436. CJ Albertson, "The Guy Who Led the Boston Marathon for 21 Miles"

Ali on the Run Show

Ali Feller

Run, Health & Fitness, Women, Inspiration, Runner, Entrepreneur, Sports, Fitness, Health, Running

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2021

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“It was a win-win either way. If they go with me, they’re running my race, and that’s great. And if they don’t go with me, I have a huge lead at Boston, and that’s pretty awesome, too!”

If you watched the 2021 Boston Marathon, you got to know CJ Albertson — or at least his face — pretty well. That's because CJ, who runs professionally for Brooks Running, took the lead in the men's elite race right from the start, and held it for 21 miles. He ran solo that entire time, gapping the rest of the field by two minutes at one point. After 21 miles, the pack caught up to CJ — who was also celebrating his birthday that day — but he was able to hang in and ultimately finished 10th. Those 21 miles at the front may have put CJ on the Boston map, but he's hardly new to the running scene. The California native is a 2:11 marathoner and cross-country and track coach at Clovis Community College. In 2019, he completed the indoor marathon world record challenge in 2 hours 17 minutes and 59 seconds. (That's 26.2 miles, indoors, on a 200-meter track!) Then, in 2020, CJ set an all-surface 50K world best time of 2:42:30, which he also ran on a track. CJ loves pursuing the fun side of running, and is always up for a challenge, whether it's leading the Boston Marathon or topping the leaderboard of every Peloton class he takes. All that and more, on this episode of the Ali on the Run Show.

SPONSOR: UCAN. Click here and use code ALI for 20% off your entire UCAN order!

What you’ll get on this episode:

What CJ’s Boston recovery has been like (2:30)
On feeling like a star (6:30)
What the day before the race was like (8:30)
On praying before the race (17:00)
What it was like walking to the start line (23:50)
CJ’s race plan, and how it played out (26:20)
On gapping the field — by two minutes — and eventually getting caught by the pack (35:15)
That finish line feeling (48:15)
CJ’s love for Peloton (50:55)
What’s next? (57:40)

Follow CJ:

Instagram @cjalbertson

Follow Ali:

Listen & Subscribe:

SUPPORT the Ali on the Run Show! If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Spread the run love. And if you liked this episode, share it with your friends!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode of The Alley on the Run Show is brought to you by YouCan.
0:04.4	Go to youcan.co slash alley and use code alley for 20% off your entire order.
0:15.0	Welcome to The Alley on the Run Show. I'm your host Allie Feller and I am here with a bonus
0:20.3	episode for you today. If you watch The Boston Marathon on October 11th, you probably got to know
0:26.4	CJ Albertson pretty well. That's because CJ, who runs professionally for Brooks,
0:32.9	took the lead immediately and held it for 21 miles of the race. He led the marathon for 21 miles,
0:42.9	running totally solo at times gapping the rest of the field by two minutes. And it was his birthday.
0:51.3	It was a pretty good day for CJ, who ended up finishing 10th that day. And while those 21
0:57.7	miles of fame may have really put CJ on the Boston Marathon map, he's hardly new to the running scene.
1:04.4	The California native is a 211 marathoner and he's a cross-country and track coach at Clovis
1:09.6	Community College. In 2019, CJ set a world record time of two hours, 17 minutes and 59 seconds at
1:17.9	the indoor marathon world record challenge. So yeah, he ran a marathon on a 200 meter indoor track
1:27.2	in New York City. Does that sound fun to anyone? I don't think I could do it. No, I know I couldn't do
1:31.6	it. Then in 2020, CJ set an all-surface 50k world best time of two hours, 42 minutes and 30 seconds,
1:41.2	which he also ran on a track. This guy loves the challenge, whether it's to lead the Boston Marathon
1:46.9	or to be on the top of the leaderboard for every peloton class he takes, which he's also done.
1:53.5	You'll hear more about that, about all of that in this conversation. So please join me in welcoming
1:58.9	the guy everyone was talking about after the Boston Marathon, CJ Alverson.
2:04.8	All right, everyone knows him as the man that led the Boston Marathon for 21 miles.
2:10.8	CJ Alverson is here. CJ, thank you so much for coming on the alley on the run show.
2:15.9	How are the legs feeling? The legs are feeling better today. Actually, today I felt like was a
2:20.8	turning point during my run. They felt pretty decent. Definitely still some claw, some clawed
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ali Feller, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ali Feller and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.