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As most new parents will testify, time is of the essence. For athletes specifically, no longer does there exist a great chasm between day and night, empty hours filled by training and the luxury of uninterrupted recovery. With a young child in tow, the work-life dynamic changes. Any pre-disposition to selfishness \u2013 a necessary characteristic in many elite sportspeople \u2013 has potential to shift to an entirely selfless existence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As Lynsey Sharp\u2019s interview with AW<\/i> commences, she laughs ironically when asked if her 16-month-old son Max is sleeping. \u201cHe\u2019s so much fun to be around, but he\u2019s just very high energy,\u201d she says, relieved that her husband and fellow international athlete Andrew Butchart \u2013 they were married in December \u2013 has taken him out for a walk.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI hear people [talking about their young children] who are like: \u2018Yeah, they have a two-hour nap in the afternoon\u2019. I\u2019m like: \u2018How?\u2019 Imagine having two hours!\u201d<\/p>\n Sharp may not have the free time she previously took for granted, but she\u2019s now happy, healthy and enjoying a return to competition after injuries pre and post-pregnancy halted her progression.<\/p>\n Her first race back \u2013 a 1:28.91 600m victory at the Emirates Arena as part of the Glasgow Athletics Association Miler Meet in early January \u2013 represented a long-awaited comeback. In fact, it was her first race since the qualifying rounds of the World Athletics Championships in Doha in September 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lynsey Sharp (Mark Shearman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt was just so nice to race,\u201d reflects the Edinburgh AC athlete. \u201cI\u2019d trained there [at the Emirates] twice a week for however many weeks and I tried to think of it the same, but I was still so nervous, it didn\u2019t feel like training at all. I\u2019d waited so long to get back out there though, I wanted to make the most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a challenging yet invigorating few years for the former European 800m champion. In late 2019 she had surgery to remove pre-cancerous cells which were identified following a smear test. In 2020, in addition to the impact of Covid and moving back to Scotland, she was treated for a frustrating and enduring foot issue. Then, in May 2021, she announced she was pregnant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEarlier on in my career, when I was younger, it would have never entered my head to have had a child while I was still competing,\u201d explains Sharp. \u201cIt was more like that mentality changed as I got older, and after I met Andrew, and seeing other people do that more over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n \u201cI was at a really difficult point. [Sponsors] Adidas had said they weren\u2019t taking my option year and I\u2019d also had a lot of injury problems. You then start to question, \u2018Can my body do it?\u2019 and that, coupled with thoughts of starting a family, we were just like, \u2018If it happens, it happens, and whatever happens, that\u2019s what\u2019s meant to be.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb <\/b><\/span>This is an excerpt from an interview that appeared in the February issue of AW, which you can read here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n