It's time for one of our favorite events: The Olympic Team Trials Marathon. We preview the course and make our predictions -- most assuredly our worst predictions yet. Then, we review the race experience at the Austin 3M Half Marathon and close with Phil's shoe of the year for 2023 and the most anticipated shoes of 2024 for Travis.

As a new year dawns, we're reflecting on what has worked and what's missing from our training. To help you through the reflective process we've designed "ideal training weeks" for each other based on our 2024 target races. These microcycles incorporate runs we enjoy, runs that have yielded success, and runs that might be a missing ingredient for greater success.

The Norwegian Model of double threshold, Parker Valby's cross training, Kelvin Kiptum's massive mileage and quality. We're diving into each and unpacking what can be scaled and applied for better running in 2024.

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After 2 years removed from the marathon and a year battling serious injury, Columbus Running Company Elite athlete Sakiko Minigawa ran the California International Marathon last week chasing the Olympic Trials standard. Despite the obstacles, and perhaps because of them, she raced to a new personal best of 2:35:52. As Booker T. Washington wrote, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” By that measure, Sakiko has reached the pinnacle of running success. She joins us this week to share her experience of training, persevering, and ultimately excelling.

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Marathon season wrapped up with fireworks at Valencia, Fukuoka, and California International, and indoor season opened in spectacular, record-breaking fashion at Boston University. We recap the action and discuss what these results mean for the sport in 2024.

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CS Lewis once wrote, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” Justin Melott personifies Lewis’s words as he quests after personal bests from the mile to 100 miles. Justin is a deep thinker on running, a dear friend, and a Columbus Running Company manager. Moreover, he’s an inspiration to those of us aspiring to new heights in our running long past the glory days of interscholastic athletics. This past week he set a new 5K PR, and pacing his race was one of the high points of my time in running. Afterward we sat down to bring you the story of that race and the running journey he continues each day. I'm privileged to bring you Justin Mellott on Mile 163 of Seconds Flat...

We're tackling your toughest training questions this week: our top Thanksgiving dishes, how to construct threshold sessions, what we've learned about training so far from the Road to L.A. '84 series, how to fight late race fatigue and cramping, and how to best use the Moneghetti Fartlek. Plus we review exciting new shoes from adidas and New Balance!

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Welcome to Part Six of The Road to L.A. ’84, our multi-episode retrospective on the 40th anniversary of a seminal moment in a golden era of marathoning. We’re telling the behind-the-scenes account of the athletes, the training, and the build-up races. This week we rewind to the 1983 New York City Marathon — site of one of the most thrilling finishes ever seen in sports. A race we’ve been so excited to relive with you. 40 years later, here’s the story of New York 1983...

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Welcome to Part Five of The Road to L.A. ’84, our multi-episode retrospective on the 40th anniversary of a seminal moment in a golden era of marathoning. We’re telling the behind-the-scenes account of the athletes, the training, and the build-up races. This week we rewind to the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. After a spring of epic clashes in Rotterdam and Boston, the world’s greatest distance runners converged on Scandinavia competing for the crown of World Champion — a title awarded outside of an Olympic year for the first time in track & field history. 40 years later, here’s the story of Helsinki 1983 on Mile 159 of Seconds Flat…

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What do the recent world record performances by Tigst Assefa and Kelvin Kiptum mean for the future of the sport? Is a sub 2 hour marathon imminent? Can the Japanese Grand Championships provide a model for strengthening the USA marathon team selection? Who might match the drama from Berlin and Chicago at the upcoming New York Marathon? We consider those topics plus we answer marathon-related listener questions.

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