Walmsley’s OTQ bid - Houston half marathon

zzzz wrote:

Not a Walmsley fanboy wrote:

Interesting.

29:08 10000 meters in 2012

1:08:08 HM in 2013

That was 5 years ago. What is he thinking? With all his mountain running why does Jim think he can run a 1:04.

Delusion by social media is my diagnosis.

and

VertKurt wrote:

https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/united-states/james-walmsley-304099

Guys his half PB is 1:08 and set a year after racing 29min+ for 10km. He just needs some extra special extra strength and a bit of a boost to improve!

If you guys are not comedyrelief (aka Factoid and other usernames), see my post towards the bottom of the first page of this thread. In that interview, he said that after college graduation, he only ran casually 1-2 times per week for 9 months while biking a lot for fun. 1:08 is pretty fast for not training that long.

Exactly. What these people are missing is that the period is explained by Walmsley graduating from USAFA, entering Active Duty and not training to be an elite American runner.

All his fast times happened at least 5 years ago. He is not going back to these speeds.

Not a Walmsley fanboy wrote:

All his fast times happened at least 5 years ago. He is not going back to these speeds.

Maybe, but the interest in Walmsley is that he was a fairly fast guy that then put in years of mega mileage and presumably built a huge aerobic base. Since the half marathon and marathon are aerobic events, his tube of toothpaste should be a lot bigger than it was in college.

Kilian Jornet doesn't upload anymore to Strava, but he has 89,000 followers. He is king of running.

Lance Armstrong has 108,000 followers on Strava for Cycling.

I’ve just read through this thread and am as usual, dismayed at so many of the replies. I truly hope he does well and achieves his aim. Typically these fast runners inspire me, though I find myself often in the minority on these boards.

This thread is the state of competitive distance running fandom in a nutshell: There will be probably 25-50 guys(based on last year's results) trying to hit the OQ at the Houston half and nobody on this board can name any of them except Jim Walmsley. It's not Jim's fault but certainly is the reality of the situation as far as i can tell. I'm sure there are some human interest stories amongst those 25-50 that might be worth uncovering and learning about.

Observer Guy wrote:

This thread is the state of competitive distance running fandom in a nutshell: There will be probably 25-50 guys(based on last year's results) trying to hit the OQ at the Houston half and nobody on this board can name any of them except Jim Walmsley. It's not Jim's fault but certainly is the reality of the situation as far as i can tell. I'm sure there are some human interest stories amongst those 25-50 that might be worth uncovering and learning about.

That's why Walmsley and his fanboys are so annoying. He thinks he is a great runner but he is just one of many decent fast runners. Anyway in 2 month we will find out how good he actually is.

yeah Jim's human interest story is that he got discharged from the Air Force for cheating on a test. Couldn't hack the pressure. He also managed to get a DUI in there as well.

Observer Guy wrote:

This thread is the state of competitive distance running fandom in a nutshell: There will be probably 25-50 guys(based on last year's results) trying to hit the OQ at the Houston half and nobody on this board can name any of them except Jim Walmsley. It's not Jim's fault but certainly is the reality of the situation as far as i can tell. I'm sure there are some human interest stories amongst those 25-50 that might be worth uncovering and learning about.

Good point. He ran a downhill 5k at sub 14. How many times did he actually break 14:00 on the oval? How many runners who barely go sub 14 once or twice at University end up running 63:xx? Probably not many

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

CrazySlowRunner wrote:

Running equivalent calculator says 1:02:25

Considering his strength is in longer distances, he should be able to realize this prediction.

Yeah if the whole half marathon is down hill like the 5k

All his recent times are on strava, right?

That is as inaccurate as hell. GPS over reports mileage, therefor he is slower than he think he is.

I actually have mad respect for Jim that he's going after this and puts himself out there. I think a lot of MUT runners are afraid to try the roads because they know their speed isn't there. He may not get it, but I respect that he, like Sage, will actually go for it.

Not a Walmsley fanboy wrote:

That's why Walmsley and his fanboys are so annoying. He thinks he is a great runner but he is just one of many decent fast runners. Anyway in 2 month we will find out how good he actually is.

So says the guy who is more obsessive about Walmsley then anyone.

Not a Walmsley fanboy wrote:

All his recent times are on strava, right?

That is as inaccurate as hell. GPS over reports mileage, therefor he is slower than he think he is.

Come on, admit it. You're obsessed with him.

EntitledMillennials wrote:

yeah Jim's human interest story is that he got discharged from the Air Force for cheating on a test. Couldn't hack the pressure.

He also managed to get a DUI in there as well.

[quote]Observer Guy wrote:

CONGRATULATIONS!! YEA!!!

You have won the Dick of the Day award for 11/29/2018.

Obsessive Walmsley fanboy in denial wrote:

Not a Walmsley fanboy wrote:

All his recent times are on strava, right?

That is as inaccurate as hell. GPS over reports mileage, therefor he is slower than he think he is.

Come on, admit it. You're obsessed with him.

I am obsessed with the obsession of the Walmsley fanboys.

It's race week...he has had some solid training recently and speed seems to be coming around nicely.

Predictions??

he's done good enough workouts to have the fitness to run sub 64 so it depends on how good he is at actually running the race

i think there's a danger that he isn't much better than just sub 64 and if he runs some of the early miles a little too fast because there are so many other guys doing it, then he blows up

hyter wrote:

It's race week...he has had some solid training recently and speed seems to be coming around nicely.

Predictions??

I am feeling pretty confident that he'll go low 62

Has he come out and said what his goal is for the race? (I don't follow any social media crap - GET OFF MY LAWN, DAMN KIDS - so I apologize if he's posted and I missed it)