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

“I’ve gone into this year with less pressure on myself and have not been afraid to put myself in a vulnerable situation. I’m not afraid to lose anymore and I’m not scared to put myself in a situation to lose. I don’t mind getting to the front of the race and pushing it or trying to control it so that it suits my needs a bit better than other people’s. That’s been the biggest change this year.”
My guest for today's episode is Gracie Morris. If you watch the final 100 meters of the USATF Indoor Championships 1500m final, you know exactly why she's here. With 100 meters to go, Gracie was sitting in 4th place. A World Indoor team spot looked just out of reach, but when that inside rail opened up on the final turn, she didn't hesitate.
She surged through on the inside, closed in 14.3 seconds for her final 100 meters, and crossed the finish line in 4:11 to claim second place and her first World Championships berth on the track. Nikki Hiltz won yet another U.S. title, so that's your team for this month's World Championships.
What makes Gracie Morris's rise even more impressive is her trajectory. At TCU, she qualified for NCAAs twice but never made a final. Fast forward a year and she's a member of Puma Elite and has transformed into a dangerous miler in the United States. In 2025 alone, she won the Sir Walter Mile and the Fifth Avenue Mile. She also claimed the U.S. 2K cross country title and dropped her 1500m personal best from 4:08 to 4:04. This year, she's already run 4:02.
In this conversation, we talk about that decisive final lap, the lessons she's learned about racing instincts, and the steady belief that got her through years of injuries in high school and college.
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Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez
Guest: Gracie Morris | @ggraciemorris
Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr
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OLIPOP: A blast from the past, Olipop’s Shirley Temple combines smooth vanilla flavor with bright lemon and lime, finished with cherry juice for that nostalgic grenadine-like flavor. One sip of this timeless soda proves some flavors never grow old. Try Shirley Temple and more of Olipop’s flavors at DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.

Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia break down a chaotic weekend in American track and field headlined by a lead vehicle disaster at the USATF Half Marathon Championships and a slate of big results at the USATF Indoor Championships.
Discussed:
– The 2026 USATF Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta were thrown into chaos when a lead vehicle guided the top women off course in the final mile with Jess McClain holding a big lead at the time. Molly Born, who stayed on course, won in 69:43. McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat all filed appeals immediately after.
– USATF’s jury of appeals acknowledged the course was inadequately marked but said it had “no recourse within the rulebook” to alter the results, which was a ruling that drew widespread backlash. Atlanta Track Club CEO Rich Kenah took full responsibility.
–  Because the race served as the selection event for the 2026 World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, the wrong turn didn’t just cost the leaders prize money but also potentially cost them spots on Team USA. The selection situation is a tangled mess with no clean fix under current rules.
– Cole Hocker won the men’s 3,000m in a blanket finish in 7:39.25. Young missed the World Indoor team by .01 to Yared Nuguse after drifting off the rail in the home straight.
– Emily Mackay won the women’s 3,000m in a five-second personal best of 8:30.01, outkicking Elle St. Pierre in the final stretch for her first US title.
– Hocker and Yared Nuguse then faded to 5th and 4th in Sunday’s 1500m, won by former UW teammates Nathan Green and Luke Houser.
– 17-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus went 5-for-5 as a professional, winning the men’s 800m in 1:46.68 with a tactically sharp performance.
– Nikki Hiltz extended their US title streak to eight, winning the women’s 1500m in 4:11.34.
– Jordan Anthony won the men’s 60m in 6.45, beating Trayvon Bromell and Noah Lyles.
Plus: Tokyo Marathon recap, the Louis Hinchcliffe NCAA return and the Iowa State/Seth Clevenger doping investigation.
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Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ + Preet Majithia | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@preet_athletics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Produced by: Jasmine Fehr |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
____________
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
OLIPOP: A blast from the past, Olipop’s Shirley Temple combines smooth vanilla flavor with bright lemon and lime, finished with cherry juice for that nostalgic grenadine-like flavor. One sip of this timeless soda proves some flavors never grow old. Try Shirley Temple and more of Olipop’s flavors ⁠⁠⁠⁠at DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.

Chris Chavez, Mac Fleet, Preet Majithia, and Kyle Merber preview the top athletes and storylines to watch for in each track event at the 2026 USATF Indoor Championships this weekend.  The Championship will take place Saturday, February 28th to Sunday, March 1st at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in NYC .
Time stamps:
- Women’s 3000m - 3:30
- Men’s 3000m - 9:35
- Women’s 60m hurdles - 19:00
- Men’s 60m hurdles - 21:36
- Women’s 800m - 24:22
- Men’s 800m - 30:14
- Men's 400m - 39:08
- Women’s 1500m - 44:50 
- Men’s 1500m - 53:56 
- Women’s 60m - 1:00:40
- Men’s 60m - 1:03:19
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Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ + Preet Majithia | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@preet_athletics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ + Kyle Merber | ⁠@kylemerber⁠
Produced by: Jasmine Fehr |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
____________
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
USATF: The USATF Indoor Track and Field Championships presented by Prevagen are back in New York City from February 28th to March 1st at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island. This is where legends don't just race; they punch their ticket to the world stage. The pressure is real, the margins are razor thin, and every athlete is fighting for one thing: a spot on Team USATF at the World Indoor Championships. ⁠⁠⁠Grab your tickets now at USATF.org/tickets ⁠⁠⁠using code CITIUS10 and experience track and field at its absolute loudest.
OLIPOP: A blast from the past, Olipop’s Shirley Temple combines smooth vanilla flavor with bright lemon and lime, finished with cherry juice for that nostalgic grenadine-like flavor. One sip of this timeless soda proves some flavors never grow old. Try Shirley Temple and more of Olipop’s flavors ⁠⁠⁠at DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.

The Athletic writer and author Liam Tharme joins the show to unpack the biggest shift in modern distance running: the rise of “super shoes.”
Tharme’s new book, Super Shoes: How Advanced Technology Revolutionized Running, traces how Nike’s Vaporfly (and the carbon-plated, high-stack foam revolution that followed) helped trigger an avalanche of fast times and world records across the roads and track.
In this conversation, Liam shares how his own running background fueled his curiosity, what he learned reporting the inside story of Breaking2, and why the technology boom has sparked debates around fairness, access, and sporting integrity.
We dig into the science behind the gains, the key researchers who helped validate them, the brand arms race between Nike, Adidas, Puma, ASICS, Hoka, New Balance and On, and the tricky new reality super shoes introduce: when performance leaps can be explained by tech, it can get harder to interpret everything else we see on race day.
In this episode, we cover:
- How the Vaporfly changed running in 2016 and why the record books haven’t looked the same since
- The origins of carbon plates + advanced foams, and what the research actually says
- Breaking2’s behind-the-scenes decisions and the people who made it possible
- The “shoe doping” debate, fairness, and how accessibility has evolved
- The current footwear landscape and who’s winning the innovation race now
- The next frontier: personalization, super-responders, and what “the perfect shoe” could mean
Super Shoes is available now here.
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Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez
Guest: Liam Tharme | @liamtharme
Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr
____________
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
USATF: The USATF Indoor Track and Field Championships presented by Prevagen are back in New York City from February 28th to March 1st at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island. This is where legends don't just race; they punch their ticket to the world stage. The pressure is real, the margins are razor thin, and every athlete is fighting for one thing: a spot on Team USATF at the World Indoor Championships. Grab your tickets now at USATF.org/tickets and experience track and field at its absolute loudest.
OLIPOP: A blast from the past, Olipop’s Shirley Temple combines smooth vanilla flavor with bright lemon and lime, finished with cherry juice for that nostalgic grenadine-like flavor. One sip of this timeless soda proves some flavors never grow old. Try Shirley Temple and more of Olipop’s flavors at DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.

“Track running has really exploded recently in America. Everyone’s running super fast times. Even in the half marathon, people have dipped under 60 [minutes] this year. I think the same thing could happen in the marathon... I certainly think that American marathoners can be competitive on the global stage.”
Our guest today is Ethan Shuley. If you didn’t know his name a few weeks ago, you weren’t alone. But after what he just did in Japan, the entire American distance running community is paying attention.
At the Osaka Marathon, Ethan ran 2:07:14 and finished 14th overall to become the 7th-fastest American marathoner ever on a record-eligible course. No sponsorship. No professional team. No long résumé of NCAA accolades. Just a runner who, until recently, was training largely on his own while living in Tokyo and going to film school. And that’s what makes this story so remarkable.
Ethan’s path to 2:07 doesn’t follow the traditional pipeline. After a promising high school career, injuries derailed his time at BYU, where he raced just once before stepping away from competitive running altogether. For a stretch, running meant little more than a few casual miles a week. Then came a move to Japan, an interest in trails and ultras, and a gradual realization that (almost accidentally) he was getting very fit again.
From there, the progression was steady and stunning: a sub-15:00 5K for the first time in his life, a 2:20 marathon in Nara, then 2:18, 2:11, a 63-minute half, a 1:01 in Osaka and finally, the breakthrough that changed everything.
What began as an unsponsored, self-coached experiment has become one of the most unlikely rises in American marathoning. Ethan Shuley went from unknown to the all-time list overnight and suddenly finds himself very much in the conversation heading into the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
In this episode, we get into the unconventional journey, the training he built largely outside the traditional system, how stacking consistent high-mileage weeks unlocked a new level, and what it actually feels like to go from anonymous to historic in a single race.
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Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez
Guest: Ethan Shuley | @ethanshuley
Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr
____________
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
USATF: The USATF Indoor Track and Field Championships presented by Prevagen are back in New York City from February 28th to March 1st at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island. This is where legends don't just race; they punch their ticket to the world stage. The pressure is real, the margins are razor thin, and every athlete is fighting for one thing: a spot on Team USATF at the World Indoor Championships. Grab your tickets now at USATF.org/tickets and experience track and field at its absolute loudest.
OLIPOP: A blast from the past, Olipop’s Shirley Temple combines smooth vanilla flavor with bright lemon and lime, finished with cherry juice for that nostalgic grenadine-like flavor. One sip of this timeless soda proves some flavors never grow old. Try Shirley Temple and more of Olipop’s flavors at DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.