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Steve Edwards | 1000 Marathons World Record
210 Plays6 months ago
On Monday May 6th at the UK Milton Keynes marathon, British runner Steve Edwards achieved what many people have described as the ultimate multi marathon world record when he was crowned the new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title holder for running 1000 official marathon races in the fastest average finish time.
Listen to this episode to hear Michelle and Steve chat all about what has been a 43 year journey!
A few stats
1000 Official Marathon Races from 1981 - 2024.
Finish Times ranging from 2hrs 51min - 3hrs 57min.
325 Sub 3:15s, 500 sub 3:20s, 801 sub 3:30s & 1000 sub 4,00s
A marathon on average every 13 days for the last 36 years.
First 500 marathons - 22 years - aged 25-45
Average finish time - 3hrs 18min.
Second 500 marathons - 14 years - aged 45 - 61
Average finish time - 3hrs 24min.
Total Average Finish Time for all 1000 marathons - 3hrs 21min 47sec
You can follow Steve on Instagram here
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Transcript
Opening Moments and Guinness World Record Experience
00:00:00
ukrunchat
Welcome to this episode of the UK Run Chat podcast. Today, I'm joined by Steve Edwards, who has just achieved what many people have described as the ultimate multi-marathon world record when he was crowned the New Guinea's World Records title holder for running 1,000 official marathon races in the fastest average finished time. Hi, Steve. Thank you so much for coming onto the podcast today. Would you just like to say a few words about yourself and introduce yourself
Early Marathon Journey and Challenges
00:00:27
ukrunchat
briefly?
00:00:27
Steve
Yeah, firstly, hello Michelle, and thank you for having me on. and Yeah, I mean, gosh, I'm 61 years old now. It was never meant to go on this long. I ran my first marathon when I was 18, way back in 1981. Hard to believe just where that time has gone. And I think like many before me have said, you've run your first marathon and you've
Achieving Milestones and Maintaining Health
00:00:51
Steve
found never again. you you don't You don't quite so know what's in stall really, you do some training but you never really know until you get out there and you experience it for the first time and I think it's fair to say I made every mistake in the book and pretty much learned the hard way how tough and brutal a marathon can be.
00:01:08
Steve
But that was my introduction to running, it was my first ever race in in fact and at the time I was doing martial arts so I swapped martial arts for running and by the sort of late 1980s I was running many more marathons and during 1988 actually I decided I was going to try and run a marathon a month to raise money for Great Ormond Street. and that's really what kickstarted the whole thing really I guess in terms of really marathons on a regular basis. I met up with a few runners who were part of a little known group called the 100 Marathon Club, probably heard of those.
00:01:48
Steve
And it was literally just a handful of runners back in those days. It was in ah it was an unofficial club. And if you like, we were, if you like, the early pioneers for the much bigger official 100 marathon club that exists today. but at the time I realised that I was quite a young member and I wondered whether there was a world record for the youngest person to run Andrew Marathons and that's really how I got started. So by 1990 I had achieved that world record at the age of 28. I think it's been broken a few times since but just to get that first record
00:02:28
Steve
And then from there, really push on to see what else I could try and achieve. So the second record I went for was the most marathons in a year. In those days, you really have to do a lot of traveling to get, you know, if you wanted to run sort of more than one or two marathons a week. So that meant traveling all
Reflecting on Marathon Impact and Future Challenges
00:02:45
Steve
over Europe, not just Britain, but all over Europe as well. um way different to today when you can run lots and lots of marathons although you know in just a few counties um every week if you wanted to but in those days that wasn't the case and at the time the record was 74 and I managed to run 87 in a 12-month period and that was as I say literally all over Europe and I managed to average my average finish time was three hours 14 minutes for those 87
00:03:15
Steve
So you know that for me and and all the way through this, it's it's been as much about trying to run to the best of my ability as much as try and run the numbers as well.
Breaking Records and Overcoming Difficulties
00:03:27
Steve
and I guess it's fair to say that even at that stage the thousand really wasn't on on the horizon. um but I'd seen an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for an American chap who had run 500 marathons and he'd averaged just over three and a half hours and it was that really that inspired me to that kind of lifelong challenge of trying to get to that total
00:03:50
Steve
and and what I was going to try and aim and do was not only do the 500 but try and average under three and a half hours so I managed to achieve that actually in 2012 my 50th birthday year and my average was three hours 12 minutes for the 500 so that was that really my lifelong challenge done and dusted and I guess when I was going for that I never really thought I thought you know that i wouldn't be fit for much else after that in terms of how I'd be feeling and I'd be caught in injuries and I'd just be worn out but actually I didn't feel that bad. and
00:04:27
Steve
I decide to press on to 600 and then on to 700 and then beyond that, I started to think about, yeah, could a thousand be possible? And if so, you know, was there a world record for that? Well, the answer to both those questions now is yes and yes. But, you know, for me, still trying to run times which,
Advice for First-Time Marathon Runners
00:04:50
Steve
you know, trying to run to the best of my ability, basically, and on any given day and sort of give it my best shot. There were quite a few times when I regretted making the decision to go for 1,000, especially sort of after I got to 800, pushing on to 900, then the COVID situation and and losing all the momentum during that period of no races, that really did.
00:05:13
Steve
um Well, there was a few times, shall we say, where I really questioned what I was doing and, you know, could I sort of maintain the training during that period when there was just no races? And then after that, could I actually get back into regular marathon running? And I did manage it, but, you know, it it was very, very difficult period. and and trying to get the momentum going again really was was very difficult and and by that time it would, I was actually carrying a couple of injuries by then as well and the whole of the thousand, I'd planned it for my 60th birthday year which was 2022 and obviously with Covid that's that so sort of brought back by 18 months and so just that little bit, just getting that little bit older
00:05:54
ukrunchat
Yeah,
00:06:01
Steve
um
00:06:03
ukrunchat
yeah so how how did the pandemic affect your training then? How long of a period were you out of racing for?
00:06:11
Steve
The first period in the spring of 2020, that wasn't too bad. I looked at that period as a bit of a rest, bit of a break. and The weather was pretty good during that sort of March, February, March into April period. So I didn't really worry too much about that. I just kept the normal training going. I've never been a big on the long training runs because running regular marathons, I didn't really need to do that.
00:06:32
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:06:34
Steve
but I did start having to walk my mileage a little and start really up to sort of half marathon distance and just hoped that the marathon events would return and they did and I got back into my stride fairly fairly easily after that first lockdown but it was the second lockdown in the winter of 21 that really did it and at that point having just got going again in the momentum then I was getting the numbers back and the times were still reasonable at that point. um Yeah, that that was the biggest setback, I think mentally as as as as much as physically. And just being that little bit older and just, I think in my head, I was just kind of thinking, well, you know, I plan to finish this in 2022. I know it's going to go on much, you know, quite a bit longer than that.
00:07:22
Steve
And when you've trained, when you've followed a strict training regime for over four decades with very little breaks, that, you know, every year that went by, every month that went by, i was I'd been counting down the months, if you like, almost the weeks to to the sort of time when I'd be really my thousandth. And for that to come at that particular point, yeah I don't know, just mentally, it really did knock me back. and I remember going out with a friend of mine who had a good chat about it. She had joined the training room and he said, well, even if you were to stop now, 900 or whatever marathons is a phenomenal achievement. And I just thought, yeah, it is. But A, it's not the world record. And B, will I ever regret that decision if I don't carry on? And I think I would have regretted it. So it was a case of trying to force myself more than anything.
00:08:16
Steve
and and I did get slower you know with the sort of injuries taking their toll and that that annoyed me um quite a bit actually because I realised I'd lost quite a bit of time on my finish times um and some of that was naturally just just down to age and wear and tear but some of it was also down to the fact that I'd gone on longer than I really wanted to go on for So by the last few marathons I developed a bit of a hip injury which had been coming on now several months before that and it just kind of gradually got worse and then under normal circumstances I'd have taken a rest and and break and did some cross training and you know allowed some recovery but so um
00:09:00
Steve
you know, the show had to go on because we had to hit this deadline at Milton Keynes on May the 6th. And, yeah, it was a case of forcing myself really through the pain barrier for those last few marathons. But, you know, all the marathons I've ever ran, you know, I'd come home after every race and I'd say to myself, did you run the best you could possibly run on that particular day? Bearing in mind that I wouldn't necessarily have recovered properly from the last marathon, which could have been a few days before or the week before or whatever. So um ah basically, I tried to run every race as if it was my last race and just give it everything I had.
00:09:37
Steve
So it's fair to say I was probably tired for most of the last 30, 40 years, really, and never really, you know, 100% sort of energy and recovered, if if you know, if that's the right term.
00:09:51
ukrunchat
Yeah, you've done well to keep to keep as relatively injury free as you have over the years then haven't you really running that much and kind of compromising recovery a little bit I guess.
00:10:02
Steve
definitely and you know try to follow all the rules and so it's not just been about the training in terms of running and doing all the quality sessions you know the hill reps and the tempo sessions and things things like that to try and basically maintain you know my peak if you like peak running fitness but also then trying to balance that with not getting injured so I've always done lots of weight training and core strength training that's something I've just done for well decades as well really because
00:10:34
Steve
I guess more out of probably an accident really because I always used to do weight training as part of a martial arts training and that just sort of carried through into running and I genuinely think that's what gave me a really good ground level core fitness before I actually started running. um so So that helped me actually sort of if you like maintain that fairly injury free period over the last four four decades. I mean I have had injuries but thankfully you know look was on my side and I'd like to also think that the core strength and the weight work that I had been doing did actually mitigate any real serious injuries and I suppose the worst which I got was just literally from over training, stress fracture in in my ankle and that was just upping my mileage and upping my mileage and just probably pushing a little bit too much really for, you know, it was just inevitable it was going to happen.
00:11:30
Steve
um And by that period, I was actually, the 10 marathons in 10 days events sort of started in the UK. And, you know, I was really mad into sort of running those. So from 2007 through to 2010, and around four 10 marathons in 10 days events, and really pushed on those particular events. And so each year I went back, I was trying to improve on my time. So that trying to improve, it meant pushing the mileage up sort of the weekly mileage. And when I was knocking on the door of like 120 miles a week, that was on top of the, the, the weights of the core work. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you know, that in the end, I ended up with a stress fracture and that was a tough time. Um, but I did discover aqua running at that point. So basically I just kept fit by going in the pool and literally running in the pool with a a body float.
00:12:25
Steve
um And then surprisingly, when I did get back to running and I started with walking and walking a few miles and building my um time on my legs up again, once I got back running, it didn't really take that long to get my speed, natural speed back, which, you know, which was good because I realised how good aqua running is as a sort of a cross-training tool really to use. So, yeah.
00:12:48
ukrunchat
Yeah, it's good resistance, isn't it, without too much impact on the joints.
00:12:50
Steve
Yeah.
00:12:53
Steve
Definitely.
00:12:53
ukrunchat
Yeah, how were you um how were you kind of pacing these 10 marathons in 10 days? Because that's quite a lot of strain on the body, isn't it, over a relatively short period of time.
00:13:03
Steve
Yeah, the first time I attempted that um that particular event, so this was up at Windermere and it was it was it was organised by the Braithay Charity and when I got invited to ruin the first official event in 2007, there'd never been anything like that anywhere in Europe that I'd heard of.
00:13:08
ukrunchat
and
00:13:22
Steve
I don't even know whether they'd had an official 10 marathons event in in the in the States. and So it was kind of a new thing for all of us really, and there was only a native who took part. And so it was a big learning curve for all of us really.
00:13:39
Steve
It was a case of just trying to run within yourself over those 10 days, not trying to take too much out of you. But Windermere Marathon is quite a tough course. So trying to run them without taking too much out of yourself in the first few days was quite difficult. And I also realised that some of my core strength training was lacking. It wasn't lacking in terms of what I've been doing, but it was lacking in terms of running on a fairly difficult marathon course over the 10 consecutive days.
00:14:05
ukrunchat
Thank
00:14:07
Steve
so When I came back from that um So I finished in Pleased it in under 40 hours 37 hours or something like that, but I've learned I've learned a hell of a lot about trying to manage If you like Trying to stay injury free yet, but that was the first thing but also increasing certain parts body strength parts to try and Make sure that I was more resilient to run that sort of course over 10 consecutive days so
00:14:10
ukrunchat
you.
00:14:35
Steve
I started doing, ah I started to change some of the core strength work that I did and some of the weight training that I did and went back the following year and improved on that to sort of just over 35 hours and then when I went back the third year to do it I brought that down to 33 hours so um my whole push then for the sort of final one was to try and get it to nearer 30 hours but that's when I sustained the stress fracture
00:14:59
ukrunchat
Okay.
00:15:00
Steve
trying to trying to walk the train in even further and whatever so trying to get back from that ah yeah so when I went back to the fourth time I managed around 35 hours again but I could never improve on that 33 hours and the first time the so the 2008 time there went up that but that was a world record as well because nobody had run that many marathons in consecutive days in that sort of finish time But it's like any record, once you've put it out there, once you've set it, somebody come along and they'll break it. And I think it's been broken several times since. And, you know, it sort of makes my original time look quite pedestrian now, actually, to what the current time is. But, you know, I think with a lot of these things, it takes somebody, takes a person to go and do something like that and then show what is possible.
00:15:48
Steve
um So hopefully it's backed us a bit of an inspiration to a few of the runners out there who probably thought, I like the look of that and what are the best times, right? I'll go for that or I'll go for that. So, um you know, in that respect, I think it's quite good to be able to inspire people that way for sure.
00:16:06
ukrunchat
Yeah, I mean it's certainly a lifetime goal, isn't it? It does take a long, long time, a lot of commitment. What and part of your family played in this? Because
Support System and Emotional Experiences
00:16:15
ukrunchat
it's obviously been a huge part of your life.
00:16:15
Steve
huge yeah Yeah, well, I mean, Theresa, so I've got a grown-up son, so he's i god and had no interest in running at all. I tried to get him into running from a very early age, and I think he'd stuck at it for about six months. um He was never sort of long-distance orientated. He was always 100 metres, 200 metres, but the kind of he didn't really fall in love with it in the same way that I did. um so but yeah and
00:16:46
Steve
Throwing into adulthood, um yeah hed he never really he never really found running and you know enjoyable. so but When I met my wife Teresa, very soon after meeting her, I introduced her to running. and Although she found it really difficult at first, like we all do when we start running for the first time, she stuck at it, bless her. and for long she was running sort of four or five mile events and and then she got up to half marathon and she ran a few half marathons and then one day she out of the blue she she said to me I'd like to do one just one marathon just to see what you put yourself through
00:17:27
Steve
So she actually trained for the Windermere Marathon um and that was in 2010. So I knew that she wouldn't be able to cope with heavy mileage so I did her a training plan that meant that she ran just up to 15 miles but but no more in training. So from 15 miles to 26 was going to be a real unknown for her. But she had a game. I gave her a race plan. 10 minute mile in. You don't budge from that from the start to the finish. No matter how good you feel at the start, you stick to that all the way through. And she stuck to the plan and all she ever wanted to do is break four and a half hours. And she did. She ran four hours, 26 minutes. And she stuck to that plan and she managed to run all the way.
00:18:07
Steve
So, but yeah, the reason why I mentioned that is because that she, you know, she, she took to running in and she still runs today for sort of fitness. She doesn't enter any events, but she realized just how, you know, what a, what a good medicine it is in terms of um mental wellbeing and physical wellbeing as well. So, and she's, and she's run for years and years and years. But the key thing that trees has given me is the support for it. She's been to at least 750 of those marathons out out out of the thousand in terms of physically being there. Just giving me that support really to know that somebody waiting for me at the finish line. um And then on courses where she's been able to give me my drinks and that kind of thing, support me on the course, you know, that supports been invaluable.
00:18:57
Steve
um and also with just sort of all the planning and the preparation trying to organize to enter that many marathons especially with all the traveling involved and some of the overnight stays you know it's a lot of things to try and organize and the logistics behind it all has just been quite a lot in terms of you know it's not just been about the running it's it's all ah it's all the behind the scenes stuff that work that goes on as well and she's been very incredibly supportive throughout all that time we've both made sacrifices you know with family and holidays and
00:19:34
Steve
not being around for Sunday dinners and and all the things that you'd normally do at the weekends, you know, we've had to forego a lot of, if you like, normal things that people do. So, um you know, it's I've always said it, that I could never have done this without Treason's support, you know, and really, when I was presented with that certificate, that Milton Keynes, the Guinness certificate, I mean, he just said my name on it, but really, it should have her name on as well, you know, because it was definitely a team effort.
00:20:04
ukrunchat
Yeah, so talk us through that final well, it's not you're obviously going to run more marathons like you maybe we'll talk about that in a moment but talk us through that thousand marathon and you know, the build up to it and how how it felt on the day.
00:20:20
Steve
but I mean, about six months ago, before it, I genuinely thought that I'd still be running quite strongly and I certainly wouldn't have been suffering with an injury as bad as with the injury that I had.
00:20:29
ukrunchat
Mm.
00:20:34
Steve
and So by the time I got to the last few marathons and I got this hip injury and it was getting ever more painful to get through these last few marathons. That was the first, you know, I could never envisage that it was going to end like that, that I'll be running marathons in, you know, sort of pain from pretty much the start to the finish. So and that was really hampling hampering my pace. And obviously I had to run them slower than I would have done normally. and That's the first thing. But then when you, when you have to change your running style completely to run a marathon slower with a shorter stride and everything, that affected everything. So I found actually that I was more knackered
00:21:14
Steve
running those matter of last few marathons at ah at a sort of an alien pace to what I was used to and that in itself took a toll on my body as well which I hadn't really been used to but literally over the last sort of three, four marathons I was counting down the miles so it was like you know le I was into double figures into the four marathons to go so I knew it was 99 miles and 98 miles 97 miles I really wasn't counting the marathons it was literally just count each mile down so by the time we came to the last marathon 26.2 miles it was well I mean the whole weekend was emotional even the day before I was getting quite emotional about the fact that this was this was it this was going to be the end really and
00:22:01
Steve
at the end of something that I've been working towards for sort of over 40 years, you know, it's it's it's it's been a life's work, I suppose you could call it. um So I'll just try to sort of soak up, you know, the atmosphere the day before and also on the morning itself, incredibly nervous, but also excited. and I just knew that I just had to just push through any pain that I was feeling and just try and keep going like I had done the previous few marathons. um People sort of saying good luck and everything it's just another marathon you'll be fine and all this but you know I've always said to people that a marathon is a long way and it doesn't matter how fit you are
00:22:46
Steve
how strong you are how well you've trained on any given day anything could go wrong over that 26.2 miles you can't wing it and a marathon will always find your weaknesses so if you carry an injury or a nickel or whatever it will it will find you out and you know you will sort of suffer um you're gonna suffer anyway even if you're fit because it's just such a brutal event but you know we're given an injury you're gonna suffer even more so but I've got it into my mind they're always just gonna count the miles down the same as I'd done in the previous few marathons
00:23:21
Steve
the crowd were brilliant there was runners on the course we'd had special t-shirts printed a few of the runners wanted to wear the same t-shirt so I had a few extra ones printed as well for them so every now and then I'd see somebody in one of these shirts and I think you know that's just amazing it to be within a thousandth marathon you've got the runner you know a few of the runners out there they're wearing the same top of show I just wanted to get the first half out the way yes getting to second lap and then once I got to 16 miles I've been to single figures, you know, nine miles, eight miles and and the pain was just getting worse and worse. But with each mile I was thinking that's another mile less, just another mile to go, another mile, another mile. um And with just a few miles left before we got back to the, because it finishes in the MK Don Stadium, which is one of the reasons why we chose Mount Keynes, because it's a fantastic facility at the stadium.
00:24:15
Steve
um and the stadium finish inside is just amazing. and So, it I was getting quite emotional and I found it difficult just to, and I was welling up, you know, with a couple of miles to go and I was thinking, this is it, you know, you're nearly there and it was so difficult to try and, you know, and I have to have a word with myself, come on, pull yourself together, you've still got a couple of miles, you've got to get to the stadium and the run around the stadium, wait, the tears will come but you can't. have them yet so got to the stadium down the tunnel into the stadium and the um person on the tunnel who was sort of whipping up the all the emotion and the excitement with the crowd and just going through all the stats really you know thousand marathons world record average finish time blah blah blah and you know I could hear it but I didn't really appreciate what she was saying um I was just aware of people shouting and you know you just sort of and I felt the hair stand up on my neck and amazingly the pain in my hip just disappeared it was just gone and all of a sudden I must have ran the fastest I've ran in the last four marathons just literally around the inside of the stadium
00:25:23
Steve
and and my son and my grandson and with about 300 meters to go they sort of they came out of one of the stands and they started running behind me and my son shouted he says oh we're just behind you and I thought that was just fantastic you know I've never expected them to do that that's sort of real surprise so across the line son and grandson were behind me and yeah just but arms aloft and every emotional every emotion imaginable really just came out you know excitement relief um there was tears i just wanted to give trees her a hug and i couldn't see her at first because my eyes were just full of what you know full of tears and
00:26:03
Steve
But I found her and we had a hug and then I just broke down, just literally just broke down, just fell to the floor and I must have been sobbing for a good couple of minutes and funnily enough this is John's ambulance thought I was injured and they came over they thought well you know there's something wrong and Theresa had to tell them no he's fine he's just he's just emotional that's all so But yeah, after a couple of minutes, I got up and acknowledged all the people who'd come along to support us. So I had all my family there, um lots of friends, even neighbours from the village where we live and lots and lots of people that we knew from the yeah UK running community were there, which was really nice.
00:26:46
Steve
um And then I was invited up onto the podium then to receive the Guinness World Record Certificate and I got treason to come up with me because I thought this is a presentation for us both really and treason deserves to be there just as much as I did. So I let treason take the number one podium when I stood on number two. So yeah, thought I thought that was a really nice touch. But so I think the biggest emotion of all was just sheer relief really that you know that it was that it was finally over.
00:27:17
ukrunchat
Yeah, it's it's that's a huge achievement and it must just feel... Yeah, I mean, did it feel like you expected it to feel?
00:27:27
Steve
um
00:27:30
Steve
I keep playing it back in my mind even now it's over four weeks later and I and ill and i'll keep thinking back should we have done something different or could we have you know because one of the things a good friend of mine who was who was a very good marathon runner back in the day Dennis Wamsley he's a club mate of a former running club and he's just a good friend and he offered to run round with me which i was really surprised when he offered that and i wondered whether i should just run on my own but i said no i think that might be good and we just he helped those miles disappear if you like because we were chatting away and we'd you know there were sort of hard bits like there is in any and any marathon but just having somebody there just to chat to all the way and just have somebody there you know was really helpful
00:28:16
Steve
but once across the finish line Denny said he'd hang back and I'd forgotten all about him. I didn't forget about him, I acknowledged him later on but at the time really I've regret not sort of looking for him and giving him a hug as well and ah you know there's just little things, there were certain people there I think it was all a blur and I didn't really appreciate in the moment who was there and what people were saying so a lot of it was just sort of going straight through me and it was hard to take it all in um and it's only when you look back at the photographs and you say oh gosh they were there or they were there or you know and I think I don't you remember seeing them or I don't remember them even shaking their hand or saying something and I guess
00:29:02
Steve
It would have been nice if you could have had something, you know, and I'm going to science fiction mode here where you could slow it all down. So you could just do it all nice and slowly and say, oh, yes, yeah, I need to see this person. I need to talk to that person. I need to thank that person and so on. But everything just happened so quickly. And it's and it's all over. It's all over with within minutes. but but to everybody looking on they see a completely different thing and when we look back at the photographs afterwards we were looking at everything around us that we never appreciated it was going on if that makes sense it's really strange it's a really strange thing to describe um yeah
00:29:38
ukrunchat
Yeah. Yeah, it does. It's the beauty of having the photographs to look back on there. And there are some wonderful photos from the event and you crossing the line in particular that just that euphoria on your face is incredible to see.
00:29:52
Steve
Yeah, I mean, it's it's incredible, really, that what a photograph can do. I mean, a photograph, when they say, you know, can say a thousand words, it really is true, because look at some of those photographs.
00:29:57
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:30:03
Steve
Yeah, there's elation, there's excitement, enjoyment, but there's also, you know, emotion, you know, emotional. law You can see the relief, you know, ah breaking down and getting upset and whatever. I mean, it's tears of joy, but it's you know it's just incredible really just you know I just think that's what makes us amazing you know human beings we have all said the human the human body is an amazing machine um and you know that's trying to push myself over the years i guess i've just tried to explore really how far i can push myself and you know what what can be achieved um because you just don't you just don't know and you know there's lots of quotes out there about you know if your dreams don't scare you then they're not big enough and you know you can always achieve more than you can ever imagine you know these are
00:30:56
Steve
these are true you know you these are really these aren't just people just saying a few words when you hear this thing you you kind of think yeah yeah well it's all right you know if you're a supreme athlete i'm just an ordinary person i'm just an ordinary bloke i'm not there's nothing special you know all everything i've tried to do has just been done through sheer hard work and dedication it's i've never give gifted with any sort of natural running ability i started like pretty much most people do you start running, in you run for 30 seconds, you're out of breath, you have to stop, you know everything hurts, your knees hurt, it's just normal. But gradually you persevere, you stick at it, before you're not falling along, you're you're running a mile and then you're running two miles and three miles.
00:31:41
Steve
um And if you stick to it and you're dedicated and you're disciplined and you really, really have got a dream, and you know, and you stick to that and you try and work trying to try and achieve that, then yeah, the rewards will come. I'm not saying it's going to be plain sailing. It's kind of up and down and you do go through some pretty hard times But ivo again, I've always said that you've got to appreciate you've got to go through the hard times and feel what it's like To suffer and to have those hard times to then really appreciate the good times
00:32:16
Steve
um and it's fair to say it's been a real sort of emotional roller coaster over the years you know because yeah there's been some ah some great races I've run some pretty decent times, finished times but then I've had some really really tough races where it hasn't gone to plan and I've really suffered As I say, if you do enough running for long enough, things are going to go wrong.
00:32:38
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:32:39
Steve
But it's how you <unk>s how you deal with that when it goes wrong. I think that's the key. And you do come out a stronger person when things go wrong. And you you never stop learning. That's the other thing we're running as well. you know And as you get older, you have to learn to adapt. You're not the spring chicken who used to leap around you know in your 20s and 30s. You start hitting your 40s and then 50s and then 60s. Gosh I mean your legs just don't run like they used to and they just don't feel the same as they did when you were young and you're watching all the youngsters leaping about warming up and you think I remember the days when I could do that but you just can't anymore but as I say you have to you know if you want to keep going you have to learn to adapt and and sort of accept
00:33:20
ukrunchat
Yeah, what have you what changes have you made, Steve, over the years? What's changed in your running?
00:33:23
Steve
I think in terms of my pace, I've actually shortened my stride a little bit from the stride length that I used to have many years ago. um It takes me longer to warm up now than if I used to, you know, a few strides and all used to be away. But gosh, I don't seem to be able to properly get going until I've done five miles now. It's it's it's that kind of thing. um getting out of bed in the morning it's like sometimes I get out and I hobble to the bathroom and I'm thinking blimey I don't even feel like I could run a mile let alone 26 miles it's that kind of thing but you just have to accept that you know things just aren't don't move as well as they used to so I mean yeah I've um I've always I've always
00:34:08
Steve
um ah sports massage and I've always believed in that kind of thing and so ice baths and things like that so I don't do ice baths anymore and I've long since stopped doing those but I still use a roller regularly a massage gun um do a lot of self massage a lot of stretching and I guess over the years I've just done more of that than I than i ever used to when I was younger because probably when I was younger you know I didn't feel there was a need to do it I just felt like I'd recovered a lot quicker I think nutrition as well you know I've always been a big believer in good nutrition that's not to say I don't eat rubbish occasionally because you know we're all you know we're all we're all human so yeah but it's a case of just getting a good balanced diet and so I've always tried to eat all the right things and
00:34:50
ukrunchat
yeah don will yeah
00:35:00
Steve
um you know, look after my body in that way and give my body really the best possible chance of recovery. ah um and And over the years, especially I've got older, I've also made sure my protein intake's a lot higher than it probably used to be when I was younger. And I did go through a little spate of getting these really sort of um minor, if you like, niggles, just very small, sort of muscle tears, nothing serious, but
00:35:15
ukrunchat
Yeah, so we all, yeah.
00:35:27
Steve
and it kind of bothered me and um yeah I did a bit of reading up on it and it was just literally a about the amount of protein that I was taking you know that I had in my diet just up the protein and all of a sudden that kind of disappeared and just found that extra protein helped really with terms of muscle repair muscle tissue repair and and helped also with my recovery so Yeah it's it's and then obviously you adapt your training, you realise you can't do you know two or three real good quality sessions in a week anymore, you might have to cut it down to two and then to one um and then alternating um the way you train as well and just cutting down the miles.
00:36:04
Steve
Um, and also maybe cross training a little bit more. So I started doing a bit more cycling to compliment my running. So cut down in the weekly mileage of running and sort of replace that with sort of cycling, um, as well. So, I mean, I don't like cycling, but because it's, it meets a need, if you like, to supplement the training, um, that's the way I've looked at it really, um, anything to try and increase, if you like my longevity in the sport. and that's really what this has all been about it's not just been about trying to do the quality and the quantity but also it's the longevity of it and appreciating that to attempt a record like this you've got to be able to maintain good health and good fitness for a long long time period of your life um
00:36:54
Steve
I still to this day wonder how on earth I managed it because literally over the years there's been times I just thought I don't know how long I can carry on doing this because everybody gets days where they just think I can tell with all this.
00:37:04
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:37:08
Steve
you know um you're either physically tired or you physically just can't cope with it anymore or mentally as well because it's have to stay focused all the time, focused on your training, focused on your races, focused on planning, logistics, preparation, you know, going into every race. It's not like your peak for one race and then you do it and then you have time out and then you start building up for another race. You're literally doing this, you're on this treadmill of You know train Race train race train race and it's going on repeat repeat repeat repeat and this is week in week out months years decades I'd you know, I people say how how how do you do that?
00:37:44
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:37:55
Steve
It's just literally hard graft and I guess being stubborn and sticking and sticking to just being dedicated and being disciplined That's that's all I can say really
00:37:57
ukrunchat
Yeah. yeah you've you I mean, you've averaged a marathon every 13 days on average. for the last 36 years. that is That is a huge commitment, isn't it? So how how are you feeling now that the challenge is done? and Because that's that world record must have been a huge driver for you to keep going. So talk us through the last four, or five weeks since getting your world record.
00:38:35
Steve
ah think I having hit major milestones in the past, so going back to when I'd set the record for the most marathons in a year, going back to setting the first world record for the fastest 10 marathons in 10 days,
00:38:54
Steve
I was aware that yeah there's a euphoria period euphoric period of two or three days and you're really on a high but then you come right back down to earth and you come down with a real heavy bump and you really do go through a mental low for a period of time. But I'd always i'd always had another step to the you know to my lifelong challenge. There there was always there was's always something, the next thing, if you like, the next landmark to chase. And I always had this lifelong goal. So I knew that I'd bounce back from that. I train in a pickup and I'll be
00:39:34
Steve
looking to get to the next milestone or the next landmark towards the thousand whether that was you know my 600th marathon or my 700th or 800th or whatever I knew there was the next milestone to achieve with this with this thousand it's been different Again, there was the euphoric period and it lasted longer than two or three days. It probably lasted nearly two weeks mainly because Doing podcasts talking to a lot of people Media quite very interesting hearing all about it that kind of thing So you're on a high because you kind of you're going through those emotions while you're explaining all of that But then is that quiet and down?
00:40:11
Steve
I'm going to be honest, i've I've started to hit quite a low point and I guess the only way I could describe it now is I'm feeling quite lost. That's that' the truth of it. I thought there'd be a void.
00:40:27
Steve
that might last a week or two but it's because I don't know what's next I literally don't know I mean people have said you you won't stop running well that's probably true I'd like to think I won't stop running but all of a sudden running to keep fit running for health running for mental and physical health it's always been for me it's always been more than that it's always been about chasing this particular record and now that's gone now that's done and dusted I don't want any more challenges because I don't want to put myself under that sort of pressure anymore and be, I do want to be kinder to my body in that respect. Um, I don't think it's fair. I've asked a lot of my body over these last four decades. I don't really think it's fair that, and to be honest, you know, I want to still enjoy being active in since old age if I can. So that's another part of why I don't want to sort of keep pushing my body into the ground all the time.
00:41:24
Steve
but It's almost like I'm lost now as to why, you know, not the will, but I'm looking for a reason, if you like, to sort of keep that going and
00:41:34
ukrunchat
yeah
00:41:39
Steve
It's probably just a simple thing. I just need to accept that it's all over and it's probably going to take a while for it to, you know, for me to accept that and to realize that, yeah, it's done. You've achieved what you've achieved. And now you just live life normally again, you know, how, how you would have lived it. Had you not been chasing this record for all these years, but it's a strange place.
00:41:57
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:42:02
Steve
I'm scared about it.
00:42:02
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:42:03
Steve
If I'm being honest with you.
00:42:05
ukrunchat
So if you, I mean, if you've been out, you've obviously been out running since, but you've you've not kind of booked any races in or anything.
00:42:08
Steve
Hmm.
00:42:11
Steve
No, I haven't entered any races. I had two weeks off from running completely. I started doing a bit of cycling in the second week I had off running. And then from sort of the third week onwards, I've started running and mixing that with cycling. So back to running, I mean I used to run six days a week, so I'm back running four days a week and a couple of days cycling and a complete rest day. And I've maintained my weight training and my core strength training as well because that's something I just, I think that's just part of my DNA really now, just like a have a shower and clean my teeth every day.
00:42:40
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:42:50
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:42:50
Steve
It's just part of the daily routine now, so I'm really talking 15-20 minutes a day, so it's not like it's a massive part of the day.
00:42:59
Steve
but and and you know It's interesting. you sort of talk to different people about this and and everyone everyone's trying to say well you know you could just go out now and enjoy a run in the sunshine or if it's pouring down rain you don't have to go out and that's true you know it's been a couple of days in the last couple of weeks where the weather's been not so good and I thought I don't need to go out today and that's I've never been able to do that because there's always been Well, it's horrible out there but I've got to go out because I've got to do this session or I've got to do that session or I've got to do X amount of miles. But now I've got a choice, I don't have to do that that. And that's nice, but there's a part of me that feels guilty.
00:43:39
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:43:40
Steve
and this is it's such a difficult thing to explain you know it's like when something's been part of your life for so long it's it becomes normal and now i feel i come outside my comfort zone even though i've got an easier life that's that's a weird that's a contradiction in terms but that's the way it feels. um So I think it's going to take some time to adjust and I guess I might need to probably enter a race some point later in the year and have a bit of a purpose and maybe that's what I'll end up doing.
00:44:03
ukrunchat
yeah
00:44:12
Steve
I'll i'll target something and just see if I can um you know sort of get my training up again and get motivated to actually go out there and enter an event again. Maybe that's what I need to do because
00:44:25
ukrunchat
Yeah. would Would it be a marathon, do you think? Or would it be something different?
00:44:29
Steve
Yeah I mean I've said multi marathon running days are over and they are but I'd like to think I've still got a few more marathons left you know I'm not saying there won't be a thousand and one and a thousand and two but um yeah I think for me it's always been about the marathon distance there's just something about it
00:44:37
ukrunchat
Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:46
Steve
um I mean, I could run a half, I could run an ultra. A few people have talked, you know, what about running some of these sort of off-road multi-terrain ultras? You know, they're totally different event. It's more about, you know, enjoying the event and enjoying the scenery and being part of something which is more about looking at your surroundings and and it's a different sort of challenge really but you know for me I grew up with road races and road marathons and although that's changed massively over the years you know the early days every every town and every city had a had a marathon I mean that was the way it was so
00:45:22
ukrunchat
Mm hmm.
00:45:25
Steve
I think gradually they've dwindled over the years. and Sunday opening actually killed it in the, I think it was the early 90s when it came in and all of a sudden there wasn't as many road marathons as and road races they used to be simply because it was going to cost a lot more for um you know traffic control, that kind of thing.
00:45:40
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:45:44
Steve
So, um but what we've seen over the last number of years is definitely a ah shift towards multi-strain events and multi-lap events. So where people can run say a half, full or ultra distance ah race on a multi-lap course, which is far, far easier to manage and to, um you know, have volunteers and and and aid station and that kind of thing. So, Yeah, it's and that's and that's made it that's made it actually tougher because it's tougher running multi-terrain than it is running green on tarmac.
00:46:17
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:46:19
Steve
um And that's that's been another difference in the challenge really, how it's changed over the years from sort of mainly road marathons through to probably mainly multi-terrain marathons and and and a lot less road marathons. um But yeah, I think, yeah, I don't know. it It's iss really strange. I mean, we've been away a couple of times, just sort of did a lot of walking, went to the Lake District for a few days, did a lot of walking around around there. And we went to South Wales, around the Gower and Pembrokeshire and we did a lot of walking and, you know, of with it's tiring, walking miles and miles and miles over the hills.
00:46:58
Steve
So, but there's something quite
00:46:59
ukrunchat
yeah
00:47:01
Steve
just something quite thrilling about being able to conquer a really tough course and which you know you're not going to run all the way you're going to run walk run you know you're going to walk the difficult bits and run where you can so yeah maybe that's the way forward i don't know
00:47:06
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:47:16
ukrunchat
Yeah. Oh, you'll have to keep this posted once you kind of figure it out. Yeah. And I think like you say, it'll take a while, won't it?
00:47:20
Steve
Definitely, yeah, I will do. I think it will, yeah, yeah.
00:47:23
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:47:24
Steve
I mean, it's still early days, so just over four weeks and although it seems like a long time ago, it's not that long really.
00:47:29
ukrunchat
Yeah, now it's not.
00:47:30
Steve
So I think it's going to take a little bit of time for it to properly sink in. um And I don't think I really appreciate and it's not really sunk in. I guess the enormity of it all yet really and I think coming to terms with that I think that's going to take some time. The other big thing, the other big driver behind all of this of course is over the years we've raised quite a lot of money for charity. And that' that's been ah one of the other drivers behind it as well. So just being able to put something back, raise money for various charities and over the last number of years we raised um over £10,000 for a local palliative nursing care charity.
00:48:01
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:48:13
Steve
So Theresa was a nurse and then she She was part of their nursing team for many years and that's We thought we'd like to put something back for them and but being as they're local to where we live in North Gloucestershire You know, we wanted to raise as much of the news we could for them So that's been a good driver behind all of this to try and keep going to the thousand and know that you know The nearer we got and actually getting there, you know, we've had quite a lot of donations during that period So that was that was rabbit that you know that was a really nice
00:48:40
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:48:42
ukrunchat
Oh, yeah, but that's the icing on the cake, really, when you can make that much of a difference to to a small charity, isn't it?
00:48:45
Steve
yeah definitely yeah yeah yeah for sure
00:48:48
ukrunchat
Yeah. Yeah, that's fantastic. So looking back, and I know there's a lot to choose from, but what's been your favorite standout marathon? Would you say has it been one that immediately springs to mind?
00:48:58
Steve
Oh, gosh, so many. I mean, yeah, I mean, I think if someone, I can't name one, but I certainly like the big city marathons like New York and London and Chicago, those, you know, but I couldn't run one of those every single week because they are just so intense, and so tiring.
00:49:08
ukrunchat
Yeah.
00:49:13
ukrunchat
No.
00:49:19
Steve
But every now and then, it's just so exciting to be part of something like that and experience the atmosphere and the raspotaz that you get with all those big city marathons. but I've also enjoyed some of the remotest marathons really known places like the Silly Isles in the Outer Hebrides the Midnight Sun Marathon up in the Arctic Circle um I love the Windermere Marathon just because I think the finish right in front of you finish on the lawn outside Braithain the head of Lake Windermere I just think it's a fantastic finish it's of course but it's scenic
00:49:57
Steve
um Yeah it's ah yeah a difficult question to answer just one but ah on the PB marathon was Stockholm way back in 1991 so you know that will always have special memories. um Yeah I've run, I mean I've run about 100 marathons abroad so it's not just been all in the UK so there's something always exciting about going outside of your country where you live to try and run you know to go and run a marathon k elsewhere so you know anywhere abroad really it's it's been nice but
00:50:33
Steve
I think at the end of the day you can't beat the UK we've got some great we've got some lovely places you know when you think about some of those real scenic marathons in the UK you know from Snowdonia to Langdale to Windermere um you know some of these remote ones that I don't think they're even on anymore but you know in the Outer Hebrides the hours are still there you know we've got some fantastic locations and so and
00:50:36
ukrunchat
Yeah. Yeah, we do.
00:50:59
Steve
Yeah it's just the weather, just it's just as we know it's so unpredictable and you know back in the day you know ah'd I'd run in any weather in a vest and shorts and whatever but yeah as the years have gone by I've got softer in the old age so I just hate the cold and the rain now so I've become more of a warm weather person and you know when I look outside I like the sun to be shining so
00:51:14
ukrunchat
ah but
00:51:24
ukrunchat
Yeah, yeah, don't we all? What um what and advice would you give to somebody who's considering the first marathon?
00:51:35
Steve
I think first and foremost, don't underestimate the fact that a marathon, you know, don't underestimate just how tough a marathon is. It's 26.2 miles. It's a totally different event to a half marathon to a 10k to a five mile. It is literally, people have tried to, so I've heard people try and say, well, it's just like running half marathon twice. Well, it's not, it is. I found over the years, in fact very early on, that a marathon has a cumulative effect on your body. So you can run to 5 miles to 10 miles to half marathon and you'll feel, yeah, you'll start to feel tired. But that effect is not the same over the second half of the marathon. You know, it is a literally acute a real add-on cumulative effect on the if you like the pain load that it adds to your body especially if you're trying to run that marathon all the way without stopping without having a break without walking. um So I'd say to people once you're in the first marathon is to prepare for that marathon as best as you possibly can there's no shortcuts at all you've got to put the hard work in
00:52:45
Steve
do the training and as I say it's not just about the running training but if you can also do the core strength work and the weights because if you can make your body resilient and I mean all your body not just your legs but your whole body because your whole body just take you know a bashing over 26 miles And the way I try to describe it to people is that a marathon is 42.2km, so let's just break that down into steps. It's probably something like, depending on your stride length, between 35,000 and 40,000 steps. And every time you put your foot on the floor, you're putting a payload of two, three, sometimes four times your body weight through every single joint of your body.
00:53:30
Steve
on each one of those 35 to 40,000 steps and if you look at it in those terms you realise that you are putting your body through the mill so everything you can possibly do to prepare for what you're going to do and that's including it's not just about running training so Time on your legs, even you know during the day, if you can sort of be up on your legs as much as you possibly can, take the stairs, and walk everywhere where you can, all of this will just give you make your body more resilient so running you know to be able to get through that 26.2 miles.
00:54:06
Steve
And then the second point really is come the day, just try and enjoy it. Don't put yourself under any necessary pressure. I mean, I know some people are going to want to try and run it in a certain time and they might give themselves, you know, a particular target, that kind of thing. And there's nothing wrong with that, but I think got to be realistic. It is an unknown first time. It's, it's kind of magical in a way that you still meet people and they're running their first marathon. And I think, wow, I'd love to be able to just go through that period of really my first one again because although you know I remember parts of it thinking I'm not enjoying this but it's all part of the learning of it. I just I feel envious sometimes of meeting somebody who's written their first marathon because I just know they're gonna they're gonna experience lots of things for the very first time in their life and it's
00:54:56
Steve
And I just say to people, try and embrace it and just and just and just just enjoy it. But don't necessarily put yourself under too much pressure. Just be realistic. Adjust your time expectations the first time. Because the main thing is you don't want to finish and say never again. You probably will, because we all do. But what you want to do is two weeks later you want to think, ah I think I'll sign up for another one. And then you get hooked and that's it. You know, your life's never the same again.
00:55:23
ukrunchat
No.
00:55:26
Steve
KATHY
00:55:26
ukrunchat
I will thank you so much, Steve. It's been absolutely wonderful talking to you. And yeah, what an achievement. Wow. I wish you all the very best in figuring out what's next. So just to leave our listeners with a message, what, you know, what do you hope, what message do you hope that your achievement sends to other other runners out there?
00:55:46
Steve
I guess two things really. one One of my main mottos throughout the course of my running journey really has been never underestimate your potential, follow your dreams. That's the first message and I think I mentioned it before. um you know you Everyone is capable of achieving much more than they can possibly imagine. The brain seems to be wired in a way that always keeps you in your comfort zone if you'll let it. And it's really about getting out of that comfort zone um and realizing that you are actually capable of achieving a lot more than what you think you are. That's the final message really. like
00:56:24
ukrunchat
very wise words. Thank you very much, Steve.
Final Encouragement and Conclusion
00:56:27
Steve
Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.
00:56:29
ukrunchat
And we hope that all of you out there have enjoyed this episode. Please let us know your thoughts and whether Steve's inspired you to go and run perhaps your first marathon.