Last year, Des Linden joined the CITIUS MAG Podcast just two days before she ended up winning the Boston Marathon. We decided to test our luck again and have another Hansons Brooks Distance Project runner on before Monday's race.

Three-time U.S. Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein joins the podcast to discuss his approach to the race and how he's overcome a slew of injuries to make it to the starting line healthy.

Dathan has not finished a marathon in four years. He finished seventh at the 2015 Boston Marathon and then DNF'ed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, ruptured his plantar at the 2016 NYC Marathon and pulled out of last year's Boston Marathon just 10 days before the race. He's working off an eight-week build up for this year's race, which should be interesting to see play out. We discuss his tiered goals for Monday, how he's changed his training, why Brooks took a risk on him, why he thinks he'll make the 2020 Olympic team and what he gets out of coaching...

For a shorter conversation, I thought Dathan and I got deep.

NOTE: We taped this at a sports bar in Boston after a Brooks press conference so apologies for the background noise.