Conner Mantz Opens Up On His Toughest Year Yet + His Comeback From Injury To The 2026 NYC Marathon

“I don’t live to run. I run to live. And the decision was: let’s just both stay home.”

My guest for today’s episode is Conner Mantz — the American record holder in the marathon and for the first time on this podcast, a dad. He is days out from the TCS New York City Marathon, where he will race for the first time since breaking the record in Chicago last October. The twelve months in between have been the hardest of his career.

Here is what happened. He ran 2:04:43 in Chicago, felt great, went for a flush jog the next day, and then spent the following eight months navigating two sacral stress fractures. It knocked out his entire spring. US Cross Country, World Cross, Boston — all watched from home. He returned to action this summer and most recently raced World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen in September. He ran a bit over his head and blew up badly and finished twelfth.

He is now in the best shape he has been in since the record. Not carrying fitness from a long peak — coming into it. His biggest workouts actually have come 10 to 15 days out.

In this conversation we go through the injury timeline, what he should have done differently, watching Boston from home and what he thought he’d run. He’s open about the complicated emotions of watching Clayton Young chase his record in Chicago, what he saw up close in Andreas Almgren’s training that floored him and what will make for a good day in New York.

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