It was a balmy day in Houston, Texas, but the heat didn’t stop Maegan Krifchin from showing up ready to grit her teeth and continue her hot streak of winter marathons. After racing 3 marathons in 32 days, Maegan returned to the roads just 6 weeks after running her personal best of 2:29:21 at the USATF Marathon Championship (CIM) to finish 6th in a stacked field running a 2:30:16, her second best time to date.
Maegan, what were your goals going into this race?
There was an opportunity to run with a pace group, so I said, "Let’s go for it." I’ve already proven to myself I can run solo and time trial a race, so it was a great chance to have some help.
How did the conditions affect your race plan?
The conditions definitely made it tough, especially in the latter half of the race. Sadly, it just sort of slowed me down a bit. I think with ideal conditions and with my non-traditional approach to racing, I might have snagged the goal time or at least a new PB.
When can we expect to see you on the roads again?
Good question! Lately I’ve been doing things sort of as they come, but the one down on paper is Boston!
Development athletes Christopher May, Rob Desisto, and Joanna Stephens fell short of their goal to hit a US Olympic Qualifying mark, but will have further opportunities beginning with Boston in mid-April. Until then, it’s back to the grind.
Photo by: Karen Mitchell, Runner’s Gazette
