right, am I still enjoying this if you take away the glamorous side?’ and I always have.”

And there are no regrets.

“Regardless of what road you go down, you’re always going to think: ‘Have I made the right decision or have I sacrificed the other thing?’ but I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved, and very proud that I’ve got my veterinary degree as well because I could have decided not to have got that considering how well my running was going.

“There’s not really anything that I would have done differently.”

I’ll retire and take it kneesy

Laura Muir may not be planning on her athletic retirement any time soon, but the adventurous Scot has made a thrill-seeking to-do list of all the endeavours she will finally be allowed to take part in.

As a self-confessed but frustrated adrenalin junkie, Laura’s athletic career means she has been unable to try out some of the more exciting hobbies she has always fancied.

“I’d like to do a skydive – I wouldn’t be concerned about jumping out of the plane, it’s the landing that I’m worried about, going over on my knee or something,” she says. “I’m very much all about joint healthcare and skydiving would be a bit risky for my joints.

“I’d also love to go back to skiing, which I did in school, but again, it’s not really the best thing for my joints.”

While her adventure chasing is limited to more knee and ankle friendly pursuits, the most important part of her future retirement plan will be an instant addition to her household. “I would absolutely love a dog but I’m away so much and I’m moving all over the place so it just wouldn’t be fair on the dog,” she says.

“I’ve got a few friends in various places that have dogs so it’s nice to go for a dog walk with them.

“I’ll get a dog pretty much day one after retirement.”

The Joint Effort Challenge, designed by Laura Muir and YuMOVE, is now open for all dog lovers. Get involved at yumove.co.uk/jointeffort