Matt Llano on coming back from injuries, craving hard workouts, The Bachelor/Bachelorette and more

CITIUS MAG staff writer Paul Snyder joins the podcast after I slept on his couch for 10 nights on a short little training/fun stint in Flagstaff, Arizona. Paul is one of the site's best writers and is best known for his article on "A Presidential Race: What if every U.S. president raced a 5K fun run?" or "7 “The O.C.” Memes Only Middling College Distance Runners Will Understand" He was once name-dropped by Malcolm Gladwell on Bill Simmons' podcast and he's been quoted in Competitor as the brain child behind the cult-phenomenon that has become the Blue Jeans Mile. Paul is a legend. Paul and I discussed how he arrived in Flagstaff, what his running aspirations are after competing at Columbia for four years, how he's found the writing side of running and much more. Paul was a teammate of Johnny Gregorek and Kyle Merber so there's some fun college stories shared there as well. You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review.

23 Aug 201751min

Former Colorado Buffalo and two-time national champion Ammar Moussa recently chatted with the CITIUS MAG Podcast ahead of his blue jeans mile run at the Sir Walter Miler on Aug. 4. Ammar is one of the first contributors to come on-board with the site and he's developed a new kind of relationship with running since his competitive days on the track. He was a standout at Arcadia High School in California before heading to Boulder to run under Mark Wetmore. As a Buffalo, he won two national titles and finished fifth overall at the 2015 NCAA Cross Country National Championships. He's distanced himself from running a bit and now work in Washington D.C. with Rep. John Conyers Jr.  On the show, Ammar discusses his time running and training at Colorado, why anti-doping interests him as a topic to write about on the site and much more.  Colorado has a storied track and field history so Ammar tackles assembling a Mt. Rushmore of former Buffaloes. You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review.

15 Aug 201736min

Kara Goucher joins the CITIUS MAG Podcast just days before she will receive her silver medal for finishing second at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka. Goucher initially finished third behind Tirunesh Dibaba and Elvan Abeylegesse but re-testing of samples showed that Abeylegesse tested positive for performance-enhancing drug. Goucher will be upgraded to silver and Jo Pavey of Great Britain will get bronze. Goucher discusses the process of how she found out about the upcoming medal ceremony in London, whether she's seen any improvements within track and field's anti-doping policies. She also discusses her recent injuries after finishing fourth at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles. Tokyo 2020 is still three years away but hear her thoughts about those games as well. You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review.

1 Aug 201729min

Citius Mag contributor and Sir Walter Miler race director Pat Price joins the show for a casual chat to discuss his field for next week's big race in Raleigh, North Carolina. A little on the Sir Walter Miler from the official website: "The Sir Walter Miler began due to lack of stateside races for American athletes. In June 2013, Sandy Roberts was coming his best collegiate season, and couldn’t find any meets, that weren’t in Europe, to continue his development. With this position, the “Sandman Mile” was created for Roberts to attempt a sub 4:00 mile with only his brother as the pacer. The event was promoted for only a few days, and would take place at the end of football practice, with the lights still on, at Cardinal Gibbons High School. Hundreds showed up and lined the track to cheer Roberts on. The next year, the Sir Walter Miler took that energy and developed it into a mile-centric event, which has only grown since." 17 sub-four minute miles have been run by men and nine sub-4:30's by women. The race has a pretty electric atmosphere that has set a tone for how a lot of races have started to operate within the U.S. Pat discusses a little bit of that history and tradition that has formed because of the race. We size up some of the elite fields and what to expect from the top stars like Craig Engels, Stephanie Garcia and many more. You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review.

28 Juli 201729min

Amy Hastings-Cragg joins the CITIUS MAG Podcast just before heading off across the pond to compete at the 2017 IAAF World Championships marathon in London. Hastings-Cragg won last year's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and then finished ninth in the Olympic marathon in Rio de Janeiro. Soon after her race in Brazil, she chatted with coach Jerry Schumacher to discuss the possibility of chasing another medal at this year's world championships. In this week's episode, she discusses her transition into training under Schumacher with the Bowerman Track Club, taking a break after Rio but then kicking off 2017 with a half marathon PR, sharing a room with Desi Linden in college, what she would say if she had one question to ask Rita Jeptoo and much more. You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. For information on how to win a Citius Mag t-shirt. Visit CitiusMag.com

25 Juli 201728min

It's rare that we see track and field stadiums packed with 50,000 to 60,000 fans for a meet when someone like Usain Bolt isn't competing but it happened over the weekend. At the 2017 IAAF U18 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, fans shattered attendance records to watch the future stars of the sport. I wanted to know more about the atmosphere and feel at the stadium so I dialed up my good friend and fellow track and field journo Cathal Dennehy to discuss his experience at the championship. Cathal and I crossed paths when I first went out to Europe to cover the track circuit in 2013. As a freelancer writer, his work is everywhere from Runner's World, The Guardian, Run Blog Run, SPIKES and many other other places. He went viral on the internet with his "Depths of Hell" play-by-play call from an Irish championship and even made an appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show." You can find Cathal on Twitter: @Cathal_Dennehy The latest episode of the CITIUS MAG Podcast is now up on iTunes. Subscribe and leave a five-star review.

20 Juli 201728min

Three-time U.S. Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein joined the CITIUS MAG Podcast just days after announcing that he has joined the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project and will be training under the guidance of Keith and Kevin Hanson in Michigan. Ritzenhein is now 34 years old but remains intent on trying to qualify for his fourth Olympic team in 2020. In this week's episode of the podcast, Ritzenhein discusses how different training is for him now that he's older, his key to longevity within the sport, lessons learned from coaches like Mark Wetmore, Alberto Salazar and Brad Hudson in his career, plus whether he thinks the more recent Colorado cross-country teams were better than the legendary 90s teams.

18 Juli 201732min

Two-time Olympian, six-time U.S. outdoor 800m champion and 2013 world championship silver medalist Nick Symmonds joined the show to discuss his retirement from the track, his plans for the Honolulu Marathon in December and reflecting on his career. Symmonds also discusses David Rudisha's dominance, his 0-12 record against the world record holder, a hypothetical all-time U.S. 800m race and when's the last time he ever ran in short shorts. All that and more in this week's episode of the Citius Mag Podcast. Subscribe on iTunes and leave a five-star review.

29 Juni 201731min