WB resident shines at Abbott World Marathon Championships in Chicago

WEST BLOOMFIELD — West Bloomfield resident Steven Lawrence has been a decorated runner throughout his 32-year competitive running career, and he just added another notable achievement to his résumé.

On Oct. 8 at the Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda Age Group World Championships in Chicago, Lawrence, competing in the 45-49 age group, finished first in his age group with a time of 2 hours and 25 minutes.

The 26.2-mile race occurred within the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and featured over 2,700 racers competing for the top spot in their respective age groups.

Lawrence took first earlier this year at the Boston Marathon on April 17, competing in the 49-59 age category.

Lawrence has been competing in a pair of marathons each year and said he changed some training techniques going into the world championship marathon.

“For this cycle going into Chicago, I got up to about 100 miles over six to eight weeks,” Lawrence said. “That was one of the changes I made this go around. I cross-trained on Sundays and ran the other six days a week. I maybe did two or three doubles, so even though I was doing six days a week, I was probably getting eight or nine runs in.”

Lawrence, 45, was born and raised in Ontario, Canada, representing Canada when racing, and has resided in West Bloomfield for six years now with his wife and children.

Lawrence ran track and field and cross country at the University of Michigan up until graduating in 2001, and he currently works for New Balance in the data and analytics department.

Whether it’s his own personal running journey, his job, or even his own children who now run for their middle school cross country and track and field teams, Lawrence said the sport of running has played a vital role in his life.

“It’s definitely had a big impact,” Lawrence said. “Early in my career, I was quite obsessed about it, and all throughout high school, it was a huge part of my life. I did a lot of trips and got to go to three world championships and got to travel a whole bunch. I was fortunate enough to land at Michigan and meet a whole bunch of great friends.”

Lawrence plans to run the 2024 Boston Marathon on April 15 of next year.