“I just had to always remind myself: be yourself, put in the work, stay present, and trust that it gets better as you go.”

My guest for today’s episode is Sharon Lokedi: the back-to-back Boston Marathon champion. Last month, she became only the second athlete since 1994 to win Boston in consecutive years, crossing the finish line in 2:18:51 for her second straight crown. The way she won it was extraordinary: she sat patiently through a 19-woman lead pack, waited until the hills, and then between 35K and 40K ran a 14:48 5K split — faster than the NCAA outdoor 5K record set on the track just two days earlier. She won by 44 seconds.

Sharon won New York in 2022, finished 4th at the 2024 Paris Olympics, won Boston in 2025, and again in 2026. She has become one of the most complete competitors in the women’s marathon — someone who doesn’t need the fastest time on paper to believe she can beat anyone in the field on race day. She also ran the entire race on a borrowed Garmin because she left her own watch at the hotel and only realized it on the bus ride to Hopkinton.

In this conversation, Sharon walks through the build, the pressure of returning as defending champion, and how she managed the expectation while staying grounded. She takes us inside the race itself: covering early moves, reading the hills, using the lead car as her focal point during that extraordinary 35-40K surge, and the moment she finally let herself enjoy it on Boylston Street.

We also get into what it means to her to inspire other women and how she got to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park.

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Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez

Guest: Sharon Lokedi | @shazrine

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr

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“The difference between confidence and arrogance is evidence. Boston gave me the ability to train like a 2:04 guy without it being irrational. That’s the greatest thing this race could have done for me.”

My guest for today’s episode is Charles Hicks: the 24-year-old Nike athlete, Stanford alum and former NCAA Cross Country Champion who just ran 2:04:35 at the 2026 Boston Marathon. That’s the second-fastest marathon ever run by an American and it’s only his second marathon. He did the entire build on simulated altitude — not a single breath of real mountain air outside of a layover in Denver — which may make him the fastest sea-level-trained marathoner in history.

Charles turned to the marathon two years ago, not at his own suggestion but at coach Jerry Schumacher’s. He ran 13:09 for 5K in his first year as a pro, looked too comfortable in his long runs, and Jerry pulled him aside and said: I think this is the event. What followed was a nine-month racing gap, the Cherry Blossom 10-miler that validated everything, a 2:09 New York debut without a watch where he negative-split the course, and then Boston.

In this conversation, Charles breaks down the full arc of how we got here — his COVID-era decision to just run 12 miles every single day in the Florida heat, his framework for thinking about volume as a decade-long project, the Nike prototype shoe, the famous heart rate mystery on Strava, and what it actually felt like to see 2:03 on the homestretch when he’d gone in thinking 2:06 would be a phenomenal day.

He also tells us whether the track door is shut, what he thinks about Chicago versus New York for this fall, and what the difference is between confidence and arrogance.

____________

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez

Guest: Charles Hicks | @_charleshicks

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr

____________

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

XENDURANCE: When you finish a hard workout, the work isn't actually done. That's when recovery starts. Xendurance Protein is designed specifically to help your body recover, rebuild, and get stronger after training. It combines four different types of protein, so your body gets both fast absorbing protein for immediate recovery and slower release protein to support muscle repair over time. ⁠⁠Check it out at Xendurance.com and use code CITIUS for 25% off your first order.

WAHOO: With the Wahoo KICKR RUN, you can simulate the exact Boston or London Marathon course right in your own home. You can also use the run free mode, which uses sensors to automatically match the belt speed to your stride. No buttons, no interruptions, no breaking your flow. ⁠When you use code CITIUS at checkout, you'll also get a free KICKR Headwind Smart Fan. Check it out today at wahoofitness.com.

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