Last year, I completed my first Chicago Marathon and, like several runners, was happy to just finish. I won’t be running the marathon this year but Alex Goldberg will be. While not an Olympian or “elite” runner, Alex is really good … and I mean, really good. At the 2021 Chicago Marathon, Alex finished 58th among all men with a time of 2:32 (yes, 2 hours and 32 minutes). For reference, the winner of the 2021 Chicago Marathon was Seifu Tura Abdiwak, who finished with a time of 2:06. If you do the math, Alex finished only 26 minutes behind the best of the very best. By the way, that’s not even an episode of the Office (with commercials, of course). Sure, 26 minutes is a lot in competitive running terms, but in some respects, it’s sort of not.
You see, unlike the “Seifu Tura Abdiwaks of the world”, Alex isn’t a professional runner. Meaning, he trains as a glorified hobby, but remains focused on his accounting career and ensuring proper governance as the long-standing commissioner of his fantasy football league. Besides being a long-time friend and someone willing to be profiled (still working on reaching LeBron but no responses yet!), I love that Alex, a former competitive high school and college runner, is still getting after it! Despite some highs and lows, Alex has maintained consistency, discipline, and a continued love of the sport over the last 15 years, allowing him to be one of the fastest (marathon) accountants in the world (subject to further fact-checking but think we’re okay to assume for now). Before getting into the Q&A below on Alex’s running journey, here are a few fun facts:
If Alex ran the marathon in the 1924 Paris Olympics, he would’ve won the gold (2:41 was the winning time)
If Alex wanted to qualify for the US Olympic Trials for the 2024 Paris games, he would need to improve his time by 14 minutes (from 2:32 to 2:18).
Alex has competed in three of the six World Marathon Majors (Chicago, Boston, New York, Berlin, London, and Tokyo … read more below to find out which ones 😉!)
You ran cross country and track at Washington University in St. Louis (“Wash U”). How would you describe your experience?
Overall, I had a great experience in terms of the team, campus-life, and education, which was really important in my decision to attend. I was a pretty average runner in a competitive D3 program. For cross country, I ran the 8K (PR of 25:30 or 5:06 mile pace), and for track, I ran the 5K (PR of 15:15 or 4:55 mile pace) and 10K (PR of 32:28 or 5:13 mile pace). Over the course of the year, which was essentially two seasons with cross country in the fall and track in the spring, I ran around 80 miles per week with it varying across time of the year and each individual season.
Could you have gone D1? If so, where would you have gone?
At one point around my junior year of high school, I did think about potentially trying to run at an Ivy League school, but got hurt my senior year of cross country. Not to say that was the reason I didn’t go D1, but I was more focused on the balance of running and academics. For me, Wash U was the perfect program as a running fit and allowed me to obtain a top business education. I would much rather have done what I did than go to a school that maybe wasn’t as great academically just to say that I could run D1. As a comparison, for instance, an average Big Ten runner … so the D1 version of me, let’s say … the 5K and 10K results would be closer to 14:00 and 29:30, respectively, so I was still a bit away from that level. In D3, as no one is on athletic scholarship, our coach often emphasized that we are all choosing to be here as it is something we all cared about.
When did you run your first marathon?
My first marathon was Chicago – 2017. I missed a good chunk of time leading up to the race due to injuries and, at one point, was unsure if I would make it to the start line, but still finished with a time of 2:40 (6:07 pace). I was pleased given the circumstances and really enjoyed it overall, results aside.
How many marathons have you run overall?
I’ve completed 4 marathons and did not finish (“DNF”) in one of them.
What happened in the DNF?
I just didn’t have a good race that day. The weather left something to be desired, and I did not have the training block I wanted. Given that, I went out too hard to start with a group of elite women and found myself not feeling great towards mile 18 or so … got to the point where my time was really lagging, and I didn’t want to risk injury so I pulled myself out of the race. There’s sort of a joke amongst runners where as soon as you fall off pace, you immediately step off the track … kind of like restarting the Madden game when you’re losing online. In this case, it was less so about the time. I just didn’t want to get hurt even though I likely could’ve finished if I wanted to walk across the line. It was still fun, but it was sort of a bummer having to explain what happened the following week at work during water cooler talk.
Which marathons have you run and what’s your personal record (“PR”)?
I’ve run Chicago (twice), Boston, and Berlin. In 2019 (Berlin) and 2021 (Chicago), I set my PR at 2:32 but obviously not all PRs are created equal. It’s sort of like golf where the course could be more difficult and there are other elements, such as weather, that play a role as well.
You’re about one week away from running the 2023 Chicago Marathon. What’s your goal for this race?
I would love to break 2:30. I’ve been striving for this for a couple of years now. I was hoping to do it last year, but I had to unfortunately pull out after missing some time last summer.
How are you tracking for this year’s race?
So far, knocking on wood, I’m feeling good. I’m pleased with my training and feel that I’ve done what I can so far to put myself in a position to succeed. It’s now just a matter of executing on race day and handling what I can control.
Can you elaborate more on that?
Sure. Once you get to race day, it’s really a matter of fueling properly, staying mentally focused, and simply executing well. Especially for Chicago, the first half of the race is in some ways more fun, fatigue aside. You start running north of the city with often more dense crowds and seeing family and friends. As you close on the back half, the crowds thin out a bit and you’re also starting to feel the burn. It’s at this point where you really need to buckle down – stay relaxed and take it mile-by-mile. One thing that’s common is that as you start to feel fatigue and soreness, you try to do things to take your mind off of it like finding someone to pace with or trying to pass people one-by-one.
So, we’re obviously rooting for you to break 2:30, and if you do, you’re actually not that far away from Olympic Trials (qualifying time of 2:18 needed). Would you consider going for this?
If everything went perfectly and based on training, I think 2:28 – 2:30 is pretty within range. Who knows though? It’s also certainly possible that things don’t go well and I’m above 2:30 … but let’s say that I did run 2:28 … I’m still 10 minutes away, which is a lot of wood to chop. While in actual time it’s not THAT far off, it would almost be insulting to a lot of the runners who had a more legitimate shot to qualify.
Unconstrained, do you think you could get to Olympic Trial time?
Realistically, no. Aside from living a “normal life” with work, my bustling social calendar, indulging in some pizza and coffee stouts on occasion, and as the proud new Treasurer of my HOA, everyone has their own ceiling in terms of talent and ability. Even if every element of my life was optimized in terms of nutrition, rest, recovery, and training, it’s probably not in the cards for me and that’s okay. While it’s a common goal to “OTQ” (Olympic Trials qualify) for many post-collegiate athletes, my focus is just on enjoying the process – running with friends, training, and pursuing something. The outcomes are more a result of enjoying the process.
Okay – so if the goal isn’t to qualify for the Olympic Trials … what’s your path going forward look like?
I love what I do now and want to continue competing for the time-being. As I mentioned before, maybe I can keep bringing my times down but it’s really just to compete with myself and not measure against others. I would also consider running other marathons across the world including the other World Marathon Majors (London, New York, and Tokyo) and a handful of other big races (Grandma’s in Duluth, MN, Valencia in Spain, etc.) Ultimately, I just want to keep doing my thing as a runner while maintaining balance across all aspects of my life. Over the course of a year or training cycle, my focus ebbs and flows, which is natural as I gear up for a race or enjoy some down time to follow.
Given how good you are at marathons … I get the sense that you’d probably be even better, on a relative basis, for ultra-marathons if you tried. Would you consider doing this?
It’s funny you say that … a common joke amongst runners is to keep moving up in distance as you top-out in terms of success (i.e., mile to 5K, 5K to half marathon, half marathon to full marathon). So maybe I would be more successful on a relative basis if I did an ultra-marathon … but to answer your question … probably not. I distinctly recall a long run a few years ago along the coast in San Diego with one of my best friends – he suggested that if he ever thought about doing an ultra-marathon, I should talk him out of that. That sentiment has stuck with me.
Alright – we’re towards the end here. I know you charge by the hour. How about some general running questions for the average runner … let’s start with … best place to get running shoes?
Support your local store … they can help with sizing and recommendations and likely carry all the best brands.
Best Brand?
For shoes, I like Hokas, but you should do what works best for your body. It is similar to every car company having a comparable mid-size sedan offering.
How often do you get running shoes?
Should switch up around every 500 miles. Often times, runners will have two pairs to alternate with during training to help the shoes last longer and vary up the feel during training.
Any other training gear?
I love the simplicity of running – all you need is a pair of shoes and watch. I use a $15 Casio watch from Target though others like the GPS functionality such as a Garmin with more bells and whistles.
What sorts of websites or apps are out there?
Strava is great for tracking and the social media aspect with a running community. Personally, I like using Logarun.com. It is nothing special, but works for me. It is a step-up from the 300-page Microsoft Word doc I kept for nearly 10 years.
Any good websites or media coverage?
Citius Mag (citiusmag.com) does a great job covering the sport. Admittedly, it is still a niche sport so while growing in popularity, the media coverage is catching-up. It is fun to see the occasional New York Times article and NBC showing of a big race.
Thanks for your time and best of luck this year!
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