The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

“I called my shot. I’m confident in my ability to still chase the American record. I’ve already learned so much this build that it’s already been a success.”
My guest today is Brooks professional marathoner and Suunto-supported athlete Clayton Young, joining us two weeks before the 2026 Chicago Marathon.
Earlier this spring, Clayton finished 11th at Boston in 2:05:41 after a ten-week build that followed a significant injury and a change in sponsors. He’s spent months preparing for Chicago with a bigger goal in mind: chasing Conner Mantz’s American marathon record of 2:04:43.
Part of that ambition came from watching Josh Kerr call his shot at the mile world record. Clayton took to heart the idea of creating the conditions for a breakthrough, and he’s written the same declaration in his journal every day: “I, Clayton Young, will break the American record on October 11th, 2026 at the Chicago Marathon.”
But his tune-up at the Great North Run didn’t go as planned, and he had an MRI afterward. For the first time, Clayton shares the extent of the injury and what it means for Chicago.
We also talk about the psychology of stating his goal publicly, the data behind his training decisions, how Coach Eyestone has adapted, and what Clayton makes of Chicago competitors Charles Hicks and Vinny Mauri. He explains why this race feels different from Boston—and what he wants spectators to yell when they see him on the course.
We discuss:
– The daily journal ritual
– Having fun is a skill he has had to practice
– Josh Kerr’s mile world record as the direct inspiration for calling his shot with the American record attempt
– The contrasting psychologies with Charles Hicks
– Dr. Craig Manning and the purpose of a goal
– Abundant mentality on the field: Charles Hicks, Vinny Mauri and the rest of the young Americans entering this distance. There are only three Olympic Trials spots and only one American record, but this sport is growing and there’s enough for everyone. He’s actively working against the scarcity mindset and wants all of them to succeed.
– Coach Eyestone’s adaptations to recent success by other runners
– The data gathering from Commons Clinic, Stride, Suunto, Brooks Sports Research Lab
– The build being the best training of his career– The injury and the first public disclosure of its extent
– What it means for the 2026 Chicago Marathon
– What he learned from The Great North Run
– What to yell on course for him
+ More
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OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.⁠

Unlike “normal” global championship years, this professional season ended with three championships of a sort: the Diamond League final, World Ultimate Championships, and World Road Running Championships.
As its name implies, the “ultimate” championship feels like the closest thing we had this year to a be-all-end-all determination of who’s the best athlete in their respective events, but it’s easier to look at the calendar and suggest that success in other forays—whether it’s the European Championships, regular-season DL circuit, Commonwealth Games, or something else entirely—could mean the same or more than a trophy in Budapest.
That made sorting out our year-end power rankings all the more challenging. How do you account for a steeplechaser who didn’t have the option of competing at WUC? Or a sprinter who ran really well, but didn’t necessarily face the same competition as a U.S. championship?
When we first took on this assignment in June, World Indoors was the single biggest event on the schedule you could point to as evidence of championship mettle, and spillover good vibes from 2025 were still in the air. That’s no longer true. 2025, and even this year’s indoor season, are both increasingly distant memories. What have you (the top 25 athletes on the track and in the field) done for us lately?
As always, there’s a healthy dose of subjectivity that goes into these rankings. How do you compare a single-event specialist against a more generalized sprinter or distance runner? How much does consistency over the regular season matter compared to winning when it “counts?” How much does the top-end talent of an event or event group like the women’s 800m or the men’s pole vault elevate a star who didn’t win all that much? How much should you weigh consistently beating a deep field of competition, like in the women’s 100m hurdles or men’s 100m?
Top 25 Track Athletes of 2026:
25 – Femke Bol
 24 – Djamel Sedjati
 23 – Gabby Thomas
 22 – Emma Zapletalova
 21 – Cooper Lutkenhaus
 20 – Keely Hodgkinson
 19 – Likina Amebaw
 18 – Faith Cherotich
 17 – Jakob Ingebrigtsen
 16 – Cameron Myers
 15 – Georgia Hunter Bell
 14 – Klaudia Kazimierska
 13 – Oblique Seville
 12 – Emmanuel Wanyonyi
 11 – Rai Benjamin
 10 – Julien Alfred
 9 – Marileidy Paulino
 8 – Kenny Bednarek
 7 – Collen Kebintashipi
 6 – Ja’Kobe Tharp
 5 – Josh Kerr
 4 – Audrey Werro
 3 – Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
 2 – Alison dos Santos
 1 – Masai Russell
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OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. ⁠⁠⁠Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.⁠

“I’ve allowed my brain to anchor on the fact that I can run 2:04. It’s physically possible — and that’s as good as it gets as a signal. Now let’s go find out what the trend looks like.”
My guest for today’s episode is Charles Hicks  and the last time we had him on was right after he ran 2:04:35 at the Boston Marathon. A lot has happened since then. His wife graduated law school. They got married. They went on a honeymoon. And then Charles moved out to Park City, Utah, to train at altitude for the first time in his career — no tent, no simulated environment, just real air at real elevation — for what will be his third marathon in less than a year.
That third marathon is the Chicago Marathon, and Charles is going into it with a specific goal he’s been comfortable saying out loud: he finished second American in New York, second American in Boston, and now he wants to be first American in Chicago. The American record conversation is happening around him — Clayton Young has called his shot publicly — but Charles’s approach to it is characteristically his own. Beat the guy next to you. Let the record follow if it’s going to.
In this conversation, he takes us through how Chicago has been on the plan since a text thread in 2024 where he and Jerry mapped out New York, Boston, Chicago in sequence; we get into some of his training and what organic altitude training has taught him about pacing discipline that sea-level training couldn’t and much more. He’s one of the most philosophical marathoners you’ll find.
Discussed in this episode:
– Organic altitude — why no tent in Park City
– What altitude training actually teaches you
– The timeline from Boston to Chicago
– The goal for Chicago — first American, not the American record
– “Anchor” versus “ceiling” — a key distinction
– The mileage log for this block– Daisy-chaining — the philosophy behind the continuous training
– The earache that set up the best workout of his career
– What the taper feels like after 125-130 mile weeks
– The Vinny Mauri subplot
– The track work
– Training alongside Cole Sprout and Kieran Tuntivate
– The brain podcast on solo easy runs
– Race day logistics
+ More
____________
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. ⁠⁠Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.⁠

“The best athlete has short-term memory. After good races you push it away, and after bad races you just forget and move on.”
My guest for today’s episode is Klaudia Kazimierska — the World Ultimate champion at 1500 meters and one of the biggest breakthrough stories in track and field this year. She is 25 years old, a Nike pro, and trains under coach Jerry Schumacher in Eugene, Oregon. Her past month is the type of season most athletes would dream of.
Here is how September went for Klaudia. She broke the Polish national record early in the month at the Silesia Diamond League. Then she went to Brussels and won the Diamond League Final in 3:54.05 — a world lead, a meet record, and a Polish record again all in the same race. Then she came back a week later and won the World Ultimate Championship 1500 meter final. Then she capped her season in London with another victory over Hunter Bell.  In those last three races, she earned $275,000 in prize money.
In this one, we go back to Poland,  where she started running once a week at eleven years old because her dad knew the coach, ran 4:07 at nineteen and thought the Tokyo Olympics were right around the corner, then went backward. In 2021, frustrated and looking for something new, she started the paperwork to transfer to Oregon — a process complicated enough that it took a year. She’s made the Olympic and World Championship finals in the last two years, but 2026 was really the breakthrough. Brussels was the first time she put herself in a position to win. Then Budapest was the second.
We discuss:
– The season that still hasn’t fully settled in highlighted by three wins in three weeks — Diamond League final (Brussels), World Ultimate Championships (Budapest), Athlos London. Total prize earnings: approximately $275,000.
– Growing up in Poland
– Representing Poland at sixteen — and who else was there
– The road to the University of Oregon
– The language barrier and the fear of not being herself
– The training difference — Poland vs. Eugene
– The four-year plateau at 4:07
– The Paris Olympic final — and why she cried on a day she ran a PB
– What nobody knew about the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships
– The torn hip labrum that almost ended 2025 before it started
– The Tokyo World Championships and the first real glimpse of her kick
– Pre-Classic as the tactical lesson that made Brussels possible
– Brussels Diamond League Final— the shadow on the home straight: 3:54, the world lead.
– Budapest — the gear shift, the last 50 meters, and knowing everyone else was hurting too.
– London — finding the inside rail
+ What’s next
____________
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.

“I haven’t really taken the time to appreciate it yet. I think if you had told me on the front end that was going to happen, I would have been floored. But now I’m just like, okay, I gotta refocus on marathon training.”
My guest for today’s episode is Emma Grace Hurley and since we last had her on in May, a lot has happened. She went to Copenhagen last weekend and finished fifth at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in a personal best of 1:06:23, an American record for an all-women’s race. She also helped the United States women’s team claim the silver medal — a result that, going into the day, wasn’t even on anyone’s radar. The team went 5th, 6th, and 7th with her, Weini Kelati, and Jess McClain all finishing within 30 seconds of each other, and the photo of the three of them at the finish is one of those American women’s distance running moments that we want to blow up into a poster.
In 19 days, she runs the Chicago Marathon for her debut at the distance. So there was no easing into the post-Copenhagen glow, no week off, no victory lap. She got home, got drug tested, and went back to training.
Emma Grace is an ASICS athlete who trains under Andrew and Amy Begley at Heartland Track Club in Indianapolis. She came into this season as the American record holder at 8K, won the USATF 10-Mile title at Cherry Blossom, and finished second at the USATF 5K Championships in her own city. The Copenhagen team silver was the chapter that closed out the Atlanta misdirection story from March, where she was one of the three athletes who was sent off course in the closing mile of the US half marathon championships and ultimately earned her spot in Copenhagen through the special exception World Athletics granted.
Discussed in this episode:
– Copenhagen hasn’t settled in yet
– Why Chicago
– The two-marathon plan before the Olympic Trials
– Coach Andrew Begley’s training philosophy
– The Jenny Simpson’s quote that she carries
– The heat disruption in Indiana this Summer
– What the Mini 10K taught her
– What Falmouth taught her
– The Copenhagen race plan — and where it went sideways
– The photo at the finish line with Jess McClain
– American women’s distance depth
– The Copenhagen post-race chaos
– Andrew’s assessment post-race
– The women’s-only record bonus
– What she doesn’t know she doesn’t know
– How to cheer for her in Chicago
– Why she’s a little sad marathon training is almost over
____________
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OLIPOP: OLIPOP's Citrus Rush packs apple, lemon, lime, and orange juices with 60mg of green tea caffeine for a bold, refreshing blast of flavor ready to fuel your next adventure. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠.