This is, after all, just her second marathon — McGlynn ran 2:39:22 on her debut in Rotterdam this year — but the chief reason for her late bloom is that her career can be divided into two parts.

Back in her junior days she was one of the most promising Irish female distance runners, competing at the European cross country in 1998, the World Junior cross country in 1999 and the European U23 Championships in 2001. But in her mid-20s McGlynn’s curve of improvement began to flatten and not long after, she fell out of love with the sport.

“In 2006 I decided to stop,” she says. “It was by choice rather than injury. I was losing a bit of interest and making the jump from junior to senior was tough. I felt like a little fish in a big pond.”

McGlynn, nee Larkin, got married to Trevor — the national junior 60m hurdles record holder — the following year, and the couple settled in his hometown of Strabane, Co. Tyrone. They had their first child, Lexie, in 2010 and their second, Alfie, in 2012.

She stayed active by going to the gym and truth be told, McGlynn didn’t miss running.

“I was happy,” she says. “I had no intention of going back.”

In the end, it was the most challenging of circumstances that made her lace up her shoes again. Her baby son Alfie got bronchiolitis just three weeks after he was born and suffered a collapsed lung. She was told to prepare for the worst.

“It was touch and go for a while whether he’d make it,” says McGlynn. “At that time, I felt I had a lot of sadness in me. I was always one for ‘can you not just snap out of a depression?’ but I could feel myself getting pulled in, and I knew this feeling wasn’t right.

“I thought: I need to do something.”

That something was to run. “I said I’d go for a jog/walk for a couple of miles, and it helped a lot,” she says. “I’m not somebody who goes out and listens to music when I run; I just run and think. I’d do that every couple of days, then after a while I realised I was getting fitter, starting to like it, and getting the bug back.

“I was getting fitter and Alfie was getting stronger.”

After a six-year absence, she returned to racing in 2013 and the following year she helped the Irish women’s team to bronze medals at the European Cross Country, McGlynn the fourth scoring member in 46th.

In recent years, she has slowly transitioned to the roads, and all signs are that she has a big marathon in her once she masters the event. Her debut in April was an education, McGlynn struggling with a knee injury on the build-up then hampered by cramps in her calf during the second half of the race.

She was on target for a 2:35 at halfway, a time she believes is within her compass if things click next time out. So what has changed ahead of her second crack in Dublin?

“My body coped with the load better,” she says. “I haven’t had anything that has bothered me.”

Coached by Colin Roberts in Derry, she typically logs 80-85 miles a week, fitting her runs around part-time work as a coach at Gaelscoil Uí Dhochartaigh in Strabane. Earlier this year McGlynn bought a treadmill to help her get the miles in while looking after her two kids, who are taking an increasing interest in their mother’s achievements.

Alfie is seven, Lexie is nine, and it’s only fitting that McGlynn’s son — whose illness indirectly led to her comeback — is now an avid athlete himself. They’re also the reason she has a different perspective on athletics.

When you have kids and you go to a session or a race and things don’t go well, nothing changes. Your kids are there, happy and proud regardless. My life isn’t consumed by athletics, it comes second to the kids and I feel like I have a nice balance.

Under the new Olympic qualification system, athletes need to be ranked in the top 80 in the world to secure a place at the Games, and with major bonus points on offer for the national championships, Dublin is a huge chance for Irish athletes to lay down a marker.

“One eye is on Tokyo, it’s what every athlete dreams of,” says McGlynn. “I’d love to go, but I’ll go to Dublin, run as hard as I can, put it all out there, and see where that takes me.”

She knows getting preoccupied with the outcome is pointless so her mind is on the process. While the podium will likely be dominated by the East African contingent, McGlynn’s will give it her all to beat Irish rivals Gladys Ganiel, Laura Graham, Breege Connolly, and marathon debutante Aoife Cooke.

“I’m in very good shape, probably the best shape I’ve been in and if everything clicks I’ll be hoping to win that national title. It’s not going to be easy, but what race is?”