Abingdon Marathon - 18th October
Abingdon was Steve Edwards' 30th marathon of the year so far and he left the club on Thursday evening with 12 words ringing his my ears, 'Lets see if you can do a back to back sub 3', no prizes for guessing who said that! Although the hamstrings were still a little tight from last weekend, Steve decided to set off at the same 6:45 mile pace as he did at Leicester but this time maintaining it to reach halfway in 1:28:30, so far so good.
Steve said that it was going well until about 18 miles before it really started to feel like someone was playing the cello on his hamstrings. But remembering those 12 words kept him focused and working hard until he found his rhythm again to go through 20 miles in 2:15:25. From here Steve knew that 7 minute miling would see him through but he kept plugging away at the sub-7s to eventually cross the finish line in 2:58:19, his best time on this course by 11 minutes in 11 visits.
With an average time of just over 3 hours 1 minute for the last 10 marathons ran in a 12 week period, not to mention the two back to back sub-3s in April and now again in October, this has been by far the most successful spell in Steve's running career to date. Today marked a 26th sub-3 and 426th sub 3:30s; thank you Norm, more words of wisdom did the trick yet again!
There was no time for resting though, a quick dash from the shower to the 26 mile point just in time to cheer through Calum Forsyth and John Gibson who were still looking good and both recorded a superb time of 3:39:58. This a remarkable performance for Calum given the injury that he sustained just over a month ago. Having undergone considerable 're-building' at Lucy's clinic, suplemented by patience with his training, he displayed true grit and knocked 8 minutes off his p.b.
Yet another good day which still hadn't finished as we then quickly drove back to Moreton to watch Alistair, Den and Gill run the inaugural Moreton 10k fun run, a slightly long course in which Alistair finished 1st, Den 2nd and Gill was 1st lady. All bodes well for Al who looked good and ready to attack his marathon p.b. at Dublin next Monday.
Report Highlights
Steve Edwards completes Abingdon Marathon in 2:58:19 - his 26th sub-3 hour finish and 426th sub-3:30.
Calum Forsyth completes his 5th marathon in 3:39:58 - knocking 8 minutes off his p.b.
Other reports may be found on our recent race reports page.