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"I’m coming away happy with taking a big swing at it. It’s better to hit the wall early than in March of ’28 or at something that matters a little bit more.”

My guest for today’s episode is Vinny Mauri. And Sunday’s Chicago Marathon was exactly as exciting as you hoped it would be thanks to him. At 15K, running 2:04 pace in his first world major, Vinny looked around, decided that was too conservative, and made a move for something he described as “astronomical”. He led the Americans by 38 seconds at 30K. He was on American record pace at mile 21. And then the hamstrings started talking, he had to stop and stretch about six times in the final ten miles, and he finished tenth in 2:06:45. He also still managed to walk away with the U.S. 30K record.

Vinny is 25 years old, still self-coached, still working at Second Sole in Niles, Ohio, now signed with ASICS, and now in two marathons has run 2:05 and 2:06 — one alone on a bike path and one in the lead pack of the Chicago Marathon where he spent the first nine miles fist-bumping his competition (who maybe didn’t hit him back) and making faces at his family on the sidelines.

He says his third marathon will be a little different. He said so himself on Strava that he’ll plan to take it a bit more seriously. People who don’t know him might read that as disrespect for the distance. People who do know him understand it’s the opposite.

In this conversation, we discuss:

– The weekend vibe he and his girlfriend set for themselves the moment they landed in Chicago
– The start tent energy
– The Strava post that previewed everything
– The green light moment at mile nine when he decided to go
– The stops to stretch and what he was calculating each time
– The moment Clayton and Charles caught him and he waved them on
– What he’s actually going to change for the next block.
– We also get into the four hours in the drug testing room and his belated celebration for it all

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