Erika Kemp After Running 2:22:56 To Set An 11-Minute PB + Achieve The World Championship Standard At The Houston Marathon | Race Recap + Reflections

The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

CITIUS MAG

Running, Sports

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Immediately after dropping out of the Trials, Kurt [Benninger] was very quick to be like, ‘You will see the benefits of this. It's not today, but this is not for nothing.’ It's nice to come full circle 11 months later and get that payoff.”

My guest for today’s episode is Erika Kemp, fresh off a remarkable performance at the 2025 Houston Marathon, where she shattered her personal best by 11 minutes to finish second in 2:22:56. This race wasn’t just a breakthrough; it was a statement. Erika now ranks 12th on the all-time U.S. marathon list and has cemented her place as one of the top American distance runners.

We dive into how Erika turned setbacks, like her tough day at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, into fuel for her Houston success. She shares what it’s been like working with coach Kurt Benninger, her approach to marathon training, and how she’s taking confidence from a performance like this for her career moving forward, whether it’s chasing another World Marathon Major or earning a spot on the U.S. team for the World Championships.

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram

Guest: Erika Kemp | @imtinyrik on Instagram

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everybody and welcome to the City of Smack Podcast. I'm Chris Chavez and this is my show where I chat with some of the biggest names on the track, on the roads, within the coaching ranks, and across the running industry.
0:10.2	Our guests sit down and open up in depth to share their experiences, brilliant insights, and vivid snapshots from their professional and personal accomplishments in the sport.
0:18.6	Before we hit our interview, you know we love giving the listeners
0:21.1	a shout out when they leave us a review. If you want yours to be read, leave us a five-star review
0:25.7	on Apple Podcasts and let us know why you love this show. This week's review comes to us from
0:31.0	user Cole Hawker. He titled the review, great, gave it five stars, and says Chris knows his track knowledge and is just great.
0:40.5	Now, I actually don't know if that's the real Cole Hocker, but I'll choose to believe that the real one would say the same exact thing.
0:49.2	If you want your review to be read, drop us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts today.
0:54.9	My guest for today's episode is Erica Kemp, fresh off a remarkable performance at the
0:59.4	2025 Houston Marathon, where she shattered her personal best by 11 minutes to finish second
1:05.4	in 222.56. This race wasn't just a breakthrough, it was a statement as she now ranks number 12 on the U.S.
1:13.2	all-time women's marathoning list. We'll dive into how Erica turned setbacks like her
1:18.7	tough day at the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials into fuel for her Houston success. She'll share what
1:24.1	it's been like working with coach Kurt Benninger, her approach to marathon training,
1:28.5	and how she's taking confidence from her performance like this for her career moving forward,
1:33.6	whether it's chasing another World Marathon major or earning a spot on Team USA for the World Championships in Tokyo.
1:40.3	So without further ado, here is Erica Kemp.
2:07.2	All right, and now I'm joined by 222 marathoner Erica Kemp, fresh off an 11-minute personal best at the Houston Marathon. Have you had,
2:13.6	I guess, two days or so now to process that race? And what are the initial feelings that come over you, kind of hearing that that's a reality now? Yeah, I mean, it's super exciting and it sounds really nice.
2:20.4	That introduction sounds really nice to me.
2:23.4	I definitely like, it sounds cool, but I'm genuinely, like, relieved to, like, have finally
2:28.8	put it all together because it just felt like I had so many good races for so many years,
	...

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