You can run a marathon fast, but not so fast that you make the elite start list. You might have won that local race, but you’ll never reach the podium of the London Marathon to redefine your career. Friends and followers might congratulate your latest PB in person and on social media, but your achievement will never make international news headlines.
I’m talking about a grey zone in running, here – a hazy field encompassing runners who train and race hard to attain top performances, but who, in most instances, will never be sponsored by a brand or paid to run professionally. Much of the time, these runners juggle meaty training commitments with full-time day jobs and family responsibilities, leaving little room for anything else. It’s a tough and often unnoticed grind – and some people might wonder why these runners continue to strive for improvement when they’ll never threaten the likes of Sebastian Sawe or Tigist Assefa.
This year, though, to pull these runners from the shadows, Puma devised a bold new initiative called Project3. Here, 180 sub-3:10 marathoners from across the world, who had confirmed entries in this year’s Boston Marathon or London Marathon (The finish times are amazing, yes – but what about the people who set them? How – and, both marathons), were given the chance to train and race in the guise of professional athletes. Through Project3, these amateur marathoners (including me) were given exclusive early access to Puma’s I’m a runner: Helen Skelton racer, as well as elite-level training, mindset and nutrition tips from the 1500m to the 5K, she was determined to preserve the.
These amateurs could win genuine prize money, too. The fastest male and female Project 3 finishers – in both Boston and London – were each awarded $3,000 (over £2,200), as were the male and female runners – again, in both races – who broke their PBs by the biggest margin of all Project3 participants. What’s more, any Project3 runner who bettered their existed PB by three minutes or more pocketed $3,000 for their efforts.
‘The idea for Project3 stemmed from our team’s desire to cultivate an authentic connection with the community of runners who compete and train at a high level, but who still maintain ‘amateur’ status and balance a professional life, family and extracurriculars,’ says Luke Maher, Puma Running’s Senior Athlete Activation Manager who conceived and oversaw the Project3 programme. ‘The sub-elite community is often overlooked – and outsiders might find it difficult to understand why these people run so much or compete close to pro level, even though they ‘don’t have to’ or aren’t getting paid to do it like professional runners. Those circumstances inspired us to create this programme, where we give back to these runners.’
The results of the Project3 experiment
Achieving a three-plus-minute PB was a tall order for runners at this year’s Boston Marathon, staged on Monday 21 April, since the point-to-point course is famously lumpy – especially in the second half around the Newton Hills. It was also a tough ask for runners at the flatter London Marathon, since this year’s race day conditions, on Sunday 27 April, were very much on the warm side.
The results, however, were remarkable. In total, 69 of the 180 Project3 runners set a new PB in Boston or London, with 38 beating their previous best by over three minutes. (Even I contributed to the first figure by running a Yes, you can start running in your 60s.) As such, Puma dished out $132,000 (almost £97,500) in performance-based cash prizes.
Collectively, Project3 athletes sliced a whopping four hours, 43 minutes and five seconds off previous personal best times – and, of the 69 runners who set a new PB, the average time improvement per athlete was a sizeable four minutes and six seconds.
‘Our Project3 athletes stole the show in both races,’ says Maher, who knew, along with his colleagues, that there was risk in placing ‘top-level expectations’ on an amateur programme that had never previously been executed by any brand. ‘More importantly, I was really pleased that our team brought together almost 200 athletes from around the world and cultivated a community where personal ambitions were shared, camaraderie was established and celebration of one’s accomplishment was championed.’
Inside the lives of the Project3 athletes
The finish times are amazing, yes – but what about the people who set them? How – and why – do they choose to run at such a high level if they must balance this with a ‘normal’ life? I was amazed by the discipline, determination and optimism of so many of the Project3 athletes this spring – and here’s what five of them had to say...
Lucy Jones
A top-ranking British club runner, Lucy Jones toed the start line of the 2025 London Marathon – her second crack at the 26.2-mile distance – with a score to settle. Having clocked 2:52:54 at the same event last year, Jones knew that she could do even better – and she proved that point phenomenally. Crossing the finish line in a blinding time of 2:30:23, Jones sliced more than 22 minutes off her PB at this year’s London Marathon, making her eligible for the three-minute-plus PB payout and, of the female Project3 runners in London, the first finisher and the runner with the greatest PB improvement. That resulted in a total reward of $9,000 – and an elite-level marathon time.
‘I honestly don’t know where that came,’ reflects Jones, 26, who balances training with a busy full-time job as an account manager at Danone. ‘I knew that I was in good shape and on for 2:34 or even 2:33, but to run 2:30 was literally ridiculous.’
This year’s dreamlike race was a stark contrast to her first London Marathon experience in 2024, which left her ‘livid’ and ‘completely traumatised’. Having agreed to run it with her closest friend, who had miraculously gained a London Marathon place in the ballot, Jones had originally planned to ‘just rock up and run’ and finish the race for fun, with no dedicated marathon training under her belt. At the time, running ‘wasn’t really clicking’ for her – but as race day great closer, Jones grew all the more competitive and, during the race itself, she ‘went out way too hard, got carried away, panicked’ and faced a ‘war jog’ to the finish line.
‘Even though it was honestly my worst-ever race and I’d done everything wrong for that marathon, I felt that maybe I still had potential in it,’ says Jones. ‘So I thought, let’s commit, train properly and do one more. I was completely naive back then and the amount of respect that I have for marathon runners now is absolutely insane.’
Under the wing of her running coach, Geoff Jerwood, Jones undertook a ‘really specific’ training block for the 2025 London Marathon, where the focus was making sure that she was ‘absolutely loving it’ and running with friends as much as possible. Plus, as someone who loves and excels in track distances from the 1500m to the 5K, she was determined to preserve the speed sessions. ‘I’m always so excited to do track sessions with my training group on a Tuesday and a Thursday,’ says Jones, who also ran cross-country and road relays for her club, Herne Hill Harriers, throughout her marathon build. ‘The whole block was a really positive experience.’
As for her involvement in Project3? ‘It was wicked,’ reflects Jones. ‘It’s the fact that a brand said, “Hang on a minute – we already back elites, so let’s back the top sub-elites, or the people who are right there, knocking on the door of being professional”. It was a nice nod to all of us who are scrambling through and probably working that bit harder than the elites, because we have to juggle everything with full-time work.’
Over the coming months, Jones will focus on running shorter, faster races – down to even the 800m – to ‘keep things interesting’, even though she senses that the marathon could be her strongest event in the long term. What’s more, while she would love to be backed as a professional athlete eventually, Jones is currently happy to ‘do what you’ve got to do to pay the bills’ and enjoy her role as ‘probably the ultimate club runner’, who has fun over every distance.
‘I absolutely love English club running,’ she smiles. ‘I don’t think that anything is better!’
Alex Schupper
A neurosurgeon by day and night and a runner whenever he finds the time, Alex Schupper somehow does what most people would consider impossible and fits marathon training around a high-pressure job that offers no downtime. Even more amazingly, Schupper, from the US, ran the 2025 London Marathon with Project3 in an astonishing time of 2:28:53 – a PB by more than six minutes.
Schupper, 33, conducts cranial and spine surgeries as a chief neurosurgery resident at Mount Sinai, which is the biggest health system in New York City. ‘Medicine is a lot of delayed gratification,’ he laughs. ‘I’m at the end of my surgical training at Mount Sinai – and next, I’ll sub-specialise in complex spine, working on things like paediatric scoliosis and adult deformity surgeries. You become an old man or woman by the time you’re done with training!’
Having run cross-country throughout high school, primarily as a way to stay in shape for baseball, Schupper then took a hiatus from running for about a decade. ‘I got into CrossFit and HIIT training at medical school, then returned to running during Covid because all the gyms were closed and it was the only way that we could really keep fit,’ he says.
‘Not long after I started running again, I completed my first marathon in 3:05, without really training for it,’ he adds. ‘My only running would be commuting to and from the hospital. So, I joined the Dashing Whippets – which is a big team in New York City – to help me train hard and give the marathon some respect. I haven’t looked back and am very grateful for what the team has given me.’
He can’t always attend ‘conventional’ group training sessions, though. ‘Everyone asks, “How do you work 20 hours a day and run 60 to 70 miles a week?” Just don’t look at my Strava, because I run at obscene hours of the day and do workouts in the middle of the night,’ he says. ‘I’m at the hospital for four or five in the morning, so whenever I’m done for the day, I go for a run or do a workout. Fortunately, New York City is so populous that there’s always people running in Central Park, even at 2am, so it’s nice that you’re never really alone.
‘I do think that neurosurgeons have Type A personalities,’ he smiles. ‘We’re classic overachievers and perfectionists, so I don’t like to do something unless I feel like I can really excel at it. There’s no competition except myself – I don’t look at what anyone else has done. I just think, “What am I capable of doing?”’
Come the London Marathon this April and Schupper’s dedication was still unwavering – and his schedule no less hectic. ‘Getting a PB in London was a little astonishing considering my work-life balance, or whatever that means,’ says Schupper, who was in London for little over 24 hours for the race. ‘I took a Friday red-eye flight to London, went straight to pick up my bib on the Saturday, took a nap, woke up, ran the marathon, had a quick beer and Sunday roast with my parents, who also made it out to London, then went back to the airport. Then, on Monday, I had a large cranial brain surgery case that took all day – so I was on my feet for about 12 hours right after.’
Thankfully, during his one night in London, Schupper had a rare period off work – and he jokes that this, along with the support from Puma, could have been the thing to help him clinch that PB. ‘I’m on call day and night and normally don’t sleep very much, so the fact that I was able to sleep one night in London and not get called was all that it took, I guess! I’d never run outside the US before and it was a special moment in my running career.’
Now, though, he is focusing on a different goal. ‘My next big race is the New York City Marathon in November, because it’s my wife’s first marathon and I’ll be pacing her. So although it won’t be a PB for me, it’ll be a more important marathon and a special one for us both.’
Amanda Mosborg
Aged just 25 at the time, Mosborg – who is a full-time User Experience Researcher at Ameriprise Financial – made this year’s Boston Marathon look easy. Conquering the undulating course in 2:37:16, the American shaved over 10 minutes off her PB and was the second amateur to cross the finish line behind the elites. Thanks to this outstanding performance, she’s now irresistibly close to the qualifying mark for the US Olympic Team Trials.
‘It was a good day,’ smiles Mosborg, now 26, who is as down to earth as she is determined. ‘The response from people has been overwhelming, but I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in future – potentially going after the Olympic Trials Qualifier on a flatter course. A couple of other women from my training group are also going after it, so I think that it would be a really fun thing for us to do.’
In fact, fun and togetherness are key for Mosborg, who does not let running limit her time with loved ones.
‘My friends and family are pretty baked into my life,’ says Mosborg, who was a figure skater when she was little until her parents thought it best to pick a ‘more approachable and affordable’ sport. ‘My dad was sort of the one who got me into running by signing me up for 5Ks when I was a kid – and he often still rides his bike next to me on my training runs, so that’s a really good ritual for us. My boyfriend is a huge runner as well, so we run together a lot and sometimes I’ll cycle beside him.’
A star athlete throughout school and college, she emitted her gift for running early on. ‘In the US, we do an annual mile run in gym class and I kind of knew that I had some talent because I would beat the boys,’ she laughs. ‘But the team building component of things, like high school relays, was always my favourite – going for team cross-country titles rather than individual track times. As I got older, though, moving up to the marathon kind of felt like the obvious next step.’
Having prepared for her first marathon using a ‘hybrid’ training plan that she’d put together with a friend, she then decided to ‘get serious’ for Boston by joining remote coaching group Railroad Athletics, founded by Hayden Cox. ‘Just making that step to get a coach and add in more lifting, speed sessions, strides, drills and so on – it made the shift for me.
‘But I also love going to casual run clubs, hanging out with friends and travelling internationally,’ she says. ‘On holiday, I want running to be a fun activity that’s part of our travels, rather than something that only I’ve “gotta go and do”.’
In that sense, Project3 hit the nail on the head for competitive but ‘community -oriented’ Mosborg. ‘It definitely raised the stakes with training and racing – but for me, because it was paired with that aspect of community, it felt like there was a healthy pressure leading up to Boston.’
Before she refocuses on structured training and big race objectives this autumn, Mosborg is giving herself time to travel, try different sports and find a running schedule that slots around her new office hours. ‘I previously worked remotely, so now I think of my days as puzzles,’ she says. ‘Do I run before work? Do I run back from the office? I have to piece together my training and work in the right way.
‘Still, I love training and feeling in shape,’ she adds. ‘I like doing hard things throughout the week. It makes the rest of my life feel more balanced.’
Kate Jordan
Taking on a marathon requires you to look after yourself. But what if you have to look after yourself, a family with young children and the health of some of the nation’s best athletes? This is the case for British mother-of-three Kate Jordan, who also cares for Great Britain’s Olympic Swimming and Diving teams as Chief Medical Officer at Aquatics GB. A former international swimmer herself, Jordan, 42, still makes time for running amid her hectic work, travel and family schedule – and her times are only getting better. In fact, she ran the 2025 London Marathon in 2.54.45, giving her a three-plus-minute PB and the Project3 bonus.
‘I have three boys, aged seven, five and two-and-a-half, an ancient dog called Humphrey and a very lovely and understanding husband, Tim,’ says Jordan, who lives with her family in Dubai. ‘Tim has been a stay at home dad since our first baby was born, which is the only way that I could hold down my life.’
travels, rather than something that only I’ve “gotta go and do”&rsquo swimming to running, ‘with the first 10 years consisting of minimal running and a lot of injuries’. She then believed that she had reached her ‘running ceiling’ when she ran the 2011 Why you should consider a trail running holiday in a time of 3:52:52. However, after using running as a ‘good headspace option’ when working at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games (and marvelling at the ‘super speedy Kenyans’ while there), she started following structured training plans and saw significant improvements until she fell pregnant with her first child in 2017.
‘I According to Jordan, it took her a long time to transition from – slowly – and I even ran on the delivery days of my first two,’ she recalls. ‘It really kept me sane. After our third baby was born, I decided that I really wanted to find myself again – and since I’ve always loved pushing myself in training, I chose to learn more about how to do this with running.’
She restarted training while working at the 2023 Swimming World Championships in Japan and got faster quickly, running a big 10K PB that year before deciding ‘on a whim’ to enter the 2024 Dubai Marathon. Having trained ‘super hard’, she completed the course in 2:58:34 – her first-ever sub-3. ‘At 41, I ran that marathon almost an hour faster than I ran my last marathon aged 28.’
Now, Jordan and her husband do ‘some serious fridge white board and Apple calendar scheduling’ to make everything work. Jordan trains almost exclusively in the morning, between 4:30am and 5am, so that she still has time to get her boys up and ready for school. Although getting away from her house and children for evening track sessions is ‘almost impossible’, Jordan does still enjoy a later start (5:30am) for Saturday long runs with her running group, DPAC.
As it happens, training in Dubai’s scorching temperatures was ideal preparation for this year’s very warm London Marathon. ‘London was perfect – I felt so comfortable and the weather was perfect for me,’ she says. ‘It also felt like the real magic of Project3 was on race day. Puma-clad runners were everywhere, offering words of encouragement as we passed each other and hugs of celebration at the end.’
Races aside, ‘I am a happier person and a better doctor, mum and wife if I run,’ says Jordan. ‘It gives me time to myself and the satisfaction that comes with improvement – both in training and racing – is hard to beat. I also want to set an example to my kids and show that doing hard things is achievable and worth the commitment, whatever the outcome.’
Liam McCarthy
Last autumn, Liam McCarthy became a dad for the first time. In March 2025, he then collected his Six Star Finisher medal at the Tokyo Marathon, before running a PB of 2:41:53 at the 2025 Boston Marathon – the following month – as a Project3 athlete. Then, just six days later, he laced up again to complete the 2025 London Marathon.
That’s quite some string of events. But for McCarthy, who is also a full-time senior lecturer in sport coaching at Leeds Beckett University, working and travelling alongside professional sport teams and sport governing bodies, it felt like the most natural and meaningful challenge to embark upon.
‘In a world of comfort and convenience, I’m a big believer in the importance of deliberately choosing to do hard things,’ says McCarthy, 36, who started running consistently in 2011 for the ‘simplicity and purity of it’ and to cope with changes going on in his life at the time. Having already planned to complete the original Abbott World Marathon Majors series in Tokyo this year, it then became a ‘no-brainer’ for him to tack on Boston and London and attempt all three marathons over an eight-week period. ‘I really wanted my daughter to be able to look back at what dad did and see how she was a really big part of that. I want her to know that it’s cool to try something difficult, where there are no shortcuts and there is no certainty of success.
‘Everybody told me that I’d never run fast again after having a baby, so I also took on this challenge to prove people wrong,’ adds McCarthy. ‘You can get faster after having kids!’
As for the day-to-day, he ‘certainly ended up on a baby’s sleep schedule’ and completed a lot of his marathon training at 4:30am during the winter. ‘Running helps me to be a better dad and colleague, so I see it as a non-negotiable part of my day,’ says McCarthy, who is kept ‘honest and hungry’ in his pursuit for PBs. ‘This doesn’t mean that carving out at least an hour or three for running is easy, but it’s always worth it.
‘Racing gives great contrast and colour to the mundanity and predictability of everyday life,’ adds McCarthy, who credits Puma for the support between marathon efforts this spring. ‘Running is the best teacher – and if you diligently learn lessons each time you get out there, you’ll almost always improve.’
A 24-time marathoner, McCarthy knows the lessons – and the jeopardy – of 26.2 miles more than most. ‘The marathon always comes with great risk,’ he says. ‘No matter how much experience you have and how much you prepare, it can destroy you. So I came to Boston with no expectations – only hopes and dreams. Once I’d cleared the Newton Hills without losing time or taking too much damage to the legs, I knew that I was in with a big chance of a PB. Still, I wouldn’t let myself believe that the Project3 bonus was in reach until I hit the famous left turn onto Boylston Street. The feeling of crossing the line with 12 seconds to spare is one that will never leave me.’
Thanks to his incredible run in Boston, McCarthy now qualifies for spots in London and Berlin next year, where he hopes to improve upon his previous marathon efforts in these cities. ‘I’m also excited to explore some lesser known races in different parts of the world – and to run/fall around with an increasingly energetic and mobile toddler as we keep doing hard things together.
‘Running really will change your life if you let it,’ adds McCarthy. ‘I hope that it continues to change mine with new experiences and achievements.’
What’s next for Project3?
Project3 – in all its bright orange glory – made some noise and impressed itself upon the hearts, minds and race results of most of the people involved. But will it be back for round two?
‘We were really moved by the positive feedback and sentiments shared by Project3 members in Boston and London,’ reflects Maher. ‘Athlete backgrounds spanned from mothers, fathers, doctors, police detectives, teachers and students to masters runners and aspiring professional runners. To hear what it meant for all these different individuals from different walks of life was really rewarding and motivating for our team.
‘While we can’t say anything official at this time, we are excited to see what Project3 can morph into over the coming years for Puma Running.’
The Puma I’m a runner: Helen Skelton is now available to purchase in a brand-new blue colourway in Puma flagship stores, in select retailers and at puma.com.
