2:11 Marathoner Jason Hartmann Retires to Focus on Coaching

Published by Runner's World on July 25, 2014

Jason Hartmann, who was fourth overall and top American at the 2012 and 2013 Boston Marathon, has retired from serious racing and taken a job as an assistant distance and cross country coach at Saginaw Valley State University, an NCAA Division II school in his native Michigan.

"I don't want to leave [competitive running] at a more negative level," Hartmann, whose career best time was 2:11:06 from Chicago in 2010, told Runner's World Newswire. "I'm going to just solely focus on Saginaw Valley and I'm excited about seeing that develop as a career."

The Saginaw Valley job, which was announced by the university, will bring Hartmann, who attended the University of Oregon and was recently based in Colorado, back to his home state of Michigan, where he was a high school teammate of three-time Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein. (Ritzenhein has also announced plans to return to Michigan.)

"It's nice to go back to my motherland," he told Newswire. "My parents will be happy to have me closer to home."

Hartmann has been coaching at Niwot High School in Colorado, where his top athlete was 2014 World Junior Championships 1500-meter competitor Elise Cranny. He also developed male and female record holders for the school’s 5K cross country course and mentored Niwot’s first state champion in the boys’ mile in 2013.