Steve Edwards to run his 1,000th marathon in Milton Keynes

For most people, running a marathon is a huge achievement – something to tick off the bucket list.

For 61-year-old Steve Edwards, though, it has become something of an obsession.

He is about to run his 1,000th 26.2-mile race – something only 50 people in the world have accomplished.

But what drives him, and with each race getting harder and harder, could this be his last?

Steve ran his first marathon, in Coventry, in 1981 as a “naive” 18-year-old after seeing a poster at his local gym.

“I hadn’t a clue about what a marathon entailed or how to prepare,” he says.

“But I guess you could say that ignorance is bliss because I went into it open-eyed and just looking forward to it.”

Despite having just five weeks to prepare, Steve finished in a respectable three hours and 38 minutes, but admits he struggled beyond mile 15.

“The next day I got out of bed and my legs were like gate posts,” he laughs. “I couldn’t walk properly for a week and I vowed never to do it again.”

He soon forgot that pledge. Steve enjoyed the “runner’s high”, external so much he gave up kung fu, and, like many others during the running boom of the 1980s, joined a running club.