A year on from suffering a seizure at the European Championships, Jess Warner-Judd talks through its lasting effects – her brain would effectively switch off to protect her when she tried to race on the track again – and how the roads have given her the space to regain her strength and enjoy her running again

Fully 15 months on from a traumatic summer that ended with a seizure-induced DNF at the European Championships and eventual diagnosis of epilepsy, Jess Warner-Judd’s Big Half victory was exactly the confidence boost she needed.

“I just felt really good,” she says. “For the first time in a long time my race actually reflected how I’d been feeling in training and I felt really strong.”

They were welcome words from the former world age-group 800m medallist who finished eighth in the 10,000m at the 2023 senior World Championships and represented Team GB at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Her experience in Rome last year – she barely remembers the 10,000m race other than a feeling of disconnect with her body once it began – and in the months that followed has been well documented; the emotional rollercoaster of early 2025 that led to changing goals and a pending marathon debut in New York City, less so.

Despite an incredibly challenging 2024, Warner-Judd, who had started the year with a half-marathon personal best of 67:06, finished the year with enjoyable outings representing Blackburn Harriers on the road and cross country (“…so grateful to be happy, healthy, seizure-free and loving my running again,” she wrote on Instagram at the time).

Moving into 2025 her fitness returned – half marathons in Houston (69:07), Barcelona (69:35) and Berlin (70:24) reassured her that she was making good progress – and so did her ambition. “At first I thought it would take ages [to get my fitness back], but that’s the thing, as soon as I started getting fit I was like: ‘Oh, maybe [qualifying for the] World Champs [is possible]’.

Ironically, her original aim had been to run a marathon this year. Warner-Judd told The Guardian in March that her intention had been to step up to 26.2 miles in 2025 if she had competed as planned at the Paris Olympic Games. The fall-out from Rome made that impossible and unfinished business forced her hand: “I want to finish my track career on my terms, not epilepsy’s,” she said at the time.

The turning point, which ultimately led back to ‘plan A’, came at a low-key track meeting in California in early May.

“The sessions I was doing around that time were really, really good – better than I’d done in the lead up to Budapest [the 2023 World Championships],” she recalls. “I thought I’d go to America, race the 10km [Save the 10,000m with Des and Kara] then build from there, do some 5kms and aim for the British Championships.”

She remembers the start line of that 10,000m race, but the rest of it’s a blur. With her husband Rob watching on, she started to hyper-ventilate and panic, eventually having to lie down on the back straight to get her breathing under control. “I completely disassociated,” she says.

In many ways it was déjà vu – a flashback to that horrible night in Rome last June. This time, however, her DNF wasn’t caused by her epilepsy directly but indirectly through a trauma-induced psychological response. Warner-Judd recovered quickly and warmed down as normal.

“I think the hard thing at the start [going back to 2024] was that there were so many things to be worked out,” she says, reflecting on her initial diagnosis. “We nailed the epilepsy stuff, then we worked on my confidence – that’s why I started seeing a psychologist at first, to manage my confidence and anxiety just going back to the track – and we thought we’d nailed that too, until that race in the US and then the FAST5000m in Paris [in June]. It was just so weird.

“After the US everyone thought it was just because I’d got really anxious – lining up for 25 laps made me realise how important the mental side of the sport can be – but after Paris they realised there was a natural trauma response. It was like: ‘Ah, this is what’s happening’, and it took a wee while for that to click.

“I think when we found that out in June [of this year] it was actually quite a relief because I realised it wasn’t because I was training badly or running badly, there was actually a reason for it and when it was explained it made sense; as soon as the gun went off it was like everything went heavy, I couldn’t run, and then I couldn’t remember anything about it.

“In Paris I was trying to think what I did wrong in the race, I was looking at the time [15:55.26] and thinking: ‘That’s so slow,’ but then I was like: ‘What did I do?’, and I had no recollection of it at all.

I was doing all these really good sessions, and although I finished in Paris I couldn’t remember what happened. It turned out that I was disassociating from it because of the trauma from Rome. It was a completely new thing for us to deal with and in a way I think it was harder to deal with than an actual injury.”

Frustratingly, Warner-Judd knew she wasn’t going to be able to prove her fitness on the track. That view was echoed by expert professionals; in fact, her own psychologist, as well as the medical team at UK Athletics, recommended she move away from track competition completely.

“They told me I had to separate [from it],” she explains. “They described it to me…it’s like every time I race I get a stamp, and before I know it my body won’t be able to take any more stamps and then I’ll probably end up wanting to retire because I’ll be so disappointed and so disheartened with it all.”

A move to road running has eliminated the risk of the trauma response associated with track racing. It also presents an opportunity to run to form, rather than her great training sessions failing to translate to races. A less intense environment – more space, fewer flashing lights, no pyrotechnics – will also contribute to a better overall experience.

The TCS New York Marathon City on November 2 – a distance that had been pencilled in for 2025 long before her epilepsy diagnosis and associated challenges – will provide the perfect stage.

Warner-Judd’s 16-week training block began in early July, coinciding with a move from Loughborough (where she graduated with a PhD in Regenerative Medicine in December 2024) to the Lancashire town of Clitheroe and appropriately marking a fresh start in both life and running.

She’s raced twice since then – an enjoyable outing over seven miles in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where she finished 10th in a field bursting with talent in 37:21 – and most recently in London where she won the aforementioned Big Half in 70:35. Together, they provided welcome validation of her decision to move back to the roads.

Warner-Judd is enjoying marathon training, too – the long run sessions, double session days and new autumn target providing a welcome distraction to the Tokyo track action and associated ‘What ifs?’.

“I do love it,” says the three-time Mini London Marathon winner who is coached by her dad. “The training is hard so I just want to take it one week at a time, but there’s something about doing the long stuff, it just feels really rewarding.

“Sunday runs are some of the hardest,” she admits, but hilly countryside around Clitheroe should provide the perfect stimulus for the notoriously undulating New York course.

“I’d always thought Chicago [one of the fastest marathon courses in the world] or somewhere like that would be my first marathon, but when I got this opportunity I thought actually the time doesn’t matter, it’s quite a big field and it will be more of a race than maybe a flat out effort, so it takes the pressure off.

“I think that’s the thing, I wanted something where I wasn’t totally focused on time or having to hit certain splits, I’d rather just see how it unfolds, and this fits perfectly.”

Perspectives change, and after track blackouts and forgotten laps, the streets of New York will provide brand new experiences and memorable moments. It's been a long road back for the 30-year-old but there’s no rush for this one. It is, after all, a marathon not a sprint.