As I rounded the street toward the finish line and saw the clock ticking away, I felt overcome with a wave of relief. Finally, after over three years, I was about to PR in the marathon .

In the time since I raced my first marathon in 2023, I’ve had what I like to lovingly call a complicated relationship with 26.2-milers. After running 3:15 at the Houston Marathon in my debut at the distance, I struggled in my next marathons. I ran both the 2024 Boston Marathon and 2025 Chicago Marathon coming off of injured-plagued training blocks, and I even had to bail out of one marathon build to treat some nagging foot pain. I wondered if I’d ever run a marathon as quickly as I knew I could—and get to a start line healthy.

So when I came into marathon number four—the Jersey City Marathon held earlier this month—I desperately longed for everything to click on race day. And after having my most consistent training block yet, I felt ready to aim high.…