By Ian Hosley

On Sunday three LBAC members made the trip to Oxfordshire town of Abingdon for the town’s annual marathon, Warren Rose and Ian Hosley to run and Pete Watkins to support the LBAC members and his nephew.

Sunday was cool and clear and absolutely perfect conditions for running. The Abingdon marathon had been selected not solely on account of it’s scenery or proximity to LB but also the course is one of the flattest and acknowledged fastest courses around the south of England so PB's were being sought and as a result nerves were clearly in evidence.

We set off from the town’s very attractive stadium and through the town itself before heading out into the countryside for two laps. The first half of the course was a bit of a blur and I never really felt like I had got going but maintained a consistent pace in the region of 7:20 to 7:30 min a mile before crossing the halfway mark in 1:37:54. At this point 3:15 felt unachievable as it would need a negative split (second half faster than the first) and 3:20 would be a more realistic target.

However, on passing a cheering Pete just after the half way mark I moved forward from the group I had been with and out of nowhere put in 3 miles at 7:09 pace. At 18 miles the two characters in my head had a disagreement. One said "You really must slow down, you can’t keep this pace up" while the other said "Go on you’re feeling good you won’t get a good time by slowing down." Fortunately the latter voice won and we carried on back through the industrial estate.

By this stage other runners were flagging and I was reeling people in which served as great motivation and on reaching the 22 mile mark I really began to feel that 3:15 was back on the cards despite my 7:09 pace dropping to 7:20 from mile 20. If I could maintain the pace of 3:20 I could do it.

The last few miles were a blur through the town with quite a few sharp corners and more overtaking before heading back to the stadium. I hit the 400m mark bang on 3:13 and dug in for a finish sprint before crossing the line in 3:14:30. I could not have been happier as I took 12 minutes off my PB.

Warren came in shortly after in 3:27:04 and also improved his PB by almost 3 minutes.

Abingdon was a really great course. It is very accessible, fast, friendly and scenic and is highly recommended for anyone considering an autumn marathon close to home, but you do need to enter early!