For the first time in a year, Conner Mantz — the BYU grad and America’s top marathoner for several years — will enter a marathon Sunday morning when he toes the line for the New York City Marathon.
The last time he ran a marathon, he produced a still-standing American record of 2:04:43 to finish fourth overall in the Chicago Marathon. Since then, he has been slowed by two sacral stress fractures as well as related stress reactions in the pelvis.
“I think he’s in a good place,” says Mantz’s coach, Ed Eyestone. “As good as when he set the American record in Chicago last year. The big difference is that he had a number of races leading up to Chicago; he hasn’t had as many check-point races this time. But he’ll enter New York with fresh legs.”…