The New York City Marathon is just two days away and excitement is building for the best day in the best city in the world.

This year’s marathon festivities kicked off in a special way as I was awarded the George Hirsch Journalism Award from New York Road Runners. The award is presented each year to an individual to recognize their “excellence in the reporting, writing and broadcasting of the marathon and the sport of running.”

Reflecting on the previous recipients of this award, I see a list filled with writers and reporters whose work I’ve long admired. Their storytelling has inspired and shaped my own writing over the past 12 years. I remember digging into classic Sports Illustrated stories by legends like Kenny Moore, Tim Layden and David Epstein as they covered track and field, marathons and the Olympics. Their work has fueled my passion as a fan and eventually as a reporter, writer, and content creator.

Looking more closely at the history of this award, I’m also especially proud to be the first Latino and person of color to receive this honor. I’m encouraged by the strides being made, particularly through initiatives like The Magic Boost, to bring more diverse voices and fresh perspectives into our field. Here’s to even more young, talented journalists emerging who reflect the beautiful diversity of our sport!

Onto this year’s race at hand!

We already published our comprehensive race preview. Tamirat Tola is poised to make history as he chases the rare double of winning both the Olympics and NYC Marathon in the same year. Hellen Obiri can strengthen her case for being the world’s best female marathoner. Meanwhile, American stars Conner Mantz and Dakotah Lindwurm are aiming to finish very high on the World Marathon Majors stage.

Here are some of the insights gleaned from the press conference and some of the one-on-one chats with the pros.

After tremendous success in Orlando and Boston, we’re back with more events to celebrate the best day in the best city. In addition to our live podcasts and interviews, we’ll be collaborating on group runs and events throughout the weekend. You can find the details and full list of events here. Our on-site CITIUS crew of Chris Chavez, Aisha Praught-Leer, Eric Jenkins, and Mac Fleet will be hosting an alternate watchalong on marathon morning for live reactions, insights, and analysis. The details on CITIUS MAG’s coverage can be found here.

If you’ll be in NYC, catch us at the HOKA 5th Avenue Flagship store at 579 5th Avenue all weekend.

Hellen Obiri Ready For Title Defense With 2:18 On The Mind

Hellen Obiri has erased the ghosts of her disappointing marathon debut here in 2022 when she finished sixth in 2:25:49 by winning last year’s race in 2:27:23. She is also the back-to-back Boston Marathon champion. While Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 world record is still mind-numbing, Obiri could strengthen her case as the world’s best marathoner by becoming the first woman to win back-to-back New York City Marathon titles since Mary Keitany’s 2015-2016-2017 triple.

This will be Obiri’s third marathon of the year and just 11 weeks after her run for Olympic bronze in Paris. At the Games, She was only beaten by Sifan Hassan (2:13 PB) and former marathon world record holder Tigst Assefa (2:11 PB). Despite heaps of praise for her potential at the distance from experts including her coach Dathan Ritzenhein, the world has yet to see Obiri’s potential on a flat, fast course. She told CITIUS MAG that she believes she is in the best shape of her career and has been training at paces run by 2:10/2:11 marathoners.

“I want to run 2:18 – course record,” she tells CITIUS MAG. That would take a big chunk off Margaret Okayo’s 21-year-old course record of 2:22:31 in a race with no pacers. In the last decade, three runners (Keitany in 2018, Joyciline Jepkosgei in 2019, and Peres Jepchirchir in 2021) have clocked sub-2:23 winning times, suggesting that the record is, in fact, living on borrowed time.

A lot of that will depend on the patience and restraint in the final race plan by Obiri and Ritzenhein and whether there will be any other women willing to press the pace in the good conditions.

Sharon Lokedi Wants The Crown Back

While Obiri is the clear favorite, Lokedi has proven to be a formidable rival since her 2022 debut victory, with a third place finish last year, a runner-up finish in Boston, and a finish just four seconds behind Obiri in Paris.

Similar to Obiri, Lokedi has only raced championship-style marathons without any pacers so we’ve yet to see her true potential PB in a flat, fast race. She laughed when we told her Obiri claimed to be training at paces reflecting a 2:10/2:11, saying she used to think she would be content with running 2:17 someday.

Tamirat Tola vs. Evans Chebet Sizing Up

In our preview, we highlighted how Olympic champion and reigning New York City Marathon champion Tamirat Tola is the favorite on the men’s side and can also lay out his own respective case for being the world’s best marathoner right now. He’ll be up against two-time Olympic marathon medalist Bashir Abdi, 2017 and 2019 champion Geoffrey Kamworor (back from injuries) and 2022 champion Evans Chebet.

Chebet is the most intriguing competitor because he wasn’t able to defend his title in New York last year due to injury and finished third in Boston with a 2:07:22 in his first race back.

“I have trained well this time round and I am ready to run good in New York,” Chebet said.

Conner Mantz Not Just Thinking About Top American; Wants More

Conner Mantz could have called it a year after his eighth place finish in 2:08:12 at the Paris Olympics. He took two days off before returning to running in Utah to recycle his fitness for the New York City Marathon build-up. Workouts have gone better (Clayton Young also told us, “Conner is fit right now. From my perspective, he’s the fittest I’ve ever seen him.”) and he also clocked a speedy 45:13 at the Twin Cities 10-Miler last month, which is the fastest performance at the distance by an American (but the course is not record-eligible).

“As far as workouts go, I’m running them faster,” Mantz said. “But I’m not living at a higher altitude and coming down and doing workouts, I’m just living in Provo now, so that could be different, but I’m excited. After the Twin Cities 10 Mile Champs, I’m pretty confident that I can grind if there are some miles in there that end up being 4:30s, I’m not gonna be too nervous about that.”

Mantz has finished as the top American in four of his five career marathons. However, his main focus is to close the gap on the international elite stars ahead of him. In his post-Paris podcast, he reflected on some of his regrets from the Olympics and missing out on a medal. He’s bringing a similar approach to New York.

Mantz didn’t seem concerned when I brought up CJ Albertson’s quest for attempting to become the first man to finish top American at the Boston, Chicago and New York City Marathon in the same calendar year.

“I’m not really thinking about CJ that much,” Mantz said. “If I’m concerned about one athlete in particular, that athlete will beat me. So I don’t think you should ever be focused on one athlete… You just want to run your own race. I don’t want to focus on beating CJ, and then let’s say CJ goes and runs the worst race of his career and runs 2:20. Then it’s like, if I go run 2:18 that’s a bad day and I don’t want to be like ‘Oh, well at least I beat CJ.’ My focus isn’t anyone in particular, it’s just going out there and competing for a podium spot or a Top 5.”

(Reminder: A top five finish would also qualify him for the 2026 World Championship Marathon in Tokyo.)

How Is Clayton Young Feeling?

If you’re an avid viewer of Clayton Young’s documentary series on YouTube, you get a very intimate and honest portrait of the work it takes for an elite marathoner to prepare for a big marathon (Kudos to Andrew Storer and his work on it). Young also shares a lot on his Strava.

It has not been the perfect build-up for Young as he continues to deal with some slight Achilles pain since before the Olympics and then a short bout with an illness.

“This whole build has been rehabbing the Achilles,” Young said. “And, in the taper for once, my Achilles is feeling good. Usually, it feels worse. I don’t know why, but my Achilles feels better at 120 miles than at 40, but this is the first time it’s actually feeling good during a taper.”

Even with some Achilles issues, he managed to finish ninth at the Olympics in 2:08:44.

In this build-up, one of the biggest benefits for him is being able to draw some comparisons from seeing Mantz crush it in workouts slightly ahead of him.

“I think if we’re being conservative, I’m 11th-ranked going in, but I think Top 8 would be a good day,” Young said. “Top 5 would be a great day. Top 5 at world marathons is a big deal, especially in New York. And you better believe Conner and I have a goal to get on the podium.”

Dakotah Popehn Makes Her Debut (As A Married Woman)

The Paris Olympics was the final race with a “Lindwurm” bib on her chest as Dakotah Popehn races a week after getting married. In our chat, she shares some details of why the wedding came so soon after her engagement at the Paris Olympics and the story behind the wedding photos that featured a Cybertruck.

As far as training goes, she took a little time to recover from her 12th place finish at the Games in 2:26:44, which took a toll on her quds due to the hilly nature of the course. Once she started feeling like herself, she got right back to running 130 miles per week in training.

“Once I got back with my chiropractor, my physical therapist, and we got my body right, everything was clicking again,” Popehn says. “I got back up to 130 miles, training went really well, all my workouts went how I wanted them to, so I feel like I’m ready. Maybe even more fit than at the Olympics.”

When I asked for specifics on what told her she was more fit than the Olympics, she said, “I think my most memorable was 28 (miles) prescribed as “easy” at 6:05 pace and that felt really chill, like I could’ve gone another 28. I feel like I’ve got a really big engine right now, a lot of endurance, which I think in a race like New York pays off.”

Jess McClain Took The Long Route To Her First Marathon Major

This weekend should feel a bit full circle for Jess McClain. It will be her first World Marathon Major and her first 26.2 miles since she finished fourth in February’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, which came as a surprise to many.

In 2019, she was on the podium of the Abbott Dash To The Finish 5K, which served as that year’s U.S. championships. She sat in the stands for that year’s marathon and was starting to contemplate her move to the roads. The pandemic threw a bit of a wrench in those plans but she eventually found her way to the distance and is showing great promise at 32 with a 2:25:46 PB.

This summer, she flew to Paris as the alternate for the U.S. Olympic team but was not called for duty as Fiona O’Keeffe’s replacement. O’Keeffe limped off the starting line and dropped out of the race with a hip injury. The performance generated a bit of online controversy over O’Keeffe’s decision to run and not pass along the spot to McClain, which led to a O’Keeffe and her agent sharing a bit more details about the issues in Paris.

For McClain, it will be the biggest ‘What If’ of her career.

“I was really well-prepared for the heat, and I had done a decent amount of hill training, so I think I would’ve done okay,” McClain told CITIUS MAG. “Just based on how I felt getting there, it was insane that I wasn’t more worked up about it. I was ready to be a yes-girl and not say no to things that scared me anymore. I needed to get on the plane for myself to prove that I could do it if I needed to… I learned a lot about myself that trip but it wasn’t something that derailed my whole year. I got 4th, I didn’t earn the spot, so it wasn’t mine to begin with. All I could do was show up if I needed to and run well if I needed to.”

McClain’s fitness was later backed this summer as she won her first U.S. title in the road 10K and finished second at the U.S. 20K championships in September. Expect her to possibly be running close to Popehn with the goal of being top American.

Jenny Simpson’s Final Pro Race

Jenny Simpson, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and three-time World Championship medalist at 1500m, will run her final race as a professional runner and her third career marathon on Sunday. She is the most decorated American female middle distance runner in history and made every U.S. national team for a global championship from 2007 to 2019. While most of her career has been fairly injury-free, it was the pandemic that disrupted her consistency and she retired from the track following the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials.

She parted ways with her sponsor New Balance and signed with Puma 2022 as she turned her focus to the roads. She has found some success in the transition to the roads with personal bests of 51:16 for 10 miles and 1:10:35 for the half marathon. The marathon distance has proven a bit challenging as she dropped out of her debut at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February but recorded her first finish in April’s Boston Marathon in 2:31:39 (18th overall and 4th American).

“One of the things the marathon has done that I really appreciate is that while it’s been totally humbling as a competitor, it’s really broadened my access to relationships in the sport,” Simpson tells CITIUS MAG. “So many people run the marathon and it’s so difficult. Whether you’re trying to break 4 hours or whether you’re trying to break 2:30, the journey is similarly arduous. It’s what I loved about the mile on the track because most people have run a mile, but there’s even more opportunity to connect with people on the marathon journey.”

While Simpson's competitive career is winding down, she's already planning her next chapter: a year-long road trip across the United States in a Winnebago van. The goal is to explore the country's running culture, from iconic races to hidden trails.

Truly a legend and star of our sport. Plus, one of my favorite all-time podcast episode guests where we reviewed the best moments of her track career.