Citius Mag Podcast

“[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 and my emotional stability, my mental stability.’ All these things improve just by the relationship that we had.” My guest for today’s episode is CJ Albertson. Just three weeks after setting a personal best of 2:08:17 at the Chicago Marathon, CJ came into the New York City Marathon and delivered another stellar performance, finishing 10th in 2:10:57. CJ's year has been nothing short of extraordinary—top American at both the Boston and Chicago Marathons, a 5th-place finish at the Olympic Trials, and now, another top-10 finis

“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 Conner Mantz have become synonymous with performing in high stakes marathon racing, finishing neck-and-neck at four marathons. Now, most recently at the New York City Marathon, Clayton crossed the finish line in an impressive seventh place finish just 21 seconds behind Conner Mantz, clocking 2:09:21. This year has been nothing short of remarkable for Clayton, from the Olympic Marathon Trials to the Paris Olympics and now New York. We've got episodes with him after each one of those. We decided to keep the tradition alive as we d

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 former NYC champs, with Nageeye outkicking 2022 champ Evans Chebet down the homestretch and Chepkirui beating 2023 champ Hellen Obiri at her own game with a late surge through Central Park. Time stamps: Women’s race: 2:10 - Breaking down Sheila Chepkirui’s win 5:03 - Hellen Obiri talking a big game + reflecting on her career 13:20 - Kudos to Vivian Cheruiyot for her third place finish 16:10 - Sara Vaughn’s top American performance 19:42 - More top results: Jess McClain, Sharon Lokedi, Kellyn Taylor, Tristan Van Ord, Dakotah Po

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 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 coverage of the 2024 NYC Marathon.

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 coverage of the 2024 NYC Marathon.

"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 from his debut marathon, how he prepared for the NYC course, and his race plan for tomorrow. 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 coverage of the 2024 NYC Marathon.

"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, 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 coverage of the 2024 NYC Marathon.

"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 13:38. 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 coverage of the 2024 NYC Marathon.

"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 coaching at the college level to pro level, and what's ahead for the team. 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 coverage of the 2024 NYC Marathon.

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 bronze medalist Hellen Obiri of Kenya. Obiri and Tola also happen to be the reigning NYC champions, and Obiri will be trying to win the Boston-New York double for the second straight year. Five other former NYC champions are in the mix (three men and two women), plus a pair of stacked U.S. fields vying to produce top-10 overall finishes… or even higher. Here’s a compilation of our interviews from the NYC Marathon press conference, including Conner Mantz, Clayton Young, Hellen Obiri, Dakotah Popehn, Jenny Simpson, Sharon Lok

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 bronze medalist Hellen Obiri of Kenya. Obiri and Tola also happen to be the reigning NYC champions, and Obiri will be trying to win the Boston-New York double for the second straight year. Five other former NYC champions are in the mix (three men and two women), plus a pair of stacked U.S. fields vying to produce top-10 overall finishes… or even higher. 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

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 - BYU’s rise to the top.  7:42 - Washington is making a jump to podium ranking. 9:30 - West Virginia’s breakout performance.  11:42 - Thoughts on NAU + NC State. 13:37 - Florida State’s underrated performance.  16:22 - Could the Utah women be a podium-contending team?  20:09 - Princeton Classic recap. 22:03 - Individuals to watch: Pamela Kosgei and Doris Lemnogole. Men | Recap + Predictions 26:42 - OSU’s dominance.  28:52 - Arkansas’ standout performance at Pre-Nats. 30:39 - Dellinger recap + BYU closing the gap on OSU. 36:05 -

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 400m hurdles. At the Paris Olympics, she was part of the world-record setting mixed 4x400m relay and earned a silver medal in the mixed 4x400m final. She also led off the women’s 4x400m relay in the final with a 49.48s split before the team won gold in 3:15.27 – the second-fastest 4x400m relay of all-time. In this episode, Anderson Emerole chats with Jones and Little to reflect on their experiences at the Olympics, break down why they signed with the league, why they’re excited for it, and what they’re looking forward to mo

"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 2025. Grijalva joins Grand Slam Track as the third Racer in the “long distance” category that will contest the 3000m and 5000m at each respective Slam. He will be joined by 5000m Olympic silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi and 5000m and 10,000m Olympic bronze medalist Grant Fisher. Grijalva finished fourth in the 5000m at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships and ran a personal best of 12:50.58 at the Oslo Diamond League in May. He owns a 3000m personal best of 7:29.43 from the 2023 Prefontaine Classic and finished third in the 3000m

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 approaching the TWM with a new mindset, enjoying the chance to race in front of family and friends without the pressure of Olympic standards. With a personal best of 2:23:12, Wodak’s goal is to secure the Canadian title. Hear about the various chapters of her running journey, her love for training, and how she’s embraced the marathon’s challenges with resilience and determination. LIVE from the 2024 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon Expo! Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram Karen Lesiewicz | @kare_les on Instagram 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 X Time Stamps: 0:25 - We’re on Reddit! 2:17 - Overview of episode 5. 3:05 - Dynamic between Jakob and Henrik.  4:19 - Jakob at press conferences + why he would make a great sports journalist.  7:46 - Critique on Diamond League press conferences. 14:02 - European Championships recap. 17:15 - Jakob leaving for his workout while Elisabeth was in labor.  23:36 - Norwegian Championships recap. 27:06 - Episode 6: Beef between Jakob and  Narve Nordas. 31:23 - Why wasn’t the Monaco DL 1500m highlighted? 38:56 - Ingebrigtsen family a

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 2:02:44. (What a time for the sport of marathoning we’re in right now, where a 2:02 showing is basically a footnote!) Hosts: Chris Chavez | @chris_j_chavez on Instagram Preet Majithia | @prm_32 on X Time Stamps: Ruth Chepngetich: 1:31 - Breaking down her 2:09:56 world record 9:40 - More on her running history + Chicago victory  13:52 - Stats + analysis on her record Skepticism surrounding Chepngetich’s world record: 19:01 - Training factors 22:27 - Potential for doping 25:48 - Chepngetich being questioned in the press conference

"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 D’Amato, who held this record for just under nine months in 2022, will be racing 26.2 miles for the first time since moving to Utah to train with coach Ed Eyestone. We won’t know until Sunday exactly what her and Eyestone’s race plan looks like, but don’t be surprised if she’s in the mix for the top American crown. 2024 U.S. leader Betsy Saina, whose fifth-place finish in Tokyo in 2:19:17 was a huge leap forward, figures to be a prominent player as well. 2016 Olympic 1500m champion Matthew Centrowitz is set to be pacing this p

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 2023.   7:06 - Women’s elite field preview. 15:02 - Elite American women preview. 23:16 - Context on pre-race interviews with elite marathoners. 25:50 - Matthew Centrowitz pacing the women’s American record.  29:14 - Men’s elite field preview. 35:35 - Elite American men preview. 38:53 - Parting thoughts on the Chicago Marathon. Mentioned in this episode… Listen: Betsy Saina’s episode on the CITIUS MAG Podcast after she ran 2:19:17 at the 2024 Tokyo Marathon. Read: Keira D’Amato and Matthew Centrowtiz training together to prepare fo

“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, who originally finished sixth in the 1500m Olympic final at the London Olympics, may receive the bronze medal after three women ahead of her have been disqualified for anti-doping offenses.  The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced an arbiter determined Tomashova is now banned for 10 years and lost all her results from June 21, 2012 to Jan. 3, 2015 after her out-of-competition drug test samples from June 2012 and July 2012 were re-tested and come back positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Tomashova initially