Tom heads to Oxfordshire to take on the Abingdon marathon, one of the UK’s most popular races for runners looking for a PB course.
The route takes in some of the town’s surrounding villages and countryside, and sees a surprising number of crowds lining the streets to cheer runners on.
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JUMP STRAIGHT IN:
00:00 – Intro
01:04 – Abingdon Marathon 2023
06:42 – Adidas Prime X2 Strung
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Hey Tommy from the r testers I am down In Avenue today about to do the marathon I'm not going to race it cuz I did uh Berlin 3 weeks ago but I'm going to be Running with some friends and I'm going To be testing the Adidas Prime X2 strung I know it's not race legal and Definitely not going to be very fast so I don't think it's going to be a problem Right I'm going to head over to this Track now and get started see you at the End N So I'm back now from the Abington Marathon and it was a very good and Successful day out I originally signed Up to uh Abington because I didn't know If I was going to get into Berlin and I Wanted to have a backup race planned in So that all the training I did over the Summer was working towards something I Did end up doing Berlin and I got my 2 Hours 53 minute PB so Abingdon I decided To take as a bit of rest and a bit of um An enjoyable long run so I went with a Few friends and I paced one of them up To about 32k and just really had a nice Enjoyable run out on the course and Didn't push myself too hard I'm going Back into training for some shorter Distance events now so I didn't want to Go all out and and affect my training uh Over the next few weeks so just had a Nice uh day out there and uh just hang
Out with some friends I've not seen for A while if you don't know much about Abington I didn't know much before I did It the reason that I decided to do Abingdon is because it's pretty Convenient to get to if you live in the Southeast or Southwest especially if you Come from London or somewhere like that It's only about 40 minutes away so it's A good Marathon to choose if you want Something convenient but it's also very Flat and as a result very fast as well So I picked it because I wanted Something that I could go and go really Hard at and having didn't seem like a Good option for that it's also Relatively cheap to do uh and it's Pretty easy to get into you can get into Right up to the to the race a few days Before the race so it's a good one to go Into um if you are really looking for Something and you don't want to go Through all of the ballots and Everything like that that you get with Some of the big marathons now if you've Done a big Marathon like London or Chicago or New York any of those sorts Of ones then those get a lot of people You're looking at like 30,000 to 40,000 People in some of those events this is a Much smaller event it's I think there's About 1,200 people that signed up for it I don't think there's that many people That that raced it so it's a much
Smaller Affair it's a much more local Affair and as a result it's got a very Different feel to what you'll get if You're doing a bigger Marathon which is Probably going to have a bit of a sway In if it's the right Marathon for you as Well the biggest thing I noticed about Abington marathon is that it's not all On closed roads some of the roads are Closed off about half of it so there are Still cars going down one side of the Road you're running on the other side of The road um it as a result it's not for Me wasn't as relaxing as some of the Marathons where you just get a big wide Road and you just run along it whenever You want you did have to pay quite a lot Of attention to the cars going on there Are loads of Marshals I was amazed at How many Marshals were out on the course They there needed to be a lot of Marshals because the roads aren't closed But they were absolutely fantastic I'd Say the the marshals at the race were Some of the best I've ever seen they Were so friendly they really did care About what what was going on they were Very very much focused on your safety Great organization really well planned Out course all of those sorts of things It's not all on road so some of it is on Little public foot paths and things like That there's not many that you'd classes Being off-road but some of the little
Paths are a little bit muddy and aren't Really they're more like on um hard Compact mud you wouldn't really need to Use Trails choose for it but I do know That last year when Kieran did it it was Just raining the whole time so it Probably was getting a little bit muddy We were really lucky yesterday it was Really really dry uh and just perfect Conditions all out really I know quite a Few people were getting PBS on the Course the course itself loops around Abington and there's actually quite a Large section of about four miles that You do twice so if you don't like doing Repetitive Loops you might not want to Do this for a marathon but to be honest I didn't really notice on the second Time around that we've done it before There was only a couple of things I Spotted that I thought oh I've seen that Before so it's not actually that bad um And it's a really nice course it's There's some nice bit of Lake you can See it's obviously a very nice Countryside so it's a very enjoyable Relaxed feeling course which um is great If you are a beginner and you want Something that's just a little bit more Lowkey than the big scale marathons but If you do want a big scale marathon it's Not that it's quite small um and local Feeling which isn't necessarily a bad Thing but if you're looking for that
Grandiose feel of a big Marathon then You're not going to get it at Abington The start and the Finish are on the Running track at Abington which is Really nice way to start a race it's Really nice coming back into at the end To be honest I was amazed at how many Crowds there were there just seemed to Be crowds all along the course just Cheering all the way which when you Consider it's in a little town in near Oxfordshire I was I was not expecting That that big a crowd there's always People shouting you had your name on the Vest and I could hear my name getting Shouted all the time so it was really Quite impressive the amount of cheering And support you get along the way which Is which is really nice um and well Worth going to if that's what you're Looking for weather conditions as I say Were absolutely fantastic it was a tiny Bit of Breeze it very sunny but it was Also nice and cool as well absolutely Difference from what happened last year When Karen did it and it was raining the Whole time so yeah really nice day out To do the Abington Marathon finish line Is great as well so it goes back around The track uh that you start on and you Run all the way around as the uh person On the microphone to gives you shout Outs and congratulations as you're Coming around sometimes they'll read out
Some little facts about you that you put On the registration form so it's a Really nice feel when you come back into The uh into the track and it seemed like Most of the runners most of the Spectators that were there all hung Around afterwards so there was a massive Crowd at the end and just felt really Really nice uh to finish very uh warming And uh enjoyable atmosphere Afterwards okay so into the shoe so I Used the Adidas Prime X2 strung for uh The Avington marathon and it's a shoe That I I really warm to we've done a few Videos on these shoes now and I've I've Been a really big fan of them so far I Wasn't a massive fan of the original uh Primx strung just found it a little bit Wobbly and I got really really bad heel Rub um from that shoe so wasn't really Didn't really enjoy that shoe and I Definitely would have used it for a Marathon just because I just didn't find It very comfortable at all what I found About the Adidas uh Prime X2 strong is That it is a much heavier shoe uh it's Really noticeably heavier when you pick It up I can feel how heavy it is now um But it doesn't have a massive effect for Me on the way that I can run it out I Used this shoe quite a lot for training For bin I was doing a lot of tempo Sessions in it where I was doing up to Uh 15 Mi um at my marathon pace felt
Great it just felt really good the way That the the carbon plates combined with The midell foam um defies the weight of It and it really does make it quite a Nice cruising propulsive shoe uh for Maintaining that pace so I wanted to use It for Abington because uh I wouldn't Use this for racing just because it is a Bit probably a bit too heavy for racing Especially over Marathon distance Um but I wanted to test it out over Marathon distance in um in in in an Event just see how it how it felt across The whole whole thing uh and the pace That I was running at so I was running About 5 to 5 minute 30 minute kilometers Over the course of Havington Marathon uh And for that speed and that distance it Just felt great it just felt like you Could just maintain a really nice easy Pace um but did feel like it was pushing Along a bit forward I could probably Have done the pace I I did I finished in 3 hours 48 um so I could probably have Used any shoe I wanted to do to do that Because uh for me that's a pretty Comfortable Marathon um what I did find About the prime X2 strong is that it Felt like I could pick up the pace Whenever I wanted it felt like I was Very much in control the shoe felt like It had a lot more speed in it when um if I wanted it so if I was speeding up to Go and take some photos or something I
Could I could do that in this shoe um And I don't think it felt heavy at all At that pace I think if I was going a Lot faster then I would would notice it I would I would want something lighter Uh like the sakon Endorphin Pro 3s Something like that but at that pace it Just felt really comfortable lovely Cruising Pace nicely tipping you forward Nicely bouncing you along um not the Most noticeable um performance shoe I Definitely didn't feel like I was Bouncing loads but it was just a nice Cruising pace and I really enjoyed it I Think it's a really really good shoe if You're looking for something that just Helps you maintain a nice uh consist Pace um and allows you to pick up the Speed if you want it to but in terms of The distance for this shoe I think half Marathon to the Marathon distance is Probably a sweet spot for this shoe more For training runs than actually racing I Wouldn't racing this I know it's an Illegal shoe if you are uh like an elite Or an athlete um but for a normal person I do think it's a little bit clunky and A bit a bit much for racing but Definitely if you're doing longdistance Training or if you're doing a marathon Comfortably it's a very nice shoe it Felt a lot more more stable than the Original Prime x uh strong no heel rub No pain in it no restrictiveness it just
Felt very very comfortable uh and I had No issues at all all the way to the end So that's it from me that was my race Test for the Abington Marathon 20123 Thanks a lot for watching don't forget To like subscribe click the little bell And if you go to the caption below you Can find a link to our monthly podcast Which comes out at the end of each month Uh and if you like it please leave us a Writing and maybe a review thanks a lot For watching catch you next Time
