Stu Taylor

Co-founder of Coach the Run.

Nine marathons. The club runner who chased a sub-3 in his forties – and caught it.

Background: Half-marathon time of 1:28 (set on debut at 23), plus a spell in sprint and Olympic-distance triathlon and duathlon before settling on the marathon.

Stu Taylor is the runner this site is built for.

He started with a 3 hour 33 first marathon in Paris in 2012, and twelve years later broke the barrier every serious club runner fixates on: a sub-3 marathon, running 2:59 at Goodwood in 2024. Nine marathons, two young kids and a business — all squeezed around the same life its readers are living.

Where Mike Gratton’s profile proves the advice here is expert, Stu’s proves the site understands what you’re actually going through. He is the experience half of Coach the Run.

Running record

Race	Year	Time
Paris Marathon (first marathon)	2012	3hrs 31mins 42secs
Brighton Marathon	2015	3hrs 23mins 01secs
London Marathon	2021	3hrs 18mins 32secs
Pilgrim Trail Marathon	2022	4hrs 02mins 16secs
Abingdon Marathon	2022	3hrs 08mins 45secs
Manchester Marathon	2024	3hrs 03mins 04secs
Pilgrim Trail Marathon	2024	03hrs 59mins 12secs
Abingdon Marathon	2024	3hrs 05mins 02secs
Goodwood Marathon	2024	2hrs 59mins 38secs

The running story

Stu wasn’t a born marathoner. As a child, he ran cross country for his primary school and once came a surprise second in the Year 11 1500m, but football was the family sport and the real obsession. Running came back into his life at 23 – inspired by his now-wife Sarah finishing a charity 5K – when he ran a half-marathon off eight weeks’ training and clocked 1:28.

Then life got in the way, as it does. He worked in London, set up a business with university friends, picked up a bad quad tear and later a broken ankle, and drifted through cycling, duathlon and triathlon. Two young boys made keeping triathlon-fit nearly impossible – you can’t easily get to a pool with babies napping! – So he came back to running, the cheapest and most flexible outlet he had for family time constraints and the stress of running his own company.

It was his local running club that changed what he thought was possible. Surrounded by club runners knocking out full marathons, Stu had assumed 26.2 miles was “for the ultra-fit” – and that he wasn’t one of them. No one in his family had ever run a marathon. It was unknown territory.

The push came in 2010, when his grandad had a stroke. After his grandad’s death, Stu entered the 2012 Paris Marathon to raise money for the Stroke Association – a genuine “why” for the dark winter training miles. He downloaded a Runner’s World sub-3:30 plan, stuck it to the fridge, and ran 3hrs 31mins 42secs on the day. He cried at the finish. Before the stiffness had even left his legs, he was planning the next one. The sub-3 dream was born – and twelve years later, at Goodwood, he delivered it.

What Stu writes -
and why you can trust it

Stu’s lane is experience, not physiology. He writes the things he’s actually lived:

Race reports and the sub-3 marathon series

His primary content is the long-form story of chasing and breaking the barrier.

Gear he’s genuinely trained and raced in

First-hand, not spec-sheet reviews.

The midlife reality

Training around work, family and a body that’s no longer 23.

Coached by Mike Gratton

Stu’s sub-3 wasn’t guesswork.

The 2:59 at Goodwood came under the guidance of Coach the Run head coach and 1983 London Marathon winner Mike Gratton – which is rather the point.

The story Stu lived is the result the coaching is built to produce.

Stu Taylor

Stu Taylor is the runner this site is built for.