Pushing Limits in Endurance and Speed

This is the CITIUS MAG Newsletter, a weekly round-up of the biggest stories in the running and track & field community with analysis and commentary by me, Chris Chavez. If you’ve been forwarded this email or stumbled upon a link online, you can sign up and subscribe here:

*record scratch* You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation…

It might look like an odd cast of characters but this week I took advantage of the nice weather in New York City to get out for a run in Central Park with Malcolm Gladwell and Zac Clark. People know Malcolm for his writing and his hit podcast “Revisionist History”. People know Zac as the winner of the latest season of The Bachelorette. So how’d this group come to be? I’ve run with Malcolm a few times in recent years since he’s a CITIUS MAG fan and also appeared on the Runners of NYC Podcast a few years back. I became friends with Zac last fall through my best friend Zac Price and he’s also got a strong passion for running – and yes, we’ve recorded an episode of The CITIUS MAG Podcast that will be released soon.

With races still in flux during the spring for amateurs and hobby joggers, Zac decided it would be a good chance to test our endurance a bit and attempt the David Goggins Challenge, where you run four miles every four hours for 48 hours. You may have seen it throughout your Instagram feed if a friend or family member attempted it when people throughout the country decided to push themselves collectively on March 5. We needed a bit more time to train so we’re going for it in April. We’ll announce more details later on. We’ve got a group together that will attempt it and we’re going to implement a fundraising/charity component.

A month later, I’ll get back to running a much shorter and faster challenge. I will be racing an exhibition mile at the Trials of Miles x CITIUS MAG meet in New York City on May 21. I’ve extended the invitation to Malcolm for a head-to-head duel and it sounds like he’s in. We’ve got two months to train. He’s broken five minutes for the mile before but it’s been a few years. I’ve never done it and want to get as close to it as possible.

Somehow...a 27-year-old and 57-year-old are of similar athletic caliber. Ya gotta love track and field.

Gladwell says he was “shocked” by the early odds set by Scott Fauble that set the New York Times best-selling author as a -110 favorite. Jared Ward has chimed in saying he “might have to find some data and run a regression or something” if Fauble is ready to become a bookie.

So what’s running for me at this moment? It’s exploring endurance and speed in two very fun ways. Stay tuned for more updates on that…

One quick thing: Thank you to everyone who tuned in to watch the Trials of Miles Texas Qualifier on the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel. The tweets, emails and messages coming out of that weekend were awesome and I greatly appreciate everyone’s support. I meant to send an email blast telling people to tune in but the support of the running community was out in full force and we had 55K on Friday and then 62K viewers on Saturday. You can catch the full replays of the event and individual races on the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel. The Trials of Miles team, me and Kyle Merber and already kicking around ideas on how to make the next one even more fun for the viewers and athletes. If you’re a brand or even just a die-hard fan of the sport that’s interested in sponsoring any of the races at the next meet, please feel free to reach out to me about any possible partnerships.

It’s been a while since I’ve fired off a newsletter so I’ll try to recap some of the things I’ve missed in the past two weeks.

NOTABLE NEWS

– USA Track and Field announced a 10-meet “Journey to Gold” meet series that looks to provide athletes with the opportunities to race, hit qualifying marks and improve their World Athletics rankings ahead of the U.S. Olympic Trials. The series will offer up more than $1 million in prize money. It begins on April 3 with the USATF Sprint Summitt in Prairie View, Texas. Five of the 10 meets still list TBD as the venue and location.

– While we’re announcing track meets on the horizon & filling our calendars, for those wondering when the next Trials of Miles x CITIUS MAG meets will be:

– May 1 outside of Kansas City (steeplechase & hurdles focus + a few 1500s/5Ks)

– May 21 in NYC (distance events)

For those interested in competing, feel free to reach out to meet director Dave Alfano for more information - [email protected] | Qualifying standards for the meet in Kansas City have been posted on the meet website.

– My friend Pat Price would be upset at me if I didn’t include the fact that the 2021 Sir Walter Miler is set for Friday, Aug. 6th, if you’re filling out your calendar.

– The 2021 Penn Relays have been canceled for the second consecutive year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

– Boston Marathon race organizers said they anticipate having a reduced in-person field size for the race on Oct. 11. This falls right in line with Matthew Futterman’s reporting in The New York Times that says other major marathons in the United States are thinking the same thing. From the Times: "In New York, which typically plans for a field of 55,000 runners who start on Staten Island and run through all five boroughs of the city, officials recently discussed the possibility of a field of roughly 30,000 runners.”

– 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials runner-up Molly Seidel and third-place finisher Sally Kipyego will run in the USATF 15K Championships at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, Florida. Sara Hall, who was initially planning to race on the track in Austin but withdrew due to illness, is also among the headliners. Seidel is coming off a 68:29 win at the Atlanta Track Club Half Marathon on Feb. 28.

The men’s race will feature reigning champion Frank Lara, Marathon Project champion Marty Hehir and Ben True fresh off his 27:14.95 10,000m personal best.

– Welcome back! Aliphine Tuliamuk tweeted that she went for her first run since giving birth on Thursday. The Olympic Marathon will be held on Saturday, Aug. 7 in Sapporo.

– Des Linden is finally running more than a marathon. For years, she’s teased the possibility of exploring the ultrarunning and trail scene. The 2018 Boston Marathon champion announced that she will be attempting to break the 50K world record in mid-April at a small race held in Oregon. The current record of 3:07:20 was set by Great Britain’s Aly Dixon in 2019. (Approximately 6:01 pace for 31.1 miles.) On Thursday, she posted a workout on her Strava that included a casual 2:36 marathon and 1,207 feet of elevation game before she attended a San Diego Padres spring training game sporting a LetsRun t-shirt and recovering with a beer. Legend.

– 62-year-old Mariko Yugeta is looking to lower her own 60+ women’s marathon world record of 2:52:13, which she ran at the 2021 Osaka Marathon in January, when she runs in Sunday’s Nagoya Women’s Marathon. Brett Larner recently profiled her for Runner’s World.

– I never got the chance to meet Paul McMullen but I saw the tributes on social media were pouring in for the 1996 U.S. Olympian after he died in a skiing accident in northern Michigan. He was 49 years old. A GoFundMe was set up to help his family.

– More than 550 college athletes sent the NCAA a letter demanding the governing body removes championships from states that pass or are considering anti-trans bills pertaining to youth sports. More reporting here from my Sports Illustrated colleague Julie Kliegman.

– Iowa Central’s Rosalie Fish shared an Instagram post explaining why she and her teammates dedicated their National Junior College Athletic Association distance medley relay title to sexual assault survivors while wearing body paint that read “#MeToo” – “As athletes at the collegiate level, it’s time to break the silence around sexual assault. It will take everyone in athletics- from athletes, to coaches, directors, and officials to end the cycle and normalization of sexual violence that occurs on our campuses” Fish wrote. “It’s on all of us to advocate for comprehensive sexual health and consent education for our athletes. It’s on us to strive for safer campus environments, to respect each other’s decisions, and to empower and support victims.”

NOTABLE RESULTS

– Bowerman Track Club’s Grant Fisher ran 13:02.58 to win the 5,000 meters at the Sound Running Meet in California last weekend to lock up the Olympic standard for the Tokyo Summer Games. Fisher also ran 27:11.29 for 10,000 meters two weeks ago so he’s got both standards now. His previous personal best for the 5,000m was 13:11.68 from last summer’s intrasquad meet between his teammates. He will be on the CITIUS MAG Podcast next week and he told me this was a solid opportunity for him to get back into racing and he’ll explain what’s behind coach Jerry Schumacher’s reasoning for some of their race plans ahead of the U.S. Olympic Trials. Stay tuned for that.

– In the women’s 5,000m at the Sound Running Meet, Emily Sisson took the win in 14:55.82 to take 15 seconds off her 5,000m personal best. Allie Buchalski of the Brooks Beasts also put together a big breakthrough with her runner-up finish that dropped her personal best from 15:22.29 to 14:57.54. Weini Kelati, Alicia Monson and Gwen Jorgensen also notched personal bests to get under the Olympic standard of 15:10.

He also recently started a podcast called The Half Step Podcast that will serve as an audio diary of his journey to the Trials and his life as a professional runner. I’ve listened to the first two episodes and I recommend it.

– We’ll touch on the shoe technology debate with Fisher but how about Mbuleli Mathanga. In February, he ran a 13:47.23 for 5,000m in a pair of Nike VaporFlys and when he was criticized, he decided to run a 10,000m on March 5 practically barefoot. In photos shared on Twitter by Cuan Walker, his feet look like there’s just a thin layer of tape and that’s about it. Badass.

– Emmanuel Bor became the second-fastest American for the 5,000m indoors with a 13:05.60 at a time trial in Virginia Beach. Galen Rupp still holds the American record with his 13:01.26 at Boston University in 2014. Ednah Kurgat, who is now running for the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, ran 15:26.54 to win the women’s race. You can watch a replay of the meet on the LetsRun YouTube channel.

Looking ahead…

This is definitely one of the most jam-packed weekends of collegiate action with the NCAA Division I and Division II Championships taking place this weekend. You can watch the NCAA DI Indoor Championships live from Fayetteville, Arkansas on WATCHESPN. The NCAA Cross Country Championships will take place on Monday in Stillwater, Oklahoma. You’ll also be able to watch that on ESPN at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or bandwidth to preview all of these races for you. I’m sorry. I’ll be better next time. But, I’ll have all the highlights and news from them in next week’s newsletter.

Around the CITIUS MAG Podcast Network

“As an engineer & as an athlete, I have no problem w/ the technology advancing. However, there are parameters under which that needs to be advanced & rolled out if we want to ensure fair competition because that is the purpose of the sport”

Mason Ferlic is currently an unsponsored professional runner but trains alongside Nick Willis and Hobbs Kessler in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was an NCAA champion at the University of Michigan in the steeplechase. He also teaches a statistics class there and works as a research engineer and lab manager at Michigan’s Exercise & Sports Science Initiative. He’s a super-smart guy so it’s no surprise when he was asked by Flotrack’s Kevin Sully about his thoughts in the great spike debate that’s engrossed the sport that Mason delivered a great answer so I wanted to get him on the pod to talk a bit more about it, where he views the inequities are within the sport and how we move forward now that this arms race (ironically taking place on our feet) is in full swing.

You can 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 HERE.

– Josette Norris popped on “Run Your Mouth” with David Melly after her big run at the Texas Qualifier. She ran a 10-second personal best in the 5,000m, running 15:19 to qualify for the Trials. Come for the running insight but stay for the WaWa talk.

– On More Than Running with Dana Giordano, Taylor Treacy opened up about the importance of taking care of your mental health and how wanting to help others she founded the Virago Project.

– “I go for a run and I know exactly where I am. I remember who I am and whose land I am grateful to be on at that time. And I can be with so many members of my family, both who are here, and who have passed on. For me, that’s what makes [running] so powerful.” Dinée Dorame discussed living her values as a Navajo woman in sports media on Social Sport with Emma Zimmerman

– Ole Miss’ Everett Smulders joined the Running Things Considered guys and held his tongue on criticizing the NCAA.

– I jumped on the Running Rivals Podcast with Northern Arizona Elite’s Rory Linkletter and Nick Hauger to give them some background on how CITIUS came about in 2017 and what my plans might be for it going forward. I also spilled a couple of ideas that I’ve been kicking around with the Trials of Miles guys for a future meet this summer or fall.

– I love the enthusiasm and energy that Joshua and Aaron Potts bring to their work on The Running Report and the Two Black Runners Podcast. Joshua and I chatted it up on the latest episode of his Running Report YouTube show to discuss what it was like being back behind the mic to commentate races and what my vision for some track and field broadcast plans are in the near future.

Next week, we’re announcing a new addition to the CITIUS MAG Podcast Network...

That’s it from me in the latest edition of the CITIUS MAG Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, learned something new or have any questions or commentary on anything featured in this issue, feel free to hit my inbox: [email protected]

As always, I’m grateful if you decided to forward this to a friend or five. If you’d like to share this article, click the button below.

Chris Chavez | Twitter | Instagram