Walmsley runs a fake 1:02 half, trail trolls loose their minds

do something better with your time op, take a break, make some friends

+1

i don’t know, you sound like you have a hard nut over Jim’s time.

There seems to be no shortage of folks on LRC that get angry that an ultramarathon athlete with a free spirited attitude can out perform the "disciplined" posters and mix it up with a bunch of "pure" runners that took the traditional approach. It just destroys their ingrained belief system that ultra runners are just talentless slow old guys that shuffle about for hours on end. I'm guessing the OP has never come close to Walmsley's standard distance clockings and just has an overall disdain for anyone else feeling excitement or happiness.

You know what else? Jim makes more money and garners more press than the majority of former D1 studs / OTQ runners that are adored and fawned over here. He very likely will not make the Oly squad but, he is ultimately more successful in his profession and will enjoy a longer career than all of the 2:11 - 2:13 horses that you keep touting as "the next great American marathon runner". Good on Jim (Sage, too) for finding a way to make a living with their legs while the vast majority of us slave away in cubicles holding on to old memories, squandered opportunities, and unrealized dreams.

Haters and the OP just need to sit back and realize that this guy is attracting attention to the sport.

If the powers that control whether marathoning, track, CC racing ever becomes popular should be out there marketing the hell out of this guy.

Get on the phone and get this on espn for god sake. Get some real interest in the the people that are doing this. The average Joe that doesnt know anything about thoning would love this guy. Crazy ultra guy that runs 25 miles a day is going up agaisnt the olympians.

totally agree.

Portland Hobby Jogger wrote:

Good on Jim (Sage, too) for finding a way to make a living with their legs while the vast majority of us slave away in cubicles holding on to old memories, squandered opportunities, and unrealized dreams.

Well said!

Shunpo wrote:

Jim runs 1:02 on a short Rock N Roll Arizona course, roughly 12.95, finishes a minute behind Brian Sharder, the trail community busts big nut lol. In reality his performance today would be about a 1:03:30 on that Houston course. Not sure where that would place him amongst Americans but it ain’t top 10 and not even close to everybody was there.

Jim run a 63:xx equivalent and track fans lose their minds . . .

Distance running is distance running. Why can't we all get along? Is this really worthwhile responding to? Do you get worked up every time you see what can appear from afar to be a sub par 13.1 time from Des, or you do you realize that it's just a checkpoint along the way of training, you don't know what kind of effort he put in, how it fit with his training cycle, etc.?

It should neither impress or disappoint. It looked - from the couch - to be more or less on point. He's a far cry to be sure from making the team, he's one of the long shots, but he's one of the only guys with nothing to lose by pulling a Tyler Pennel move at some point(s) during the Trials.

Likely because some of the folks in the race can run 1:03 twice in a row

Shunpo wrote:

Look guys it’s a course measuring expert lol what even

David Katz, who answered you earlier, is literally that.

My intent is to see Jim perform well at the trials but not as well as his uneducated followers think he is going to which is exactly what will happen. My point was correct about certified courses (I just had the info wrong, they measure shortest possible route they dont purposely make the course long), As I said several times, I like Jim, I just know what is going to happen at the trials and I’m glad it’ll silence some time ignorant people.

DietBacon wrote:

David Katz, who answered you earlier, is literally that.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/theres-more-to-measuring-an-olympic-course-than-just-measuring-it/amp/

one of the very few here where i had a feeling he really knows what he's talking about...

Well he was wrong according to usatf

If you "knew", you would shut up about it. You don't know, it just gets under your skin for some bizarre reason that other people can acknowledge that there are unlikely possibilities that could manifest as realities. That's your problem man, no one else's.

lumberjacked wrote: His time would have been closer to 63:00 not 63:30. Typical Walmsley Hater. I’m not a huge fanboy, he is clearly overhyped and there are far too many threads on him, but he’s the best ultra runner in the world and will likely win comrades. Give credit where it’s due. Course was 200m short. It’s not taking him 75 seconds to run that,

You said a lot there - overhyped? Maybe in some circles - I think you mean to say he gets too much attention. Anyone who seriously follows this stuff, and understands what a: 14:09 at Western States, 4:50 50 miler, 63 min 13.1, etc, knows just how good he is, and just how good he isn't. "Best ultrarunner in the world" is a grossly broad statement; he is certainly among the best, but would depend in large part what segment of ultrarunning one refers to. "Likely win Comrades. . . " I think a much better comment would have been, "he might be among the contenders at Comrades."

Trail runners lack of running knowledge does bug me yeah but that’s about it. They don’t understand that one of the reasons Jim is king of the trails is because he was a talented D1 distance runner and if others decided to they’d dominate as well. Not everyone can run 100s but guys like Cody Reed, Hayden Hawks, Matt Daniels, are prime examples.

Well said, if he were best in the world he would have won UTMB every time amongst other world class trail races.

Shunpo wrote:

Well he was wrong according to usatf

David Katz is wrong? What's he wrong about? What's the correct usatf way to measure a course?

This^

I'm drawing zero comparison here, but Walmsley's prep is a bit old school, and Rodgers-ish. He seemed to do well with it.