Meet Charlie Marquardt - a guy with a full-time job and no shoe contract who just broke 4 for the 1st time in style @ 3:55

Pretty amazing story. I’d love to see him keep progressing

I remember the '15 final. Escher played him. Marquardt went too early.

I'm really happy for him. Now he is on the sub 4 list. His dream realized.

What next?

Last year 3:37/3:56 was about about 20th place on the yearly list .

What next?

Real life decisions. A high percentage o the 500+ guy had only one. Will he go scrambling for a couple more.

He has joined a club more exclusive than The American Billionaires Club . That is fine and dandy but what is next goal in the life of Charlie Marquardt ?

Yeah, I like the part about changing into his racing gear in the bathroom on his way from work. So sick of reading about these prima donnas who do nothing but run and obsess about their (increasingly weird) diets.

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, the people's champ!

wineturtle wrote:

I'm really happy for him. Now he is on the sub 4 list. His dream realized.

What next?

Last year 3:37/3:56 was about about 20th place on the yearly list .

What next?

Real life decisions. A high percentage o the 500+ guy had only one. Will he go scrambling for a couple more.

He has joined a club more exclusive than The American Billionaires Club . That is fine and dandy but what is next goal in the life of Charlie Marquardt ?

What’s next is breaking 3:50. Once that goal has been achieved, the spikes can be hung up, short of making an Olympic team. As good as 3:55 is, and it’s VERY good, sub-3:50 is rarified air. The 3:43’s, or their metric equivalents, are a farce. Anything under 3:45.xx is suspect.

Come on Puma, Reebok, Hoka, step up, great article. Thanks. Go Charlie

Charlie is a great story because he's showing you can live a relatively normal life and be a national class runner. He was one of my teammates in college and the guy literally does not stretch/do core/lift/watch his eating, or do any of the ancillary work people obsess over.

On one hand I think that's an important lesson. Want to be a better runner? Run every day, twice a day most days, and repeat. Everything else falls into place. But, I think also leaves Charlie with some exciting upside from a sponsorship position. As his coach said, just being able to afford to work a few hours less a week would make a different (generally Charlie leaves early 1/week to workout, his coach thinks it would be a perfect situation if he could do that 2/week).

If a shoe company could just help him get into bigger races next year, I think he can run even faster. And even if he never makes an Olympic team, he could end up having a pretty marketable story as a low 3:5X's guy guy.

Hbhbu wrote:

Come on Puma, Reebok, Hoka, step up, great article. Thanks. Go Charlie

Puma? Are they getting back into running like Reebok seems to want to do? No matter, I'm thrilled for the guy.

Was it really necessary to include the detail that the guy on the bus next to him smelled like sh*t? Dehumanizing with no real journalistic purpose.

You trust the timing and meet management of the Sir Walter miler?

Why would you question the Sir Walter Miler? Shame on you..... I was standing at the finish as a spectator. The event is A+ and everything that is right with running. More events like the Sir Walter Miler would grow the sport. Awesome race, amazing atmosphere and the most fun I have ever had in the sport. Charlie went nuts on the track when he saw his time. Great story.

Hbhbu wrote:

Come on Puma, Reebok, Hoka, step up, great article. Thanks. Go Charlie

Come on letsrun. This dude is jersey worthy.

LRC Track is Bizack wrote:

Hbhbu wrote:

Come on Puma, Reebok, Hoka, step up, great article. Thanks. Go Charlie

Come on letsrun. This dude is jersey worthy.

Ha. He reminded me of my brother. A shoe company once told weldon he was worth 7.5k per year. We'd rather run for ourselves.

the gentleman wrote:

Was it really necessary to include the detail that the guy on the bus next to him smelled like sh*t? Dehumanizing with no real journalistic purpose.

Because it's the first paragraph maybe he thought it would grab the reader's attention. Not everyone is a prude, some people like the facts. Maybe he is trying to emphasize the difficulties of an overnight bus ride to make a race when clearly a good night sleep is a better option. Maybe it was just an excuse for why he would drop out of a race. Maybe he could have left it out. Who cares. Good job Gault.

Huge fan since back in his HS days when he’d frequent the RW high school forums (as Charliezard if I recall) to advise youngins such as myself. Hugely talented, and dedicated to the betterment of the sport. Props to him for the breakthrough of sorts, and happy to see him get recognition here

Seeing as how Todd Williams got approximately $10k his first deal from adidas it sounds like Weldon would have been overpaid at $7500.

He was one of my teammates in college and the guy literally does not stretch/do core/lift/watch his eating, or do any of the ancillary work people obsess over.

That will catch up to him. When you're young it's easy to neglect that stuff, just wait.

DO NOT neglect all that "obsessive" stuff.

Back on topic, I love these stories. I remember a time when most runners had jobs (or they lived in their cars).

The beauty of pro aspect is that careers can be longer for the elite.

I want this guy to make it.

congrats to charlie but why is this a big deal? He was a very talented runner in high school who up to now was underachieving.

He's a 1500m runner, that's easier to train for with a full time job than marathon or ultra marathons because it's much less mileage.

even his own teammate in this topic said he doesn't even do the little things, so i'd hardly consider him a working class hero or whatever terminology they use. just talented, not necessarily an underdog story of a guy who willed himself to success.