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Pro runner Maegan Krifchin had high hopes heading into this year’s New York City Marathon. Her training had gone well—120-plus-mile weeks, with few aches or pains, save a minor twinge in her hamstring during race week.
Even the hot, humid forecast excited her. As a member of the Atlanta Track Club, she regularly trains in muggy conditions, so she figured she’d have a competitive edge. After all, she’d run a personal-best 2:30:17 for sixth place in last year’s similarly steamy Chicago Marathon.
Add it all up, and the Long Island native, 34, felt poised to have a breakthrough performance in front of a hometown crowd. “I was ready for what I thought was going to be my biggest day ever,” she tells Runner’s World.
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But for reasons that aren’t completely clear to her or her coach, Amy Yoder Begley—perhaps excess caution due to her hamstring, or the fact that the humidity was even worse than expected—Krifchin felt flat nearly from the start. She gritted her way to a 2:40:52 finish, crying as she crossed the line. “My heart was shattered,” she says.
She wouldn’t wait long to get some redemption.
On November 19—on a nearly opposite day, cold and blustery—Krifchin placed second in the Philadelphia Marathon in 2:31:41, just 6 seconds behind winner Amber Zimmerman. Two weeks after that, on December 4, she ran a personal-best 2:29:21 for seventh place at the California International Marathon (CIM) in Sacramento, which doubled as the USATF Marathon Road Championships.
Even in an era where super shoes—Krifchin races in the Adizero Adios Pro 2 or 3—are speeding up both marathon times and the resulting recoveries, not everyone could pull off such a feat. Begley initially advised against it, fearing Krifchin could reaggravate old injuries. But in the end, Krifchin’s quick recovery—and dedication to her goals—won her coach over, and her results speak for themselves.
If you’ve had a disappointing marathon and wonder if you still have more left in the tank, the two have advice on what to consider before you attempt another.
1. How reasonable are your goals?
While Krifchin’s New York time would thrill many racers, her training indicated she could run a significant personal best, even on a tough course. She also hoped to compete, sticking with the leaders for far longer than she did (by the 10K mark, she’d fallen 24 seconds behind the lead pack).
After New York, her friend Colin Leak—elite coordinator of the Philadelphia Marathon—texted to ask if she wanted another crack at the distance. “I was like, ‘ah, you’re hilarious,’” Krifchin says.
But as she sulked around the streets of New York, the idea sounded more and more plausible. Her New York time was so far off what she was expecting, she figured she might still be able to achieve her main goal of running a sub-2:30, even on not-so-fresh legs.
She came so close in Philadelphia—and surprised herself with how good she felt, both during and after the race—that it seemed plausible to try one more time. CIM was another last-minute decision; she texted her agent not long after finishing Philly to see if she could secure a spot in the elite field.
If CIM had been her goal race, Krifchin believes she might have been in a spot to compete for the win (Paige Stoner claimed the victory in a course-record 2:26:02). But given the two previous efforts, she and Begley decided to approach the race more conservatively: “The goal is sub-2:30, don’t do anything to jeopardize that,” Begley says. “So that’s what she did.”
What your answer can tell you: Whether it makes sense to expect a significantly different result without a full recovery—and how to approach the subsequent race to make it happen.
If you came relatively close to your goal the first time, “sit with that and be proud of the good, and then maybe chase greatness another time,” Krifchin says. “I had a not-good day, a better day, and then a fairly good day. I’m not trying to go run one in two weeks to run a great day, because it’s not gonna happen.”
2. How does your body feel—really?
Krifchin is no stranger to injury. After a seventh-place, 2:33:28 finish at the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials, she went all-in on running in hopes of making the next team. But before the 10K mark at the 2020 Trials in Atlanta, Krifchin felt the pop of a pulled hamstring and was forced to drop out of the race.
Earlier this year, Achilles and knee problems compelled her to log most of her Boston Marathon training on the Alter-G anti-gravity treadmill. (She still ran well, finishing the notoriously tough course in 2:31:53 for 17th place.)
This time, even the hamstring twinge she’d felt before New York disappeared after she crossed the line. Her Achilles, knees, and back—typical problem areas—weren’t bothering her, and she barely even had any blisters. While other runners struggled down subway stairs the next day, she barely felt sore at all. “Honestly, she limps more after workouts,” Begley says.
After pacing 1,500-meter specialist Yolanda Ngarambe for four mile repeats less than a week later, that’s when she realized she might be ready to rumble again in Philly.
After the Philadelphia Marathon, she again bounced back quickly—and was even a little disappointed that she wasn’t more spent. When she decided to run CIM, “I was a little taken aback,” Begley says. “But the conviction in her voice was like, ‘No, I feel fine. I feel just as good as I did before Philly, and I really think I can do this.’”
What your answer can tell you: How well you’re recovering. Be brutally honest, with yourself and your coach, if you have one—if you’re hurting, the risk might not be worth it. “Don’t get so carried away thinking, ‘I want to do this,’ that you neglect to realize your body just can’t,” Krifchin says. “Make sure the body and the mind are on the same page.”
3. How much work have you put in?
Krifchin did a little bit of training between each race, including a workout the weekend in between (those four mile repeats with Ngarambe before Philadelphia; before CIM, she did three mile repeats, plus a fast 800), a 15-mile long run, and a medium-long run of 8 to 11 miles.
But the results say more about the hard work she’d done this summer and early fall—not to mention over the previous decade of her pro career. “I’ve trained myself to handle the high volume and the load,” Krifchin says. “This has been years in the making.”
Begley agrees; a newer marathoner might not be able to withstand so much pounding, or to tell the difference between the normal pain of racing and training and a developing injury. “She’s run long enough to know the difference,” Begley says.
What your answer can tell you: Whether your body will be up to the challenge. The more consistent and diligent your training in the months and years before your race, the greater your odds of being able to handle a fast turnaround.
4. What will haunt you more—failing, or not trying?
Krifchin has long had a sub-2:30 marathon in her sights. She debuted at the half marathon in 2011 in 1:11:04, and in 2015, won the Rock ’n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon in a personal-best 1:09:51. “People were like, ‘Oh, you can easily run, like, 2:26 based off your PR in half,” she says. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I should, but I haven’t done it.’”
Now, closer to the end of her career, she’s focused on making the most of each opportunity. “I didn’t have pressure, because no one expected me to be able to bounce back,” Krifchin says. She thought to herself: “If it goes poorly, who cares? I’m going to take a break anyway.”
In fact, Begley suspects Krifchin would have regretted passing up the chance to take a big swing far more than she feared having to drop out of either race. “If she wouldn’t have tried, she probably would have just been upset, thinking, ‘Maybe I could’ve,’” she says. “It was better to try, and ease the mind.”
What your answer can tell you: How motivated you’ll be when things get tough. “A lot of people say things with emotion right after a race: ‘I’m gonna go run this next one to set things right,’ and then that kind of wears off,” Begley says. “But if you have the conviction that she had with [your goals], then that kind of stays.”
5. Do you have a good support system?
Unlike some pros, whose primary responsibility between runs is relaxing, Krifchin also works as a pediatric occupational therapist. She was able to rearrange her schedule to treat her patients earlier in the week so she could travel to races. “I really respect and am thankful for my clinic that I work with, and teachers who pulled kids at different times to free up my Fridays,” she says.
Her fiancé, fellow pro runner Matt McDonald, has been “her rock,” Krifchin says. “He was like, ‘I would never do this,’” she said.
Then there’s Begley, a two-time national champion and Olympian in the 10,000 meters. Though she admitted back-to-back-to-back marathons was out of her coaching wheelhouse, her history as an athlete and wise prerace guidance brought Krifchin confidence. “It’s cool to have a coach who has been there themselves, and really gets it,” Krifchin says.
What your answer can tell you: Whether you can manage all the challenges—emotional and logistical—that come with the territory.
6. Are you enjoying yourself?
Of course, every marathon has its rough patches—Krifchin had one in Philadelphia, when she was running along into a headwind. Her first thought after crossing the line was, “Gosh darn, 6 seconds,” the difference between her and Zimmerman, she admits. But her second? “That was just so fun, I wish I could do it again.”
The next day, she asked her Instagram followers if she should do CIM—and while it may have seemed like a joke, she was also working behind the scenes to make it happen.
After a long career where she’s done everything from the 800 meters in college to major marathons, Krifchin appreciated the novelty of the challenge. “It was just fun to be like, ‘Can I do it?” she says.
What your answer can tell you: Whether you’ll be able to channel curiosity and joy, even if you miss your goal again. “If this new challenge or redemption race is fun, then go for it,” Krifchin says. “In the back of your mind, know, ‘This could turn out really poorly, this could blow up in my face. But if I’m choosing to have fun, it’ll remain fun regardless of the outcome.’”
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
