It was a tough final four miles, but then, that’s what makes the marathon the marathon.

In Sunday’s Chicago Marathon, Matt Tegenkamp clocked 2:12:39 in his first ever test of the 26.2-mile distance, good enough for tenth place, second position among Americans, and a spot just outside the Top 20 fastest first marathon in US history.

With a commendable time and the positive takeaway that he battled the whole way, it may be easy to glance past the fact that the American record holder at two miles came pretty close to hitting a home run his first time out: through 22 miles, Tegenkamp was on 2:10 pace. In the seven miles from #13 to #20, he felt better than he had at any other point in the race. After a conservative first 20k, Tegenkamp and his pacing team increased their speed very slightly, and he found a nice groove. “The cadence just felt more comfortable,” Read the full article

Matt Tegenkamp has run 12:58, been an oh-so-close 4th at Worlds, and won a grip of US national titles… so naturally it’s time to take on the new challenge presented by the marathon. Between now and his debut at the distance — Chicago, October 13th — he’ll be sharing insight into that journey. This entry looks at the line of thinking that brought him to the foot of the 26.2 mile mountain…

Acquired Desire: The marathon, for me, has been an “acquired” desire. The process of training and racing for soooo many miles scared me — rightfully so, with my history of nagging injuries.

However, there has always been this deep down question of, If I did a marathon what could I run? That question has been stirring since 2007, after watching my first Chicago Marathon live. And I’ve continued to predict my finish time after every 26.2 I watch. The internal debate finally came to a head this spring when my coach Jerry Schumacher and I had a long sit down Read the full article

Matt Tegenkamp has run 12:58, been an oh-so-close 4th at Worlds, and won a grip of US national titles… so naturally it’s time to take on the new challenge presented by the marathon. Between now and his debut at the distance — Chicago, October 13th — he’ll be sharing insight into that journey. This entry looks at his first major tune-up race: a defense of his US 20k title in New Haven, Connecticut.

Perfect Chicago Prep: It has a been almost 2 weeks since the New Haven USARC 20k, but I can’t stop thinking about the race because of all the positive motivators I was able to pull from the competition. The field was super competitive — no surprise — and I knew I was going to have to bring my A+ game to defend my title. What was a surprise was the weather: humidity… 100%. Dew point… 75! Sooooo happy the sun was hiding behind the clouds! So, here are my takeaways from the 20k… Read the full article