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

Episode Highlights:

The following excerpt has been edited lightly for clarity. You can listen to the full episode with Erika Kemp on the CITIUS MAG Podcast.

Initial reactions after running an 11-minute personal best of 2:22:56 at the Houston Marathon:

"It's super exciting! I'm genuinely relieved to have finally put it all together because it felt like I had so many good races for so many years but never had that great one. I was just waiting for my Cinderella moment where everything came together on the day. It was nice to actually get one of those."

Signs in her running career that she would eventually become a marathoner:

"When I officially committed to Boston [Athletic Association], [NC State’s coach Rollie Geiger] was almost relieved because he was like, ‘You are going to be a great marathoner some day.’ When I was 14 and getting a physical for soccer, the doctor was like, ‘You're built for running.’ I hadn't run at all yet. I'd never been on the track team. So there had been some breadcrumbs my entire life that were leading me this way."

What training was like heading into her debut at the 2023 Boston Marathon:

"The first one being Boston was definitely a little harder. There’s just a lot of factors to contend with that you never would even consider in a 10K or even a half marathon. You can get away with not fueling in a half, but you can't really get away without fueling in a marathon. It's just way too long to go.

It was just so new, so challenging, and I got sick the week of the race. There were all of these things I was trying to manage. That’s what the first one felt like: just managing and surviving. Old school NC State: survive and advance. Coming back with two more years of consistent training under my belt, I genuinely felt prepared on the start line this time."

Expectations heading into the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials:

"I still don't know exactly what it was on that day that went so wrong. I genuinely felt like something was just off super early in the race. I tried to give it a chance, tried to tough it out, but by mile 12 it was just not happening. I felt horrible and was already wrecked physically. I was like, ‘There's no point in doing this.’ The Trials are different because you're there to make the team – so if you're not going to make the team, it's like, ‘How much damage do you really want to do?’ That one was weird because the build for it was perfect. I would not change a thing about it.

Then if you compare it to our Houston build, this build was like a pared down version of it, but not intentionally. We just didn't have the time. I wasn't in a position to run that same kind of mileage or do the same workouts. We literally just picked the highlights and did them in December to get ready for Houston. It worked exactly as I would have thought it would work a year ago. 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."

Her build leading into Houston:

"I had a small injury at what would have been the first week of our build, which was ideally just under ten weeks. We had to take it so easy those first few weeks because Kurt's biggest thing was just getting to the start line in Houston at 100%. In Boston, I was recovering from food poisoning and was just so inexperienced. We just needed to survive – we're not going to medical and we're not DNFing this race. We wanted to get on the start line in Houston confident, but also physically as good as we possibly could. So November was super conservative. I was only running 70 miles a week and I didn't really have any long runs. Looking back, it seems crazy because that's eight weeks out and not doing anything marathon-wise. We just put a lot of confidence in the big sessions we had in December and it worked out."

Workouts indicating that she was ready for a breakthrough:

"There were two big workouts in December. The second week in December, we did a five mile, four mile, three mile, two mile, one mile [workout] starting at 5:25 and getting down to just under 5:20. Kurt was holding me back the whole time and it felt so good. That's 15 miles of work, so we were like, ‘Maybe we're actually pretty set for this marathon.’

We did our last and only big long run two and a half weeks out from the race. It was a ten mile run starting at 7:30 and getting down to the 6:10s by the end straight into a ten mile tempo averaging 5:24 straight into a two mile cooldown. That was the best ten mile tempo of my life dropped into a long run when I hadn't done anything over 17 miles. So we were like, ‘This might be pretty good!’"

Going over her race plan with coach Kurt Benninger:

"It was to be a lot more conservative. He was worried about the wind and how I would hold up physically because we really only had a couple longer sessions. It was definitely a bit of a concern what would happen after 15 or 18 miles because it was just uncharted territory for the most part. But he also was like, ‘Give yourself the chance to run well.’ So don’t go out too slow. He told us to go out a little slower than we did, but at the end of the day, he was like, Trust yourself. You're a good racer. There should be a good group up front. You'll know if it's too hot, but just feel it out and have fun.’"

Aiming for the World Championship standard in Houston:

"I wanted to go for the World [Championship] standard, but I asked Kurt to honestly tell me what he thought I'd run. He was like, ‘2:24, maybe 2:25.’ I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ He was being conservative. He was like, ‘Your best workouts were really good and indicate that you can run super fast,’ but he didn't want to base a race plan or predictions on my absolute best day. I was like, ‘That's valid.’"

What went into her breakthrough performance:

"It was a long time coming. I kept moving forward and every year I was getting better and setting PBs – and not small ones, either. It was sometimes five seconds or sometimes whole minutes. But at the same time, I never had that one sparkling moment that made that jump to the athlete I thought I could be. This past year especially, we adjusted my training schedule a lot and it worked really well. I saw this huge jump in training and it was just a matter of time until it showed up in races."

Upcoming race plans for the year:

"Loosely, for sure a marathon in the fall. Everything in between is just sprinkled in as it fits best and what suits that build-up the best. But I’m definitely taking some time off now and not bothering with training through the worst part of winter. Getting back to some shorter road stuff in the summer would be awesome."

Racing at the 2025 World Championships if offered the spot:

"I feel like I got my fast marathon, so the next one I do I'd want to be competition style. The World Championships is obviously very much a competition style. It's in September, it's hot, it’s humid, and people are literally just there for medals. So that would be awesome. If I don't make that team, there's a fall marathon I'm thinking of that's usually championship style racing. That would be pretty sick."

Listen to the full episode with Erika Kemp on the CITIUS MAG Podcast.

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