Meet Mike Wardian - The World's #1 Runner - Is He The "Eliud Kipchoge" Of Backyard Ultras?

He's the king of "look at me"

Engrish much? wrote:

He's the king of "look at me"

Bingo

Engrish much? wrote:

He's the king of "look at me"

Watch it. At the end of the podcast, he talks about how his mother-in-law reads the messageboard and reads him messages like yours. I loved talking to the guy.

What are you - a failed ultra marathoner?

Speed, a busy race slate, and less need for sleep certainly make a great runner over ultra distances.

He’s a heck of a runner but he’s more of a gimmick runner instead of straight up racer...virtual ultra races, setting world records while pushing baby strollers, marathons on random surfaces/areas, marathons on back-to-back day’s, etc.

If he wants to measure up against the ultra guys, hopefully he will jump into some of the more competitive ultra events.

I think it’d be fun to see him rematch Radek in the Spartathlon.

rojo wrote:

Engrish much? wrote:

He's the king of "look at me"

Watch it. At the end of the podcast, he talks about how his mother-in-law reads the messageboard and reads him messages like yours. I loved talking to the guy.

What are you - a failed ultra marathoner?

No. I'm a hobby jogger. What has my running ability got to do with my right to hold an opinion about him?

What are you - a failed reader of basic English?

rojo wrote:

Engrish much? wrote:

He's the king of "look at me"

Watch it. At the end of the podcast, he talks about how his mother-in-law reads the messageboard and reads him messages like yours. I loved talking to the guy.

What are you - a failed ultra marathoner?

Oh so you can criticize professional athletes on here but we can’t criticize runners?

Has Mike ever been good enough to be drug tested?

He was silver medalist at 100K WC, but I don’t know if everyone is tested. I believe the top runners are tested in that event.

I have great memories of him leading way ahead of the pack in the 2008 olympic trials, and the announcers being confused at what this random guy was doing...when in fact he was just running his own race at his own pace, everyone else was being super tactical and he decided to just do his thing.

He's also had some impressive ultra finishes, winning and being on the podium a number of times at JFK, top five in the North Face 50, etc. But I agree his real talent lies in being able to go really far with little rest/recovery. Unique talent.

LetsRun.com wrote:

Yesterday Rojo caught up with Mike Wardian - /

Maybe 15 years ago but certainly not yesterday.

Mike Wardian didn't win.

This thing had a stupid ending and if they are sticklers to the rule the have to look into that, Wardian quit a couple hours earlier and then his wife/girlfriend talked him back into it again.

Marathoninvestigation needs to look into this.

Backyard backbencher wrote:

Mike Wardian didn't win.

This thing had a stupid ending and if they are sticklers to the rule the have to look into that, Wardian quit a couple hours earlier and then his wife/girlfriend talked him back into it again.

Marathoninvestigation needs to look into this.

If you look at the strava, Mike took off and ran .17 miles. He then stopped his watch and restarted it as he walked back home defeated. Once home, he was talked into going back out and started his watch a 3rd time and completed the required distance within the allotted time.

I wonder if that is the first race he "won" after dropping out.

Reminds me of the race I won where I was still asleep 10 miles from the start when the race began. Fortunately it was a relay and my partner ran the first half!!

rojo wrote:

Engrish much? wrote:

He's the king of "look at me"

Watch it. At the end of the podcast, he talks about how his mother-in-law reads the messageboard and reads him messages like yours. I loved talking to the guy.

What are you - a failed ultra marathoner?

I have to admit 10/10. Pure fire and mic drop from rojo.

rojo wrote:

Engrish much? wrote:

He's the king of "look at me"

Watch it. At the end of the podcast, he talks about how his mother-in-law reads the messageboard and reads him messages like yours. ?

Does that mean she also saw these posts from right after the event ended?

I just sent Wardian a DM on twitter telling him not to accept this hallow victory.

If I'm Radek, I keep going for another 10 hours and make Wardian and just ultra marathoning in general look weak as hell.

Is it only me who doesn't like Podcasts?

I was already tired of it when the advertisement started.

It's tough to be a millennial with a short attention span.

old slow and out of shape wrote:

LetsRun.com wrote:

Yesterday Rojo caught up with Mike Wardian - /

Maybe 15 years ago but certainly not yesterday.

Touche. You got me on that one. I used to be faster than the guy and now might lose to Oprah.

Backyard backbencher wrote:

Is it only me who doesn't like Podcasts?

I was already tired of it when the advertisement started.

It's tough to be a millennial with a short attention span.

One can certainly read faster than you can listen (but many people listen to podcasts at 1.5 or 2.0 times actually speed). But there is a reason why we give time stamps. You can just click on the part in the show notes that interests you.

YesMan wrote:

rojo wrote:

Watch it. At the end of the podcast, he talks about how his mother-in-law reads the messageboard and reads him messages like yours. I loved talking to the guy.

What are you - a failed ultra marathoner?

I have to admit 10/10. Pure fire and mic drop from rojo.

Oh, I’m shaking in my boots!

SouthernFriedRealist wrote:

He’s a heck of a runner but he’s more of a gimmick runner instead of straight up racer...virtual ultra races, setting world records while pushing baby strollers, marathons on random surfaces/areas, marathons on back-to-back day’s, etc.

If he wants to measure up against the ultra guys, hopefully he will jump into some of the more competitive ultra events..

He does plenty of “gimmicky” runs, I assume because he enjoys them. But, a month ago he got third in the US 50 km Road championships at age 45. He’s been 8th at JFK (age 43), 10th at Leadville (age 43), ran a sub-7:30 100km (11th fastest in North America, age 45). He does just fine.