Why Walmsley is popular. Get over it.

I think a lot of people are afraid to be charismatic, deviate from the norm and they are afraid of being called crazy or misunderstood. Wlamsley is charismatic and he does not give a damn if people think he is crazy or different. He does his thing.

People on here always complain about how secretive pro's are when it comes to training and nutrition and the like but when people do make those things public they get ridiculed and trolled like crazy.

Who is Matt?

Which of his races did you watch on TV that you found to be so entertaining? I’ve never watched a televised 100 mile race so I had no idea he was so fun to watch he was going to save the sport of running. Were there any instant replays of the most exciting moments?

He’s popular because he’s an Instagram model!!!

Sexy beast!

You don't know hardly anything about the guys are faster than Walmsley, it's not because they're 'boring'. Walmsley is blasted all over the place, his name gets dropped everywhere. We don't know crap about any other guys, because no one is asking them any questions or giving them the time of day. There are about 40 guys faster than Walmsley in a half marathon, probably 30 in the full marathon. How about we start interviewing some of these people so we can learn a little more about them? Let's ask them some real questions, not boring 'how far do you run' questions. Then maybe we'll find out they're not 'boring'. Walmsley seems pretty average himself anyways.

Walmsley is the opposite of confident.

If he would be confident, he would not run 175 mile weeks.

Basically Hoka is milking him. Walmsley sells shoes and that's why they are paying him the big bucks. They are even paying letsrun to keep the hype going.

https://www.letsrun.com/events/hoka-one-one-takes-on-marathon-trials/

In my opinion, Walmsley is entertaining because he displays levels of vulnerability and confidence/arrogance (depending on your point of view) that most pros aren't willing to show - even though many or most of them probably think the same way.

fun to watch? wrote:

Which of his races did you watch on TV that you found to be so entertaining? I’ve never watched a televised 100 mile race so I had no idea he was so fun to watch he was going to save the sport of running. Were there any instant replays of the most exciting moments?

Watch this starting at 5:55

Remember when McGregor fought Mayweather and he was the hottest thing in boxing for a few weeks? He got his ass kicked but in the end it was a guys tepping out of his comfort zone at a super high level.

Everybody else in the trials (near the front) is squarely in their zone, Walmsley is something completely different. It's no wonder everybody talks about him instead of splitting hairs between the rest of the top guys.

Meh, he's no Jim King or Gordy A., now THOSE guys were entertaining.

When you say "this sport" do you mean distance running? If you do, how can some guy that has never appeared on national TV be the guy that saves the sport? All I know about him is that he runs high mileage and wins ultras which doesn't interest me. Although I've read a lot about him on LR, I've never clicked one of his interviews and couldn't pick him out of a line-up.

It's cool that some of are such big fans of his, but not everyone sees him the same way as you do. After he makes the Olympic team, I'll also become a fan.

You never know whether he will show up at the pre-race interview drunk.

Jim Walmsley is no Brian Sell.

Think your idea of interesting is a lil off. Walmsley is not interesting, he has nothing to say that is controversial and doesnt move the needle when it comes to actual talking and social situations. He is a winner in a niche sport like ultrarunning which has it's own media so he garnered ton of fame from that which has led to people from ultra world whom have no true elite running experience making points about Jim that actually arent impressive. The ultra community isn't knowledgable about road, cross or even track. They dont follow the sport so when they see Jim run 1:03 half they think he is a God when in fact it's not impressive in the road running world at all. I would even say for trail racing in general Jim hasn't really raced the best guys as most of the African top notch trail guys run the sub ultra stuff. Max king and Joe Gray I would say have run the competitive stuff and even excelled at XC but unlike Jim they didnt spend a bunch of time only running ultras so they arent household names in the ultra community. Max and Gray are far more accomplished overall I would say. Both are more social and Gray at least will talk about politics and social issues so that people can get to know him. That's a drawback for many runners like Jim is that nobody knows where they stand and it makes you think maybe their on the wrong side of various issues

Yeahdsfsdfdsfs wrote:

Then comes along confident Walmsley, whom is an entertainer, that is not afraid to put himself out there.

.

Starting a bunch of threads about yourself on letsrun is putting yourself out there?

I read the NY Times article, and I've been reading all the threads here about Walmsley.

And I am 1000 percent certain that I stand a better chance of someone/a normal person knowing about Walmsley, than of Fauble. Following the Trials race, I bet that remains true.

https://youtu.be/8-T_uhQ0iE4?t=259

lol. you have now idea what you're talking about re: trail and ultrarunning. most trail runners know exactly where a 64' half stands. no confusion there.

and what african trail guys are you talking about? petro the doper?

and i didn't realize max is still racing anything at all nowadays.

Cool they made a movie with Walmsley in it.