by Dominique Smith and Anderson Emerole
CJ Albertson is in the zone as the Boston Marathon draws near on Monday.
His mindset isn’t filled with the pressure that the historic marathon brings, or the elite athletes that are in the field. He’s looking to have fun and soak in all the energy that surrounds the Boston Marathon.
“I mean, honestly, my biggest mindset is this is like a fun vacation,” he said. “Okay, I mean, kind of get to get away from everything, and just be like this awesome atmosphere, obviously, like, there’s a ton of energy around. I mean, the weekend is just getting started. But it’s already just a big deal this year, obviously. And so yeah, I mean I’m excited, I’m ready to run fast, but definitely just ready to just kind of be relaxed, and just kind of enjoy this whole weekend. And all the energy that’s here, just kind of soak everything up and let that enjoyment play out on the course.”
Albertson, who comes in as the sixth fastest American runner in this year’s Boston Marathon field with his 2:10 lifetime best, relies on the natural energy that he has to be at his best. It’s important for him to stay relaxed, so that he doesn’t get in his own way when it’s time to race.
“I don’t know. I mean, it’s just, for me, I feel like the more energy, it’s kind of easier to stay relaxed,” he said. “And then I don’t have to think about a lot of things. It’s just like, this is just natural energy that’s just there, and you kind of just get to like, go and just kind of like experiencing things. But sometimes when I’m like too, in my head, or almost all the time, if I’m thinking too much or too in my head, like that’s when I’m not relaxed. But when there’s a lot going on, and I just kind of get to see everything that’s going on, and you know, see all the excitement, and just kind of be wrapped up in the moment – but also being in the hotel and resting and taking naps and stuff, then you just naturally have that balance. And then you just show up and you race, and you’re just kind of in the zone and you go.”
Some of the best talent in the world will line up with Albertson on Monday when the Marathon kicks off, with the most notable athlete in the field being Eliud Kipchoge. The level of talent and competition that Albertson will face excites him, and brings an ease to him as well.
“I think just with all the greatness that’s gonna be there, it’s exciting,” he said. “And then I feel like it makes you better too if you can just kind of feed into that excitement and that greatness and be like, okay, I’m gonna run with all these guys. I don’t know. For me, it gives an ease to running. I don’t know why, I feel like this marathon, it just feels like it’s gonna be like, I don’t know. I don’t know if easy is the right word, but just more like flow in it, just because of how much excitement there’s gonna be. So I’m more just excited to run.”
With the ever growing talent across the world that continues to shape the marathon, Albertson believes it’s only a matter of time before more Americans start to hit the sub 2:06 mark in the event.
“I mean, it’s hard to know, for sure,” he said. “I think with a lot of people being really fast in college right now, and even some post collegiates running pretty fast and attentive – I feel like, along with the shoes and then just people training more, I think more of those types of 27 minute 10k guys are realizing that the marathon is really not that hard. And they’re doing long, long runs and they’re running. Even recently, there’s been more Instagram and Strava posts of people doing the kind of runs that I do, which I think more people do 24-25 mile runs pretty close to marathon pace. Not as much of that was published before, which I think people did, and just not that many people said they did. But I think as people see that, and it’s like, oh, you know, 25 miles at 5:05 pace, we can do that and still train the next day. I think then all those 27-30 guys are kind of like, oh, yeah, I can run 28 miles pretty fast. And then after you do those a few years, then guys are gonna be just that natural speed, natural talent. 4:48 pace really isn’t that fast when you’re running for 15 or 20 days for 10k. So, yeah, I think people are gonna get there and it’s gonna come relatively soon, probably in the next 5 to 10 years. We’ll have a handful of guys under that 2:06 range.”
