Imagine you’ve just run 50 miles, and you’re facing the same distance again. You’re running in the dark, on your own, when a strange man grabs you, and assaults you, before disappearing into the night. What would you do?

If you’re Kate Jayden, you run for your life – and win the race at the same time.

After being attacked, Kate ran more than two miles, for 25 minutes, in the pitch dark before finding another runner, heart pounding, all the time terrified she was being followed.

After reporting the incident, she rejoined the race when it restarted in daylight. Even more remarkably, she went on to win. And two weeks later, she was back out racing again – and winning another trophy.

Kate, 29, has faced a few challenges in her life. She only started running four years ago after recovering from an eating disorder. She’s not a professional athlete – she’s a financial services manager from Cheshire who runs. A lot.

"I knew I had the opportunity to show what ultra running is really about – that you can’t break the human spirit. You find an inner strength somewhere."

She’s run 217 marathons and ultra marathons, and more than 100 miles in 24 hours; she’s completed 20 marathons in 17 days; and she’s an Iron Man. She’s a pretty tough character. However, even she found this latest event difficult to cope with.

“I was in floods of tears,” she said. “It was like being in a horror film when you see someone running for their life. I even tried running without my head torch on because I was so terrified they were going to come after me, but I couldn’t see where I was going and I had to switch it back on.”

The attack, at a 24-hour race in September, came as a complete shock. “I heard someone coming up behind me,” she said. “I thought it was another runner at first. He ran up behind me and grabbed me. I thought it must be a friend and I remember then I suddenly realised it wasn’t at all, he had no head torch on, and he grabbed me again and I knew something very sinister was going on. Then he grabbed my breasts. I just carried on running.

“I was panicking. It was pitch black. I was convinced that his friends were going to come round the corner at any minute.”

Any ordinary mortal might have gone home to try to recover – but Kate was determined to continue.

Kate Jayden with an award

“I knew I had the opportunity to show what ultra running is really about – that you can’t break the human spirit,” she said. “You find an inner strength somewhere.

“I did 50km in around 5 hours 40 minutes and I actually got the first place – I’d run 82.2 miles in 16 hours 24 minutes. I just completely focused on the race and blocked out what had happened. I was surprised at the distance I ended up covering.”

Kate hasn’t escaped unscathed from the experience, though. “It triggered quite a bit of anxiety afterwards,” she said.

“I’m 29 years old, it sounds ridiculous to be afraid of the dark, but I couldn’t face being on my own in the house in the dark.” However, she did return to work after two weeks and has even braved spending the night alone. Returning to racing was the obvious next step.

“The longer I left it the more difficult it was going to become,” she said.

So she plunged herself into another 24 hour race, Equinox, with a ‘buddy’ to accompany her in the dark.

“It was a struggle to start with,” said Kate. “After about 25 miles I had a bit of a cry. Then I had a word with myself and thought , 'right, you’ve got two options, you can either feel sorry for yourself and regret it afterwards or you can do what you know you do best, and that’s get on with it.’

“I’m 29 years old, it sounds ridiculous to be afraid of the dark, but I couldn’t face being on my own in the house in the dark.”

“The best way to get endorphins going is to sing – I’ll often stick on some tunes and run along smiling and singing at the top of my voice.”

After 100km, she started to focus on getting into the top three, and then in the last two miles she pushed on into second place. “I cried my eyes out when I crossed the finish line,” said Kate. She had managed 107.11 miles in 24 hours and 39 minutes.

Since then, she’s set up her own company and run her sixth 100-mile distance in the space of five and a half months.

So has the experience changed her?

“I don’t think it would stop me going out and running on my own in the dark,” she said. But she has some good advice: “Take precautions – get a really bright headlight, if you’re going out running on your own, choose a well-lit route, make sure people know where you are and where you’re going, only wear one earphone if you do wear them, and if you can take someone with you, then do,” she said.

“If someone else can see I’m just the same as them, and I can do this, then hopefully it will help them think they can do their 5km or 10km or something that will challenge them to get out of their comfort zones."

“I don’t think I’d like to do an ultra again without someone to run with in the dark but that’s why I’m lucky to have pacers to run with me. It’s just about using your common sense.

“It has been a setback, and I can’t claim I’m absolutely back to normal. I’ll just try to use it to make me stronger.”

It’s that inner strength that keeps Kate going when many others conk out by the wayside.

“Some people would say it’s addictive,” she said. “I just enjoy the challenge of pushing myself. It’s also become a way of raising funds and awareness for the eating disorder charity B-eat as well.

“Hopefully it inspires other people. I’m just an average Joe. I go to work Monday to Friday. If someone else can see I’m just the same as them, and I can do this, then hopefully it will help them think they can do their 5km or 10km or something that will challenge them to get out of their comfort zones.

“I’m not a gifted athlete. I’m not talented at all. There’s no difference between you and me or the next person. I guess I’ve got a really stubborn, determined streak.”

Kate raises money for B-eat at www.justgiving.com/ runjaydenrun