Conversation with a Beer Mile Record Holder + Win a CITIUS MAG Crewneck

Hello! It’s been a week since Election Day and I hope everyone has found a chance to recover from the whirlwind of emotions that may have taken place over the course of the four or five days it took until the election was finally called for Joseph R. Biden Jr. to become the United States’ 46th President. There is still lots of work ahead so that we can continue to see change and hold those in power accountable. The voter turnout was historic and hopefully a sign that we can all remain active participants in our country’s democracy.

If you’re looking for one last bit of election/running humor, the Fraud Street Run has been organized in Philadelphia…“Join us on Sunday, 11/29/2020, for an inspiring 11-mile-ish charity run through the City of Brotherly Love, starting at the famous Four Seasons Total Landscaping and finishing up at the lesser-known Four Seasons Hotel...”

Onto this week’s biggest news from around the running world, which was a bit of a lighter week...

Tierney Wolfgram Runs 2:31:49 to Break U.S. Junior Marathon Record

The 17-year-old Nevada freshman broke the U.S. junior marathon record in 2:31:49 in a small race along Sacramento’s American River trail. The previous U20 record was 2:34:32 by Cathy O’Brien in 1984. (O’Brien went on to make the 1988 and 1992 U.S. Olympic teams)

Wolfgram previously made news as the youngest person to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. As a 16 -year-old, she finished 76th in 2:42:47 in Atlanta. Wolfgram initially thought about leaving the marathon behind for a bit but those plans changed and she decided to chase this record.

Now that she’s got it, she told the Fast Women Newsletter’s Alison Wade: “Now that I’ve done it, I still love running marathons, but I think it’s time to develop myself on the track.”

Plenty of reasons to celebrate the record but you always have to be a bit cautious when young runners go after the marathon so soon. I am sort of glad to hear that she’s going to shift her focus to running with her team and prioritizing that training.

This brings to mind just how much attention was being paid to Alana Hadley when she was being heralded as “the fastest American woman” in the 2015 New York City Marathon professional field as an 18-year-old. Hadley had turned pro at 16 years old and had run 2:38 by 17. She went on to drop out of that New York City Marathon and then the U.S. Olympic Trials just three months later. She opened up about dealing with anxiety and a lack of confidence while racing on her blog, which she hasn’t been updated since 2016. A 2017 article in the Charlotte Observer provided an update that she was in college and from what I gather has not returned to competitive running. Some people find success early in life and can maintain that drive and prosperity but there are also some cases where it can lead to distress and so a careful balance needs to be struck.

CJ Albertson ran 2:42:30 for 50K on the track

CJ Albertson, the seventh-place finisher at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, broke the 50,000m track record in 2:42:30. Just a few months ago, Tyler Andrews ran 2:42:56 during the Chaski Challenge on a treadmill and also ran 2:46:06 on the track back in 2018. The world’s best time in a road race was set by South Africa’s Thompson Magawana in 2:43:38 at the 1988 Two Oceans Marathon.

Here are his 10,000m splits, according to Race Results’ Weekly’s David Monti:

10,000m: 32:38.21

20,000m: 1:05:06.89 (32:28.68)

30,000m: 1:37:31.11 (32:24.22)

40,000m: 2:10:28.17 (32:57.06)

50,000m: 2:42:30.28 (32:02.11)

Jordan Hasay Gears Up for Valencia with Half In Oregon

Nine days after Galen Rupp ran his lowkey 60:22 half marathon in the Oregon woods, Eugene Marathon organizers put together a race for Jordan Hasay as she prepares for the Valencia Marathon next month. Hasay ended up running 74:27, which probably doesn’t get a good grade from her. The conditions were chillier than Rupp’s race and aside from the bike escort and her two pacers, I’m sure it was fairly quiet and different from previous race experiences.

This was Hasay’s first race since she finished 26th in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials – where she went into the race with the fastest personal best of the whole field in 2:20:57. According to Runner’s World’s Sarah Lorge Butler, Hasay is running 90 miles per week in this training cycle under coach Paula Radcliffe.

– Valencia organizers also announced that 1,500 meter world record holder Genzebe Dibaba will be making her half marathon debut at their race. She will face real tough competition with 5,000 meter world record holder Letesenbet Gidey also racing. The United States will have some presence in the half with Emily Sisson maybe looking to lower her 67:30 personal best.

Is the Hakone Ekiden Happening?

If you got excited about the Michigan Pro Ekiden and want to see the most popular one in the world, Japan’s Hakone Ekiden is the one. It’s the one that turns out more viewers than the Super Bowl and features 21 university teams running more than 200K over 10 stages. Some early 2021 races in Japan have been postponed or canceled due to concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic but Brett Larner of Japan Running News offered up a bit of optimism when he tweeted, “The surest sign yet that the Hakone Ekiden will go ahead: Sapporo has released its 2021 Hakone beer can.” He also noted that the Japan Association of Athletics Federation conducted a study of 787 races held from July 1 to Oct. 4 and the data showed just one of 650,000+ participants or staff members contracted COVID-19. Finger crossed for Jan. 2!

CITIUS MAG GIVEAWAY & Crossword No. 1

Since it’s a lighter week on the news end of things, I’ve decided that I’ll be giving away two CITIUS MAG crewnecks. You can take your pick from the CITIUS MAG shop if you win. (Or you can support us and buy one anyway!) All you have to do is submit the following CITIUS MAG crossword puzzle back to me in an email. You can print it out and take a picture of it. You can fill it out on your computer if you know how to do that. I’ll pick two winners who send it back and I’ll contact them in a follow-up email.

Note: If the answer is a person, I’m looking for just their last name. I tried not to make this too difficult because I fully understand that not everyone obsesses over some stats and weird track tidbits like me. However, if you’re one of those nerds, power to you! Good luck!

Across

5. ____ are feelin' good

8. Running with the Buffaloes author Chris

9. Fastest men's 100m runner of 2020 thus far

10. Raised her fist in protest at the 2019 Pan American Games

13. Hood to _______

14. 2016 Olympic champion women's 800m

16. 'Run Boy Run' artist

18. Indigenous people of the Americas featured in 'Born to Run'

20. Number of men who have beaten Eliud Kipchoge in a marathon (CORRECTION: This clue is NINE so that’s a freebie. Kipchoge finished 8th in London this year. Only seven men beat him there. I accidentally counted that as 8 + Wilson Kipsang at the Berlin Marathon so it’s actually eight. Sorry!)

Down

1. Youngest person ever to break 10 seconds for the 100m

2. Number of Decades Joan Benoit Samuelson has broken three hours for the marathon

3. Aliphine Tuliamuk crochets these

4. LetsRun.com founder Weldon and Robert

6. Shalane Flanagan's high school and hometown

7. 4:06 Blue Jeans Mile world record holder

11. Most women's NCAA Division I cross country titles

12. Kilian Jornet has a shoe sponsorship with this company

15. "Bourbon is Whiskey, ______"

17. Rapper who ran the 2003 NYC Marathon in 4:14:54

19. Most decorated female Olympian in track and field history

If you want the answers to the crossword after you’re done, feel free to also shoot me an email back – [email protected] and I’ll send them over.

PODCAST PALOOZA

Chris Robertson is the second-fastest beer miler in history and the American record holder in the event with his 4:37 personal best. The only person faster than him is world record holder and Canada’s own Corey Bellemore who has run 4:34.

Listener’s discretion is advised: There’s obviously lots of beer talk on this episode. We wanted to make it clear that we’re not encouraging irresponsible or dangerous behavior or drinking. That’s obviously the case if you’re not 21 years old or legal drinking age. Chris is a professional at it so some of what you might hear comes from his experience getting to that level.

In this episode, I got a chance to sit down with him while I spent a few weeks in Chicago. We talk about how he got so fast at this, we’ll dive into some of the history and evolution since the first sub-five minute beer mile was run in 2014, how fast he thinks the limit can be and more. Chris has also run 10:18 for the beer two-mile, which is just a disgusting performance so we talk about that and his hopes as the new owner of BeerMile.com

Catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also on Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify! Full show notes and quotes for this episode available here.

Sponsorships for the CITIUS MAG Podcast remain open just in time for the holiday season. If you’re interested in supporting this show, hit me up [email protected] to get the word out about your brand, product or event. I’m all ears.

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter! If you’ve got any questions, corrections, comments or just want to share any news I may have missed, feel free to respond to this email. If you learned something new and want to pass it along to a friend and maybe encourage them to subscribe, I appreciate that.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Cheers,

Chris Chavez | Twitter | Instagram