“I’m not in charge of how fit those guys are. No matter how hard I work, they could be working harder, they could be doing something better, they could be more talented. I was trying to take that out. My main goal in this race was just to execute. Execute my race plan, make sure I ran a race that afterward I felt good about. I think I did really well for most of the race.” My guest for today's episode is Conner Mantz, the American Marathoner who just capped off an extraordinary year by...

“I like having new goals and challenges. The marathon feels like almost a different sport. It's like a second career. It’s breathed a lot of life into my training, just having fresh goals all the time.” My guest for today's episode is Sara Vaughn, who just delivered a standout performance at the New York City Marathon where she finished as the top American in sixth place overall running 2:26:56 in a year marked by comebacks. The 38 year old mother of four wasn't about to let a tough season...

“[Coaching] is fulfilling, but it also sincerely does make me better. It makes me a better athlete. Miguel (Marin), just the way that he wanted to get better as a person and as a runner. He was a young person, didn't have life figured out and was still trying to figure himself out. I'm still trying to figure myself out. Just seeing him put the effort into himself that he did. There were so many times that made me be like, ‘I can do this. I can be better and improve upon things about myself...

“You never know which build you're pulling from on race day. The most recent build is the most important build and indicator of what you can do on race day, but there's no reason why you can't be pulling from the Paris build, the Chicago build, and the Olympic Trials build. Fitness stacks over years and that lifetime fitness is just getting really, really big for me. I tried to lean into that. I think I did alright.”  Within the past 14 months, Clayton Young and his training partner...

In a fitting theme for the city of Broadway, the 53rd edition of the New York City Marathon was all about breakout stars finally getting their time in the spotlight. Both winners of the men’s and women’s elite races in NYC are frequently recurring characters near the front of major races, but neither had completed a signature performance before today.  Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands and Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won their first World Marathon Major titles by defeating fields full of...

We opened up The CITIUS MAG Podcast to have ANYONE join us to share their NYC Marathon stories. It’s a rapid-fire, live podcast recording where we don’t know the guests and just want to connect and hear cool stories from the community. Thanks to HOKA for creating a safe and welcoming space for all these people to share their stories with us. The race kicks off on Sunday, November 3rd with the women’s race starting at 8:35am E.T. and the men following at 9:05am E.T. (Don’t forget to set...

NAZ Elite's Paige Wood (née Stoner), Abby Nichols and Katie Wasserman join us for a live interview ahead of the 2024 NYC Marathon. The race kicks off on Sunday, November 3rd with the women’s race starting at 8:35am E.T. and the men following at 9:05am E.T. (Don’t forget to set your clock back an hour the night before!) The race will be streamed nationally on ESPN and locally on ABC. You can read our full NYC Marathon preview here. CITIUS MAG is proud to partner with HOKA for our...

"The marathon is the longest event. You have to believe in yourself: 'I can do this.' It gets tough at the end. If you don't have that belief, if you don't believe in your training, it's going to get tough. It's just the mindset that, 'I can do this, but I need to be patient enough so that I can finish strong." Wesley Kiptoo of NAZ Elite sits down with us for a live interview ahead of the 2024 NYC Marathon. He shares about transitioning from college racing to the marathon, his reflections...

"It's more me against the distance instead of me against the field. That's how I like to think of the marathon." Futsum Zienasellassie of NAZ Elite sits down with us for a live interview ahead of the 2024 NYC Marathon. He shares about how his training block for NYC compared to his training for the U.S. Trials, what it's been like training with teammate Wesley Kiptoo, how he hopes to improve upon his 2:09 PR, and his race plan heading into tomorrow. The race kicks off on Sunday,...

"I want to reach the goals that I know I'm capable of reaching. It's going to require me to do things I have not done in the past. I feel like I just kept doing the same thing over and over in the past where I'm just coming top three, top four, top five. Sometimes I was satisfied with that. But I think if you want to be a champion, you can't be satisfied with that." Ahmed Muhamed of NAZ Elite sits down with us for a live interview after winning the 2024 Abbott Dash To The Finish Line 5K in...

"The pleasure of being a coach is you get to bear witness to the process of what goes on behind-the-scenes. The fans only get to see what people do for a performance, but you get to know what's actually going on, the ups and downs... It makes those great moments mean even more." NAZ Elite's Head Coach Jack Mullaney joins us live in New York to reflect on his first year with the team. Jack shares what he loves most about coaching, his philosophy, what the transition was like going from...

The final World Marathon Major of 2024 is almost here! In a banner year for road running, it’s hard to imagine how anything could top the Olympics, a historic Chicago, or even the early thrills of the U.S. Trials, but NYC has assembled a field full of living legends, rising stars, and fascinating narratives primed to end the year on a high note. Three 2024 Olympic medalists are hitting the five boroughs: Olympic champion Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia, silver medalist Bashir Abdi of Belgium, and...

The final World Marathon Major of 2024 is almost here! In a banner year for road running, it’s hard to imagine how anything could top the Olympics, a historic Chicago, or even the early thrills of the U.S. Trials, but NYC has assembled a field full of living legends, rising stars, and fascinating narratives primed to end the year on a high note. Three 2024 Olympic medalists are hitting the five boroughs: Olympic champion Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia, silver medalist Bashir Abdi of Belgium, and...

Chris Chavez and Isaac Wood are back for another NCAA cross country recap episode. As championship season approaches, we recap the last few regular season meets: Pre-Nationals, Dellinger Invite, Princeton Classic, and Arturo Barrios. We break down the top teams and individual performances over the past few weeks and share our predictions for who to watch for as the NCAA Championship gets closer. Time Stamps: Women | Recap + Predictions  1:58 - What to make of the newest rankings. 4:48 -...

U.S. Olympians Jasmine Jones and Shamier have signed with Grand Slam Track ahead of the professional track league’s inaugural season in 2025. Jones wrapped up her senior year at USC with the NCAA indoor 60m title and NCAA outdoor 400m hurdles title. She ran personal bests in the 400m hurdles four times in the year, which culminated with a 52.29 performance for fourth place in the Olympic final – just .14 seconds shy of a medal. Little is a two-time World Championship silver medalist in the...

"I’m actually very excited to sign with Grand Slam Track because I really enjoy racing. Time trialing is fun and all, but I’ve run 12:50 in the 5K, and there’s only so much of a difference between 12:40 and 12:50. I figure at this point in my career, it’s not the world record, I just want to compete and I just want to race." Two-time Guatemalan Olympian and national record holder Luis Grijalva has signed with Grand Slam Track ahead of the professional track league’s inaugural season in...

2x Olympian and Canadian record holder Natasha Wodak is set to take center stage at the 2024 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The 42-year-old Canadian record holder returns to Toronto to race the marathon for the first time in 11 years and she's targetting her first-ever national marathon title. She has had a rollercoaster journey over the past 18 months from attempting to qualify for Paris 2024 but falling short. Despite these challenges, she’s coming off a strong year and now she's...

Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia recap episodes five and six of the Ingebrigtsen brothers’ new documentary series, "Ingebrigtsen - Born To Run.” Episodes five and six close the loop on the series by highlighting the brothers’ showing at the Norwegian and European Championships. We also share our critiques on Diamond League press conferences and share our thoughts on some of the editorial choices for the series.  Hosts: Chris Chavez | @chris_j_chavez on Instagram Preet Majithia | @prm_32 on...

One year after the late Kelvin Kiptum obliterated Eliud Kipchoge’s previous world record by 34 seconds, running an almost unfathomable 2:00:35, Ruth Chepngetich topped that. Her astounding time of 2:09:56 is one of the greatest running performances in history, makes her the first woman to run under 2:10 in a marathon, and lopped one minute and 57 seconds off Tigist Assefa’s old world record. On the men’s side, Kenya’s John Korir notched his first-ever World Marathon Majors victory in...

"We’ll see what happens. We’ll all find out on Sunday.” A brief chat with Keira D'Amato, Emma Bates and Sara Hall before the 2024 Chicago Marathon. Unfortunately did not have the time to catch Betsy Saina. From our race preview on CITIUSMAG.com: The American showdown may become a chase for Emily Sisson’s American record, as three of the five fastest women in U.S. history will be on the start line alongside 2021 Chicago runner-up Emma Bates, Chavez’s pick to take down the record. Keira...

Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia preview the top athletes to watch for at the 2024 edition of the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 13th. We break down the men’s and women’s elite fields, the top Americans to keep an eye on, and why the women’s American marathon record may be under threat.  Hosts: Chris Chavez | @chris_j_chavez on Instagram Preet Majithia | @prm_32 on X Time Stamps: 0:56 - Recap of the 2023 Chicago Marathon. 4:32 - Biggest marathon successes throughout the fall of...

“It was an overwhelming feeling of emotion. I had put London in a box in the corner of my heart, had shielded it up, stored it away. In the weeks since, it's been trying to unpack a lot of those feelings and the gratitude that 12 years later, there’s actually justice coming.” Russian middle-distance runner Tatyana Tomashova may be stripped of her 2012 Olympic 1500m silver medal after being found guilty of a second anti-doping violation and being banned for 10 years. American Shannon Rowbury,...

21-year-old Muzala Samukonga won Zambia’s only medal at the Paris Olympics, which was the country's first since the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He rose to prominence at the 2022 Commonwealth Games when he stormed to gold in 44.66 and beat out Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith, who took silver in Paris. There isn’t a ton on the internet on Samukonga so that’s why it was nice when our very own Anderson Emerole had the chance to chat with him in Brussels just after he signed a contract to join...

 We actually recorded this while we were in Paris but had to keep it under wraps for a bit. This was just a few days after Alison Dos Santos earned his second Olympic bronze medal in the men’s 400m hurdles. He went on to win the 2024 Diamond League title and finished the year with a personal best of 46.29, which puts him at No. 3 on the all-time list behind Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin. We talk a bit about the state of the men’s 400m hurdles. His experience in Paris and his excitement...