A big weekend lies ahead for Meghan Peyton. The Team USA Minnesota standout currently sits tied for fifth in the USARC standings as she prepares to "redebut" in the marathon at the USA Marathon Championships. Peyton recently won the USA 20 km Championships, her first U.S. title, and looks to take that momentum into the marathon this Sunday, which just so happens to take place in her hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

We caught up with Peyton this week, discussing her marathon preparation, her views on the season and how the Twin Cities is an underrated running community.

Scott Bush (SB): You've had some wonderful performances of late, especially your USA 20 km Championship victory. Describe the emotion you felt winning your first U.S. title.

Meghan Peyton (MP): It is hard to describe my emotions upon winning the 20K National Championships. They were a mix of elation and astonishment. A national championship win is just one of the many goals that I set out for myself when I decided to pursue running as a career and hitting one of those benchmarks was absolutely wonderful. But I was still astonished, not because I doubted that I had the talent to win a national championship, but because I didn’t expect it on that day.

I was in the middle of a pretty high mileage week during my training for the Twin Cities Marathon and wasn’t entirely sure how I would feel. I guess it just goes to show that on any given day you just have to put your best foot forward and respect yourself and the others in the race by giving your best effort and great things can happen.

SB: Despite being a road race veteran, you're debuting in the distance at the Twin Cities Marathon on October 6, which is also the USA Marathon Championships. What are your expectations heading into marathon weekend?

MP: Well, actually I am calling the Twin Cities Marathon me “re-debut”. I actually ran in the Olympic Trials Marathon last year, but unfortunately you will find DNF after my name in the results because I dropped out of the race at mile 24. It is the one and only race that I have ever not finished and I vowed that it would be my last. You can read my reflections on that race here: http://legstrongpro.blogspot.com/2012/03/marathon-reflections.html

As to my expectations going into the Twin Cities Marathon – I am excited and nervous all at the same time. I have some time goals in mind for the race but so much of that comes down to the day, the weather, etc. so we will all just have to wait and find out how it goes!

SB: You finished seventh at the USA 5 km Championships this past weekend. You wouldn't think a 5k would be a good tune-up for a marathon, but you had success. Why did you pick the 5k championships to warm up with two weeks out from your marathon?

MP: I chose the 5K for a number of reasons. I wanted to get in a hard effort but didn’t want anything too long that would take an extended period of time to recover from. So in that respect the 5K is a perfect fit. Additionally the 5K was part of the USARC Championship series, so that was extra motivation to choose that race over any other. The producers of the CVS/Caremark Downtown 5K do a really fantastic job that made it an all around excellent choice for my last tune up before the marathon.

SB: How has your training been going leading up to the USA Marathon Championships?

MP: My training has been going really well. It is different from the past in a lot of ways. I put in a lot more miles during this training cycle -- hitting 132 miles on my peak week -- and my workouts were very different.

SB: You've done a couple half marathons and a few 10 mile races. Why move up to the marathon distance now?

MP: As I said, I attempted the marathon distance before at the Olympic Trials, so I decided to do the Twin Cities Marathon for some revenge. It is in my home town with lots of friends and loved ones around to cheer, so it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to give the marathon a second try.

SB: Have you primarily been training by yourself over the past few months or have you had training partners with Team USA Minnesota?

MP: Team USA Minnesota is a fantastic group and I always have people to run with, but unfortunately no one else was doing marathon training this fall. So my coach Dennis Barker had the brilliant idea of making my races this fall double as my long workouts. Instead of grinding out long workouts on a lonely road by myself each week I jumped in longer road race and used that as one of my workouts for the week.

I would do other workouts during the week, but these were mostly shorter workouts that were easier to do on my own. But I still had a lot of help from my team members, team board members and my husband. Namely, Lance Elliot, Ben Kampf, Jon Peterson, Heather Kamp, Jamie Cheever and Cole Peyton accompanied me when it came time to log my long runs. Thank you guys, I couldn’t have done it without you!

SB: The Twin Cities running community is so strong. What's it like being a professional runner in a community that really understands distance running?

MP: The support here is amazing. I feel really blessed to be in the Twin Cities where when you have an outstanding performance people in the community recognize what that means. It also helps a lot with my own training because there are very few times that I have been out on the roads and not seen another runner. I have this T-Shirt that says “Run MSP” which I wear very proudly around town because I know that people will look at it with envy, while in other cities it might be considered nerdy.