Hicks plans 62-minute half, Cullen calls his shot at 2:06

Charles Hicks is going out hard in Chicago. He told LetsRun he is in the best shape of his life and plans to run the first half aggressively, targeting a 62-minute split before reacting to whatever happens later. His stated goal is to be the first American home rather than to chase a number.

The backing for it is the biggest block of his career. Hicks says his weekly mileage got up to "like 125, 130 mi a week for as long as we could hold it," with workouts brought down faster and more aggressive than his Boston build. He and training partner Kieran Tiffany trained at sea level in Eugene before moving to Park City at 6,000 feet, with coach Jerry Schumacher there for workouts from August through the end of September. His race plan, he says, is written in pencil.

The reason the American record talk is not far-fetched is simple. Hicks points out his half marathon PR is faster than American record pace, so running that pace in a marathon would not mean going somewhere he has never been.

The DoorDash guy who called his shot

Patrick Cullen is the other story. The recent BYU grad posted on LetsRun that he will run 2:06 on Sunday. His personal best is 2:12.

Cullen blames fueling, not fitness, for his earlier marathons. He ran 63 something for the half at Gold Coast and says he had never practiced with gels in his career, doing 24 mile long runs with no fueling at all. He then started working with coach and agent James McCurdy and says they dialed the fueling in. He says he has run 140 to 150 miles a week for 10 consecutive weeks of this build, on top of four or five years consistently over 110.

He has no sponsor. He is DoorDashing to make money and has moved back home with his parents from Provo while he chases a contract. He plans to sit with a group running 2:06 to 2:07 pace through halfway rather than go out too fast, and he says the forecast of 60 to 64 degrees with high humidity suits him because he races better in heat than cold. He will wear the ASICS Metaspeed Edge Tokyo.

As for why he said it out loud, Cullen says pressure makes diamonds and that he wanted the pressure. Jonathan Gault has the full Friday roundup from Chicago.