Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews was among the thousands taking part in the Great Manchester Run on Sunday - and was preparing to head straight back to the soap for filming on Monday after a break from playing Jenny Connor. And she said soap fans might spot a rather "painful" looking return for Jenny after Sally's running heroics.
The Corrie favourite took on the 10k challenge alongside her friend and Corrie extra extraordinaire, Adam Blease, on Sunday. The pals were running to raise money and awareness for The Dogs Trust and completed the entire 10k by each other's side.
But speaking ahead of the run, Sally revealed she had one big concern about returning to film on Corrie on Monday morning, hours after completing her first ever 10km race. In the soap, the character of Jenny has been having a quieter time of late after being involved in some of the soap's biggest ever dramas last year.
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The duo did the whole run by each other's sides and finished in a brilliant 1h 14 minutes. They joined around 30,000 people running across the city centre on Sunday.
Sally told the MEN: "It's turned out quite nicely, I've had ages off work, and then I'm back filming tomorrow. So Jenny might be behind the Rovers staggering a bit like John Wayne."
Due to the delay between filming scenes and when they appear on screen, her returning scenes will be aired around July time after her break away from the soap in recent weeks. Sally laughed: "So if you see Jenny sat down for the entire episode or walking a little oddly, then this will be why."
The actress decided to take on the 10k challenge after completing a brilliant running challenge to celebrate turning 50 last year. She said: "I did a challenge of doing 50 5ks in my 50th year, and I completed that last November. And then I was like what do I do now? And Adam said 'do the Manchester 10k'. I said no that's too far, but he said I'll do it with you, to give him the boot up the backside to get back into running."
Although it's been a tough run-in for the Corrie favourite. She said: "I got injured, then I got covid, so I've only been back running for about a month so I'm a bit slow, but I'll get through."
She laughed: "I swore a lot this morning when I woke up and thought "why am I doing this?" I just want to get round. It's just one step in front of the other."
Sally and Adam got to chat to Olympic hero Jessica Ennis-Hill at the start line to "compare notes" on the run before they set off from Portland Street across the 10k course which looped around Old Trafford and then down to the finish line to huge applause on Deansgate. After the race Sally admitted she poured a bottle of water all over herself to cool her down.
But the duo said it was all very much worth it to raise money and awareness for animal charity The Dogs Trust. Adam said: "Sal and I went to visit there about three years ago and lo and behold I met a little cocker spaniel there called Poppy and then two weeks later she was home with me and we'd adopted her.
"We've always supported The Dogs Trust, we're both dog mad. And Sal has got a little border terrier at home."
Sally added: "And he's ran with me a couple of times as well, he's a good training buddy," but Adam added: "If I ask Poppy to come for a run she just rolls her eyes as if it say 'are you kidding?'"
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