The Legend of Jim Walmsley Grows

jesseriley wrote:

Rodgers tied his shoe at Boston

After Rupp, Walmsley has to be America’s top male distance runner . ????????

By targeting both records, he admittedly gave too much importance to the one almost nobody cares about. Given the temperature at the end, it was probably the right decision to get at least one record (notice though that it is a world best and not a world record) but it would have been interesting to see what he can do for 100km since his 100km PB now remains very modest compared to his aura.

In terms of marketing, he has done fine and Hoka will be able to build a nice story on this result, but it is sad because this is a distance nobody should have heard about. Let's focus on the ones that are relevant (marathon and 100km).

Hounddogharrier wrote:

After Rupp, Walmsley has to be America’s top male distance runner . ????????

I hope this is a joke. The guy has certainly done well for himself but to say he's the second best make distance runner in the U.S. is a bit of a stretch.

Mizuno fanboy wrote:

Hounddogharrier wrote:

Do any other Americans have a world record in a distance event besides him? Not a rhetorical question, just asking .

Camille MF Herron:

-50 miles WR, road

-100 miles WR, road

-100 miles WR, track

-12 hours WR, track

-24 hours WR, track

Jim's hype seems a bit much when you compare their achievements.

Don’t forget the most important one, fastest marathon in a superhero costume!

One2three wrote:

Hounddogharrier wrote:

After Rupp, Walmsley has to be America’s top male distance runner . ????????

I hope this is a joke. The guy has certainly done well for himself but to say he's the second best make distance runner in the U.S. is a bit of a stretch.

I’m serious . Of course I should qualify it by saying American born male . Chelimo , Meb Lagat have done more but just Rupp for the American born .

I think we are in the relative early days of ultra events. Walmsley might be equivalent to Frank Shorter, very good in his time, but kind of left behind by modern standards. I have a ton of respect for Walmsley, and I hope yesterday's coverage gave "normal" runners access/perspective to the event for the first time.

You can't leave Jager out of the best current American-born male distance runner conversation. Rupp has the hardware, Jager competes and wins in DL, often harder to do than the Olympics.

Kipchoge could run 5:10 pace

sdfsfdsfsds wrote:

I think we are in the relative early days of ultra events. Walmsley might be equivalent to Frank Shorter, very good in his time, but kind of left behind by modern standards. I have a ton of respect for Walmsley, and I hope yesterday's coverage gave "normal" runners access/perspective to the event for the first time.

You can't leave Jager out of the best current American-born male distance runner conversation. Rupp has the hardware, Jager competes and wins in DL, often harder to do than the Olympics.

"wins" as used denotes the plural. Jager only has a single DL win.

[quote]Mizuno fanboy wrote:

[

Camille MF Herron:

-50 miles WR, road

-100 miles WR, road

-100 miles WR, track

-12 hours WR, track

-24 hours WR, track

Jim's hype seems a bit much when you compare their achievements.[/quote

Only Camilles 24 hour record is a real world record. Everything else are world bests of not much contested distances.

The same is true for Jim's 50 mile world best. This is also a non contested distance.

Camille and Jim share the same amount of overhype. They are good runners but not as good as they or their fans think they are.

If the best ran 50 wrote:

Kipchoge could run 5:10 pace

Jim is a great runner, the above is true though.

Camille won Comrades, 50K and 100K World titles, and broke Ann Trason’s records. Anyone breaking multiple Trason records and winning Comrades is not overhyped.

records official. wrote:

Camille won Comrades, 50K and 100K World titles, and broke Ann Trason’s records. Anyone breaking multiple Trason records and winning Comrades is not overhyped.

Not to mention that a woman running 160+ in 24hrs is extraordinary

Yeah, his legend of finding a niche to market himself has certainly grown.

He went for an obscure record (50 miles) when every one else had their eyes on the real prize (100 km).

That's like going to Berlin and running the fastest 30 km split, only to fading to the 4th place at the finish.

nottomention wrote:

records official. wrote:

Camille won Comrades, 50K and 100K World titles, and broke Ann Trason’s records. Anyone breaking multiple Trason records and winning Comrades is not overhyped.

Not to mention that a woman running 160+ in 24hrs is extraordinary

Zach Bitter holds the 12 hour world record.

KeepinPerspective wrote:

Who is Bruce Fordyce? Who is Jim Walmsley?

Who are you?

Who?

Who?

Mizuno fanboy wrote:

Hounddogharrier wrote:

Do any other Americans have a world record in a distance event besides him? Not a rhetorical question, just asking .

Camille MF Herron:

-50 miles WR, road

-100 miles WR, road

-100 miles WR, track

-12 hours WR, track

-24 hours WR, track

Jim's hype seems a bit much when you compare their achievements.

Nomoe Abe's WR 100K pace comes out to 5:17 for 50 miles compared to Herron's WR of 5:38. Herron's record is a little bit soft.

New cc runner wrote:

KeepinPerspective wrote:

Who is Bruce Fordyce? Who is Jim Walmsley?

Who are you?

Who?

Who?

Who Are You

Yes I know the secret

That's within your mind

Just personal preference, but the Black Sabbath song called, 'who are you', is better than the who song, 'who are you?'.

Eating meat wrote:

Zach Bitter holds the 12 hour world record.

Context matters; 2 hours is and has rarely ever been raced by serious runners. The record Bitter broke was merely a split in a 24 hour run by Kouros.

well,, wrote:

KeepinPerspective wrote:

Who is Bruce Fordyce? Who is Jim Walmsley?

Who are these anonymous Africans running countless laps around a track?

You mean the runners at the olympics and world championships and major marathons and diamond league races?