Kellyn Taylor

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 Popehn

22:38 - Reflecting on Jenny Simpson’s career

Men’s race:

26:47 - Breaking down Abdi Nageeye’s win

31:24 - Evans Chebet’s performance, 30th career marathon 

33:18 - More top results: Albert Korir, Tamirat Tola

35:19 - Conner Mantz and Clayton Young’s races

39:45 - Kudos to CJ Albertson

More thoughts:

44:27 - 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials 

48:40 - Valencia Half Marathon recap

54:50 - What’s ahead on the CITIUS MAG Podcast

56:18 - Sydney Marathon becoming the newest World Marathon Major

Mentioned in this episode:

Watch: NYC Marathon Watchalong

Read: Parting Thoughts From The 2024 NYC Marathon: Abdi Nageeye and Sheila Chepkirui Win + More

Listen: 2024 NYC Marathon Pre-Race With Conner Mantz, Clayton Young, Hellen Obiri, Dakotah Popehn, Jess McClain + More

Listen: Jenny Simpson Reflects on Her Career from High School to 2019, Shares 2020 Plans and Hopes

Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram + Isaac Wood | @isaacew on Instagram

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Just a few hours after the conclusion of the elite races, Des and Kara jumped on the mics to recap all of the action at the TCS NYC Marathon on Sunday. To call this episode "pure fire" would be a gross understatement AND STILL perhaps the best possible teaser words for it. 

They spend the most time on the women's race, one that Kara calls "the best race of the year," breaking down the cat-and-mouse games that extended well into the race. This includes their perspectives on the strategies of Kellyn Taylor and Molly Huddle to take the lead at various points, knowing full well that Obiri and Gidey were going to stay patient until a final, blazing-fast push to the finish. As a bonus, you get some early predictions for the women's marathon in Paris. 

Then, they cover the men's race too, but not before hearing about Des's death-defying trip to the marathon start line in Staten Island, where she and counterpart-on-the-lead-motos Galen Rupp, were the very last to cross the bridge before it closed.

Des was in rare form on this episode - fresh off the marathon broadcast, still jet-lagged from Japan, hopped-up on champagne, beer, and coffee, and oh so ready to stoke any available fire. Kara just can't seem to contain her... or walk away. You have to stay all the way to the end for the biggest conflagration (and genuinely not a bad sponsorship idea for the US Marathon Trials). Enjoy!

Carrie welcomes Kellyn Taylor back to the show! They talk about her comeback from pregnancy, how her family has grown to six since the last time on the show, training for a fall marathon before the Olympic trials in February, her thoughts on this weekend’s TCS New York City Marathon, and so much more!

We are kicking off our inspiration series with someone who's whole mission is to inspire others to break their own self-imposed limitations, and he's doing it epic style.  Bill, remember the phrase that summed up our plan for 2021?  #DOEPICSHIT.  Tez Steinberg, Founder of United World Challenge solo rowed from California to Hawaii this past summer/fall and we get to hear what it was like for 6 weeks alone, rowing, in the largest deepest ocean on the planet.  Do epic shit, indeed. 

Show Sponsor: VENGA

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In Today's Show

• Feature interview with Tez Steinberg
• Endurance News - Aliphine Tuliamuk, Olympic Marathon Trial champ having a baby
• What New in the 303 - BRAC Q/A with Andy Johnson; Castle Rock Fat Bike Snow Adventure
• Video of the Week - Tez Steinberg on Land Sighting after 70 days

Interview Sponsor: UCAN

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Interview with Tez Steinberg

We first spoke to Tez Steinberg in the summer of 2019.  He was preparing to do the solo row from California to Hawaii in the winter 2019-2020.  We stayed in touch to follow his story.  His schedule was delayed until the summer of 2020.  While most of us were isolating because of COVID, Tez was isolated by himself for 6 weeks 2,700 miles, documenting the plastic in the Pacific and collecting , and raising $76K for scholarships to United World College.  

Captain's Blog: United World Challenge - United World Challenge

UWC - What is UWC?

Our News is sponsored by Buddy Insurance.

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Endurance News:

Marathon trials champion uses Olympic postponement to start family

Even if she couldn't immediately renew her nursing assistant license to help during the coronavirus pandemic, marathoner Aliphine Tuliamuk was determined to be productive through a one-year postponement until the Tokyo Olympics.

One way was to fulfill orders for her crocheted Allie Resiliency Beanies that took off following her victory at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in late February 2020.

The other way, she and her long-time boyfriend Tim Gannon decided, was to start a family. So this month, the 31-year-old Tuliamuk will give birth in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Then when she is physically ready, Tuliamuk will resume training with Northern Arizona Elite in Flagstaff to prepare for the Olympic marathon Aug. 7 in Sapporo, site of the 1972 Winter Olympics selected for distance events due to excessive summer heat in Tokyo.

For Tuliamuk and Gannon, engaged to be married, the birth of their daughter already named Zoe will be a joyous start to 2021 that her coach believes will carry over through the hard work necessary to prepare for the Olympics.  "Aliphine is as happy as she's ever been, and I just think there's something to be said for that," NAZ Elite coach Ben Rosario said. "Any couple who's really wanted to have a baby then have one, sure there's stress that comes with that and sleepless nights. But overall there's joy. And Aliphine has always competed best when she's happy.

Tuliamuk naturally was ecstatic after conquering the demanding trials course in Atlanta to win in 2:27.33 and become the first Olympic qualifier for NAZ Elite, going into its eighth year of operation. Her finish-line celebration with teammates Stephanie Bruce (sixth) and Kellyn Taylor (eighth) is one of the indelible 2020 Olympic sport memories before the Tokyo Games were postponed less than a month later.

In early December, Tuliamuk made her pregnancy public via social media. "Tim and I always knew that we wanted to have a family," she said. "The goal was post 2020 Olympics. As it turned out this year had other plans. By mid-April we were convinced there will be no more races this season. The darkness ahead was too much, we created our own light at the end of the tunnel.

"If anyone told me this would be the case 10 months ago, I would have called them crazy, but this is 2020. We planned this knowing that we would have six-plus months to get ready for Tokyo Olympics."

What's New in the 303:

BRAC a Year in Review and What’s Ahead with President Andy Johnson

303Endurance caught up with Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado (BRAC) President, Andy Johnson to take a look back at 2020 and all the challenges and how they will help BRAC moving forward in 2021 and beyond to benefit not only bike racing community, but the cycling community in general. 

303: You have mentioned a new name for BRAC, are you ready to reveal that at this time and if so what is it?

Andy: Years ago when BRAC was under different leadership, the organization was keen on creating a URL that speaks to the larger vision of BRAC’s role in the Colorado cycling community.  So, if approved at Club Council in February, the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado (which is a mouthful) and BRAC (which is always awkward to say and explain) will be known as ColoradoCycling.Org.  The name change affords us the ability to talk about cycling and cycling events in the broader context of our Colorado community.

Castle Rock Fat Bike Snow Adventure and Cultural Hub Extraordinaire?

When I say Castle Rock, Colorado…what comes to mind? Awesome backcountry adventure? A gritty and popular brew pub vibe from “the other side of the tracks”. Perhaps that shining monument to Law and Order—The Douglas County Jail complex? Or, if you are like me, Castle Rock reminds you of New York City right? Well, in an epic Dirt Journal mix tape they all collided last week.

If Castle Rock reminds you of none of the above, except perhaps the Justice Center (that’s a separate story on to itself) I’ll show you how this overgrown Highlands Ranch is actually a trippy Narnia. You just need to put on the magic rose colored hippie glasses to see it.

If you have been reading Dirt Journal, a familiar sequence is starting to appear: Bike, Business, Beer, Boondoggle. My Castle Rock mission was long overdue but with the last snow and cooler weather…and the holidays upon us…it was “go” time for Castle Rock.

Video of the Week:

Day 70 | September 10 | Mile 2601

Closing:

Thanks again for listening in this week.  Please be sure to follow us @303endurance and of course go to iTunes and give us a rating and a comment.  We'd really appreciate it!

Happy New Year!  Stay tuned, train informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!

Elevating American Distance Running: Ben Rosario 

Ben Rosario is the head coach of the HOKA Northern Arizona Elite. His athletes have been wildly successful in recent years, with the most notable being Aliphine Tuliamuk's win at the 2020 US Olympic Trials. His athletes Stephanie Bruce and Kellyn Taylor also finished in the top ten of that race, and on the men's side, Scott Fauble, a 2:09 marathoner, came in 12th.

In this episode, Coach Claire talks to Ben about the Olympic Marathon Trials, focusing on how well his female athletes did, how HOKA NAZ treats female athletes, especially in light of the Nike Oregon Project, and why he thinks so many female runners are still posting PRs well into their 30s.  Ben also shares some great coaching advice, his training philosophy, and his insight into why so many world records have been posted during COVID. 

At the time of this recording, Ben was preparing for The Marathon Project held on December 20. Coach Claire asks Ben for his predictions and will post the results here in the show notes following the race.

Like many coaches, Ben started out as an accomplished runner himself as a member of the Hansons Brooks team and he competed in the Olympic Trials twice before turning to coaching full time. 

In his six+ years with Northern Arizona Elite, Ben’s athletes have won U.S. National Titles in cross country and on the roads at 10k, the half marathon and the 25k, as well as New Zealand National Titles on the track and the roads. 

HOKA NAZ Elite athletes have recorded 8 top-10 finishes at World Marathon Majors.The team has been represented at the World Cross Country Championships, the World Half Marathon Championships, and at the World Track and Field Championships. 

His athletes have also competed at the European Athletics Championships, the Great Edinburgh International XC Meet, the NACAC Cross Country Championships, the NACAC Track Championships, the Pan American Cup Cross Country Meet and the Pan American Games. 

In 2016, the team produced two sixth-place finishes at the Olympic Trials Marathon and two fourth-place finishes in the 10,000 meters at the Olympic Track and Field Trials. At the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, four HOKA NAZ Elite athletes posted top 20 finishes, including three in the top eight in the women’s race led by Aliphine Tuliamuk–the Trials Champion. 

Questions Ben is asked:

4:19 2020 has been pretty crazy for everyone in the world but specifically for the team that you lead, Northern Arizona Elite. Let's go back in time to February when you were getting ready for the Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta. Can you take us back there and recap what you were thinking?

5:10 Atlanta is a pretty tough course with all the hills. Obviously that was not a problem for at least your female athletes.

5:28 Your athlete, Aliphine Tuliamuk, won the women's race and was planning to head to Tokyo when the world shut down. What was that like as her coach?

6:41 I would love to talk to you about Aliphine Tuliamuk’s recent announcement that she is pregnant and due in January. As her coach, I’m sure she came to you and said, “Hey, Ben, this is what I’m going to do.” What was that conversation like? 

7:26 How tough was it keeping Aliphine’s pregnancy a secret?

8:33 You are quite experienced in elite mom runners. Several women on your team are moms and are still just killing it. I would love to talk about Kellyn Taylor, Stephanie Bruce. I would love to talk about Stephanie for a minute. She is almost 37 years old and still getting PRs in the 10K. How is that possible?

10:14 It didn’t used to be so long ago that mid-30s was old for a runner but now that’s not the case, and I think maybe it has something to do with belief, too, seeing all these new great examples.

11:06 I want to keep going back to the women because you have been coaching some really great ones obviously, and American women are seeing a resurgence in endurance running. American men maybe not so much. Would you want to talk about that?

12:32 I want to talk to you about how women are treated in this sport. We’ve all heard about the crazy things with the Nike Oregon Project and how Kara Goucher was treated when she was pregnant. I don’t think that it’s going to be the same story with Hoka. I would love to have you share what you could say about how Hoka supports its female athletes.

15:06 I think you’re right that when all that came out about the Oregon Project that we thought as fans, “Oh. This is the way they’re all treated.” But it’s great to hear that that’s not the case.

15:34 Whenever I get a coach on, I love to talk about coaching advice to hopefully help someone who’s listening become a better runner. Do you have different training approaches for the kids who come straight out of college than you do for your veteran elite runners?

17:03 Let’s talk in a little bit more detail about the training advice. Most runners get the advice hard days are hard; easy days are easy. But then you throw in some medium days. I think that’s where a lot of recreational runners trip up is those medium days. Can you talk about those and what they’re for and how you use them?

19:22 You don’t always have to run your hardest, right?

20:11 You're also a fan of high mileage and I want to know what that means to you because as runners we all want to run as much as possible but clearly there’s a point when high is too high. So what is that point? Obviously it’s individual, but how does somebody know what is high for them? Where’s that sweet spot?

22:51 Besides your athletes, this year we've seen so many world-record breaking performances in 2020, which seems counterintuitive since there have been so few races, the world is not normal, and people can’t train the way they usually do. What do you attribute that to?  

24:14 I’m sure the cynics would say the number of world-record breaking performances in 2020 are because of the shoes or because there’s not enough drug tests in COVID. What do you say about those kinds of things?

25:25 So you think there should be regulations on running shoes like them being available to the public or there’s a stack height, that kind of stuff; is that what you mean?

27:00 What's next for you and your athletes?  How do you predict the running world will change in 2020?  

28:29 This will probably air after the Marathon Project this weekend, but I would love to have you handicap it a little bit, tell us who’s all racing and what do you predict?

31:40 How many participants are there for the marathon?

Questions I Ask Everyone:

32:17 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

33:31 What is the greatest gift running has given you? 

33:56 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Ben:

“I think what we’re learning is that women can run really well into their mid-to-late 30s, and we’re learning that not only from Steph but Shalane, Des, Kellyn, Molly Huddle; all kinds of women in the US and beyond are showing that in distance running, women keep getting better.”

“In general, my goal anyway is to keep people around here for a really long time. So we’re definitely taking a long-term approach and we’re not trying to necessarily throw everything at them right away. We’re trying to slowly add pieces over time, and you see that with the folks who have stayed with us for a long time just getting better and better and better and better, and that’s what we want.” 

“I think uninterrupted training leads to great performances for anybody at any level.”

“The sport has a side to it now that is very technological. And so does golf. And so does swimming. And so does baseball, right? And every sport almost. And like all those other sports, we need to make sure that the playing field is fair.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

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Mentioned in this podcast: 

The Marathon Project

Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community

RunnersConnect Facebook page

claire@runnersconnect.net

https://www.precisionhydration.com/

Follow Ben on:

NAZ Elites on Instagram

NAZ Elites on Twitter

NAZ Elites on Soundcloud

NAZ Elites on Facebook

Ben's Twitter

Ben's Instagram