Ciaran O'Lionaird And The Not Dead Yet Comeback Tour
“At the end of the day, I stepped away and I took on this mindset of ‘I’m not just a runner’ and I wanted to do other shit whether it was in work or outside of work. I wanted to distance myself from this world. The biggest thing I’ve learned from meeting people away from the sport and having experiences removed from the sport of running is that I am a runner at my core and it’s OK to admit that running is something really special. To be able to call yourself a runner is amazing. To be able to have the chance to do it at a high level – maybe even do it as your job or represent your country – besides it being something you love so much and naturally have a disposition for is a gift that maybe you shouldn’t throw away. I learned that being away from the sport. When I was in the sport, I was super frustrated like ‘Fuck this. I’m hurt all the time. This is bullshit.’ The time where I “treated my body to death” any epiphanies that I might have had have pulled me back into the sport. Now, I can look at it and say I am a runner at my core and that’s pretty cool.” Just a while ago, I was scrolling through Instagram and a poster for what looked like a concert festival came up but instead, it was for 'The Not Dead Yet Comeback Tour' and it was Ciarán ó Lionáird announcing his comeback to professional running. It looks serious. He’s working with agent and coach Stephen Haas in Flagstaff Arizona and he’s working out with Edward Cheserek. So I wanted to know more about this comeback. We decided to jump on a call where we discuss this, his disappointment in 2012, a series of injuries, time away from the sport, adjusting to the real world and what will ultimately make this all worth it even if there is no Olympics. This one goes out to all the listeners who want to rekindle that flame in training and sharpen their mindset for a comeback. Follow Ciarán and keep up with his comeback on Instagram. FULL SHOW NOTES ON CITIUSMAG.COM Catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also on Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify! 😎 Support for this episode comes from GOODR SUNGLASSES – I’ve been rocking Goodr sunglasses throughout the past couple of months. No slip. No bounce. No fog. Polarized. Ridiculously affordable starting at $25 a pair. They’re already the most affordable performance shades on the planet. | Visit GOODR.COM/CITIUS to check out some of my favorite pairs. ▶ Follow us: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | Twitter | Instagram
30 Juli 20201h 11min
Sam Chelanga On Going With The Wind And Finding Victory Within For His Career And Life
“What I know is the aspect of being looked at differently because of our national heritage – in this case as Kenyan athletes who also happen to be Black in the United States of America. It’s real...One of the things that bothered me many times was that I would go and run a race and if it was a United States championship, they would say ‘Kenyan-born Sam Chelanga.’ What do you get by that? You get to tell people this is the real champion and this is not the real champion because he is Kenyan-born. My performance and my hard work go through the window.” Lots of people know of Sam from his success as a three-time NCAA cross country champion out of Liberty. He set the NCAA 10,000 meter record of 27:08.49 in the same race that Chris Solinsky broke 27 to set the American record. Those accomplishments came before he became an American citizen in 2015. It was something he wanted for a while and patiently waited out the process until it became official. As a professional, he had some success including being the alternate for the 2016 Olympics in the men’s 10,000 meters and then taking well to the roads. Then in 2018, he retired to enlist in the Army at 33 years old. It was a sudden announcement that surprised many because he was in the middle of an Olympic cycle. He explains so much behind what called him to do that along with many of the other major decisions in his life – on this podcast and also in his new book “With The Wind: Finding Victory Within.” The book will come out on July 28. You can order your copy here. More topics discussed in this episode: Why he chose to write a book, running out of poverty in Kenya, his proudest NCAA cross country title, who wins a hypothetical cross country race between the greats, Aliphine Tuliamuk's comments on track media, the decision to serve in the Army and much more... FULL SHOW NOTES ON CITIUSMAG.COM Catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also on Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify! 😎 Support for this episode comes from GOODR SUNGLASSES – I’ve been rocking Goodr sunglasses throughout the past couple of months. No slip. No bounce. No fog. Polarized. Ridiculously affordable starting at $25 a pair. They’re already the most affordable performance shades on the planet. | Visit GOODR.COM/CITIUS to check out some of my favorite pairs. ▶ Follow us: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | Twitter | Instagram
20 Juli 20201h 3min
Chanelle Price On Her Comeback And Not Walking Away From The Sport With Regrets
"JJ (Clark) helped me realize: 'You have to let high school go. This is a new chapter. It's a new environment. You're away from home. Your body is changing. There's a lot going on. Everything you achieved in the past four years was amazing.' He didn't want to take that away from me but he said, 'Let's start over.' That's what a lot of high school phenoms do. It's natural. You carry what you've achieved into college but my biggest advice would be to embrace this new chapter and know that it's completely different. Everybody is good. Everybody is a state champ. Find a coach that cares about you more than just a runner and athlete – someone who wants to walk this new journey with you. Because it is going to be a journey and there will be highs and lows. You can't do it alone. You're young and so you need that support from someone older and wiser who is going to be patient with you. There will be breakthroughs but give your body time. I wish I would have known that as 17-year-old Chanelle." Chanelle Price joins the podcast to detail how she's been able to come back among the country's best 800-meter runners. The 2014 World Indoor 800 meter champion but has raced sparingly in recent years since she suffered multiple setbacks in her training including a pulmonary embolism leading to blood clots in her lungs, a battle with mono and a foot fracture. Despite the struggles, she has refused to retire and wants to give the 2021 Olympics a shot. In this episode, we'll run through her career from being a high school star out of Easton, Pennsylvania through her identity crisis and development at Tennessee to her rollercoaster of a professional career. She shares why things are now going well right as a member of the Nike Oregon Track Club and racing amid a global pandemic. She's got tremendous resiliency. Enjoy. Follow Chanelle: Twitter | Instagram Women's Running: “I Am Tougher Because of What I Went Through” Catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also on Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify! 😎 Support for this episode comes from GOODR SUNGLASSES – I’ve been rocking Goodr sunglasses throughout the past couple of months. No slip. No bounce. No fog. Polarized. Ridiculously affordable starting at $25 a pair. They’re already the most affordable performance shades on the planet. | Visit GOODR.COM/CITIUS to check out some of my favorite pairs. FULL SHOW NOTES ON CITIUSMAG.COM
15 Juli 20201h
Elise Cranny On How She Went From Injured To 14:48 for No. 7 U.S. All-Time for 5,000m, Patience As A High School Star, Re-Living Stanford Success
On July 1, Elise Cranny ran 14:48.02 to become the 7th fastest American woman in history for the 5,000 meters. The race was run in Portland, Oregon in front of no fans and just against her teammates. The time counts toward the all-time lists because USATF recently announced they will be counting times and marks set at USATF sanctioned events from April to November toward next year's U.S. Indoor Championships and Olympic Trials. This is arguably her biggest performance as a pro but was also very accomplished as a high school star out of Niwot High School in Colorado and then a 12-time All-American at Stanford. In this episode, we run through her start in sport with influence from her parents who were avid triathletes. We touch on the pressure of being a high school star and a patient transition into college training and development. Elise takes us through some of the biggest races of her college career including her runner up finish at the 2017 NCAA outdoor championships 1500 where she was .004 seconds off the win. Then she gives us the behind-the-scenes of being injured at the start of the year, her recovery process and then how that 14:48 came together. Plus, she'd one of the young and rising stars benefitting from the Olympics getting postponed. You can watch the 14:48 race on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhFnc4xEwe0&t=3s ▶ Follow Elise on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elise.cranny/ Support for this episode comes from GOODR SUNGLASSES – Been rocking Goodr sunglasses throughout the past couple months and they're the best. No slip. No bounce. No fog. Polarized. Ridiculously affordable starting at $25 a pair. No discounts needed when they’re already the most affordable performance shades on the planet. Visit Goodr.com/citius to check out some of my favorite pairs. #EyesAreFeelinGoodr ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez
8 Juli 20201h 16min
Duane Solomon's Exit Interview: Retires As Third-Fastest U.S. 800m Runner, Inside the London 2012 Final & The Next Gen of The Event
Duane Solomon joins the CITIUS MAG Podcast for an exit interview after announcing his retirement on June 20th with an Instagram post. He finished his career as the third-fastest American of all-time in the 800 meters with his 1:42.82 personal best at the 2012 Olympics in London. In this episode, we'll go all the way to his high school career and how he managed to find the 800 meters as his specialty event. We'll look at how his "old school" approach to training started in college at USC and eventually landed him on his first U.S. national team in 2007 in Osaka. He opens up about issues with confidence at the college level and early into his professional career before he eventually erupted in 2012 under the guidance of Johny Gray (the former American record holder). Duane explains why it's the 2012 Olympic Trials and not the Olympic final that's the proudest moment of his career. From the warmup area to the call room to the track and off, Duane details his perspective of the London final and David Rudisha's perfect world record. We unpack the later years of his career like chasing the American in 2013/14, crashing and blacking out at the 2015 U.S. Championships, losing in the first round of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and the curious ending to the final three years of his career. Plus, how he feels he fits into the history of America's rise to the top of the 800 meters and Donavan Brazier's world record chances. All that and more... Support for this episode comes from GOODR SUNGLASSES – Been rocking Goodr sunglasses throughout the past couple months and they're the best. No slip. No bounce. No fog. Polarized. Ridiculously affordable starting at $25 a pair. No discounts needed when they’re already the most affordable performance shades on the planet. Visit Goodr.com/citius to check out some of my favorite pairs. #EyesAreFeelinGoodr ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez
30 Juni 20201h 29min
Races Return & Controversy As Well - Nature Is Healing
Chris Chavez and Matt Meyer reunite to unpack the biggest stories in track and field for May and mid-June. Some races have returned on a small scale with the Impossible Games in Oslo, Norway. We discuss that meet and some of the rumored plans for track to take place in the United States in August. Other topics discussed on this episode include: Jakob Ingebrigtsen is on fire; Johnny Gregorek broke the Blue Jean Mile World Record, Leo Daschbach becomes the 11th high school boy to break four minutes for the mile, The Diamond League has revised its calendar for 2020 with 11 meets starting in August and running through October; Salwa Eid Nasser and Christian Coleman were provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for whereabouts failures. All that and more on the latest episode. This episode is Part II to our monthly show. In Part I, we had a conversation about race and sport with Richard Issa of Issa Run Crew in Philadelphia. You can listen to that conversation here: https://apple.co/2YNcrni Support for this episode comes from GOODR SUNGLASSES – Been rocking Goodr sunglasses throughout the past couple months and they're the best. No slip. No bounce. No fog. Polarized. Ridiculously affordable starting at $25 a pair. No discounts needed when they’re already the most affordable performance shades on the planet. Visit Goodr.com/citius to check out some of my favorite pairs. #EyesAreFeelinGoodr ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez ✩ Connect with Matt on Instagram: Instagram.com/matthewlukemeyer
22 Juni 202041min
Richard Issa Has Hope For The Running Community As We Heal
As we continue our discussion about race and sport, Matt Meyer decided to bring on our friend Richard Issa Bockari. He heads the Issa Run Crew in Philadelphia. He shares his experiences in the running community from the perspective as a Black runner in the middle of the pack and among the amateurs – where it is very often white. On Global Running Day, he invited a few members from his run crew to join him in a protest run but instead, they marched and then took a knee in the middle of a Philadelphia intersection for a moment of silence that lasted nine minutes. In this episode, he discusses the conversations he's having with members of his running community, questions people should be asking themselves and how we can all be allies in the Black Lives Matter movement. ▶ Follow Richard on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardissa/ He gave his phone number on the podcast so if you want to talk to him, call or text him at (609) 902-7354 Support for this episode comes from GOODR SUNGLASSES – Been rocking Goodr sunglasses throughout the past couple months and they're the best. No slip. No bounce. No fog. Polarized. Ridiculously affordable starting at $25 a pair. No discounts needed when they’re already the most affordable performance shades on the planet. Visit Goodr.com/citius to check out some of my favorite pairs. #EyesAreFeelinGoodr ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez ✩ Connect with Matt on Instagram: Instagram.com/matthewlukemeyer
19 Juni 20201h 14min
Gwen Berry Will Not Be Silenced, Protesting Racial Inequality in 2019 and Finally Being Understood
“Take accountability. We are tired of educating you. We are tired of getting racially profiled and getting racially discriminated against. We're tired of being killed. We can't do both. White people have to take the burden...Help us because we can't do it by ourselves." Last year, Gwen Berry raised her first on the podium of the Pan American Games after winning the gold medal in the hammer throw. Her protest against racial and social injustice in America landed her a 12-month probation from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. After nationwide protests broke out at the end of May, I caught up with Gwen for a Sports Illustrated interview in which she said she would do it again in 2021 once her probation is up. On social media, she demanded an apology from USOPC CEO Sarah Hershland after they released a statement saying the USOPC stands "stands with those who demand equality." They had a phone call where Hirshland apologized for the effects of the decision to put Berry on probation. Berry grew up in Ferguson, Mo., and marched with protesters in St. Louis in 2014, after Michael Brown was shot and killed by former police officer Darren Wilson. The death ignited weeks of unrest and conversation about race relations, but Wilson was never prosecuted. In 2020, Berry has taken to the streets to protest George Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Gwen Berry will not be silenced. In this podcast, we discuss what the past few weeks have been like for her, conversations among elite athletes possibly protesting in 2021 and much more. Read my Sports Illustrated interview with Gwen here: https://www.si.com/olympics/2020/06/02/gwen-berry-us-olympic-thrower-athlete-protests-george-floyd Gwen's donation suggestion for the Black Lives Matter movement: https://buytheblock.com/ Support for this episode comes from GOODR SUNGLASSES – Been rocking Goodr sunglasses throughout the past couple months and they're the best. No slip. No bounce. No fog. Polarized. Ridiculously affordable starting at $25 a pair. No discounts needed when they’re already the most affordable performance shades on the planet. Visit Goodr.com/citius to check out some of my favorite pairs. #EyesAreFeelinGoodr ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag | instagram.com/citiusmag | facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris via Email: chris@citiusmag.com | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez
16 Juni 202038min
