INSPIRATION ALERT! This Grandfather Ran a 2:35 Marathon and Logged 100 Miles a Week Until Burnout and Chronic Injury Forced Him to Give Up Running in 1977
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Depositophotos.com
Ready to feel awestruck? A local grandfather of four clocked a blazing-fast 2:35 marathon, routinely logging 100 miles a week, until a combination of burnout and stubborn, debilitating injury sidelined him from running permanently in 1977.
“It’s all about your mindset,” said Abraham Simpson, 78, who ran his 2:35 marathon, a personal record, at the 1976 New York City Marathon. “You’ve got to be willing to put in the work.”
Simpson, 78, began running as a high schooler in Springfield, Illinois. Like most of his cross country teammates—and, indeed, like most other “serious” distance runners at the time—he piled on the miles, running 80, 90, or 100 miles every week, year round.
“That was the norm back then,” said Simpson. “Lots of miles, every single day—often twice a day—pushing your body and spirit to the limit, and you keep that up for a few years in your 20s and then one day your body and spirit say ‘enough’ and you never run another step for the rest of your life.”
“That’s just how we did it.”
It worked, Simpson added, pointing to results like a 5K PR of 14:20 and three marathons under 2 hours 40 minutes, all run between 1974 and August 20, 1977, when he stepped off a track halfway through a 16-mile workout with a piercing pain in his right calf.
That would be the final day of his running career.
Simpson said he feels sorry for today’s distance runners, whom he described as “soft.”
“The top guys still do high mileage,” he said, “but everyday marathoners might run jut 40 or 50 miles a week, which is way too little. And they’ll do it for decades.”
“You’ll never get to where I am today, with mileage like that.”
