Her day job is as a pharmacist at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, but last weekend Catriona Johnston took part in the elite women's wheelchair Great North Run.
Cullercoats woman Catriona, 33, combines playing a key role in our NHS with training as part of the North Shields Poly Athletics Club - and Sunday saw her take part in the GNR for the second time.
She told ChronicleLive how wheelchair racing had become an ever-more-important outlet during the coronavirus crisis.
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She said: "The pandemic has been a really stressful time, and I've probably wheeled even more miles than usual because of that. "
As to why she's been pushing herself as an elite racer, she added: "Looking back, I remember watching Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson at the Sydney Olympics and thought 'I would like to do that'. I started but didn't really keep it up, but I got back into it properly a couple of years ago.
"And I thought, I live in the North East, I have to do the Great North Run. It's a rite of passage."
So in 2019, after managing an elite-level 10k time, Catriona earned herself a spot in the elite wheelchair race - a relief as operating a lengthy racing wheelchair amongst the crowds might have proven tricky.
She said: "A racing wheelchair is really more the size of a bike, especially two years ago trying to get through the crowds would have been impossible."
Finishing this year's course in just over one hour 40, Catriona is among those who will look forward to a less hilly return to finishing at the South Shields coast in 2022.
She added: "It was much harder this year, really. The hills coming back into Gateshead were killer - it was different though, and nice as a change!"
As for the reception when she walked back into the Freeman on Monday, she added: "Everyone was lovely coming into work. Of course lots of people around the hospital did the run too, it was a lovely atmosphere."
Catriona, who has spina bifida and is a lifelong wheelchair user, has more milestones coming - in October she's taking part in a marathon in early October.
Her hope is to get herself an elite-level marathon personal best - which will mean she can enter the 2022 London marathon as an elite athlete.
In the meantime though, she's back to busy days on the paediatric cardiothoracic unit at the Freeman.
