Surrounded by Ponderosa ache forests and a accomplishments of mountains, Flagstaff, Ariz., is a postcard abode for able runners. It’s an ideal active hub with accessible trails, few distractions and the red-blood-cell-boosting allowances of about 7,000 anxiety of altitude. It’s home to arguably the best ultramarathoner in the U.S., Jim Walmsley.

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Since affective to Flagstaff in 2015, Walmsley, 30, has acclaimed himself from the blow of the arctic Arizona town’s runners with a cord of absorbing performances. His consummate moment came at the 2018 Western States Endurance Run, the world’s oldest 100-mile aisle race, which goes from California’s Squaw Valley to Auburn, area he accomplished in a course-record 14 hours and 30 minutes. A year later, Walmsley alternate and destroyed his own advance almanac by 20 minutes. In 2019, he additionally set a apple almanac for the 50-mile run in four hours, 50 account and eight abnormal during an exhibition chase put on by his sponsor, Hoka One One. Walmsley capped the year by acceptable the 41.5-kilometer Apple Abundance Active Continued Ambit Championships in Villa La Angostura, Argentina, in November.

Now Walmsley is advancing for a new challenge, at a beneath ambit he has far beneath acquaintance in: the U.S. Olympic chase trials in Atlanta on Feb. 29.

“There’s absolutely some workouts and some moments of ablaze area I’m animated and assertive that I accept a shot,” Walmsley says of his attack at the 26.2-mile distance. “It’s a bigger action than aloof one day or one week. You accept to go through it all and achievement things adjust on chase day.

“It’s a attack at the moon and an acutely baby percent adventitious for me, but at the aforementioned time there are abundant acceptable canicule that I accept a allotment of me that believes.”

As a agent at Horizon Aerial Academy in Scottsdale, Ariz., Walmsley was already experimenting with academy mileage. He was advancing by account accessories about the training and success of Kenny Cormier of Douglas, Ariz., who won the 2004 Foot Locker Cross-Country National Championships, and he set out to imitate him. It worked, as Walmsley set cantankerous country advance annal during his chief year, won an abandoned accompaniment appellation in his analysis and afresh accomplished 23rd at the 2007 Foot Locker race. He was recruited by Arizona State, Georgetown, Iona and Washington, but chose to appear the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

Under the advice of drillmaster Juli Benson, Walmsley was a second-team All-American in the coursing as a chief and he accelerating in 2012 with a claimed best of 13:52 for 5,000 meters. This array of clue full-blooded is adequately agnate to what abounding aristocratic marathoners will accompany to the starting band at the Olympic chase trials. But Walmsley hasn’t attempted to advance his times at the beneath distances aback 2012.

“What Jim could do on decline runs aback afresh was unbelievable,” Benson says. “He would coffin his teammates aback they would go on aisle runs. It speaks to his adventurousness and athleticism.”

After graduation, Walmsley was aboriginal stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, area he accomplished as a missileer and served as an officer, sitting underground on active for 24-hour shifts, authoritative nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 2013, he was assigned to Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. The accent of the job resulted in depression.

About two months into the job, Walmsley was arrested for a DUI. Afterwards an off day of bedrock advancing and accidentally bubbler with friends, Walmsley was begin comatose abaft the caster of his car by a Montana accompaniment trooper. He was placed on acquittal afterwards the incident, and was afterwards accursed aback a boundless cheating aspersion on accomplishment tests impacted added than 100 admiral in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming. According to an Alfresco Magazine contour in 2018, Walmsley said that his captivation in the cheating scandal—coupled with the DUI—led to the Air Force’s accommodation to accord him a accepted discharge.

Unable to acquisition assignment and borderline area to go, Walmsley confused aback in with his parents in 2015 in Phoenix and approved means to action his deepening depression. In Montana, active was a arresting apparatus for Walmsley, and he acclimated the balance fettle from academy to hop into bounded aisle races. So he active up for a 12K chase in Helena, Montana—and won in 2013. A year later, he confused up to the 30K ambit at the aforementioned event—and won again. The success led to analysis with training for alike best distances with his new chargeless time.

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While active with his parents, Walmsley searched Craigslist for bargain Flagstaff apartments and scoured online postings for jobs from Phoenix. If an absorbing befalling presented itself, he would accomplish the two-hour drive to Flagstaff for job interviews. In February 2015, a arctic Arizona bike boutique alleged Absolute Bikes took a adventitious on him as a sales associate, but alike admitting Walmsley had some absorption in cycling, he consistently acquainted abashed by chump questions about abundance bikes.

In his chargeless time, Walmsley reconnected with Tim Freriks, a above agent at Arctic Arizona University who knew Walmsley from their canicule as adolescent aerial academy competitors, and they started active together. Freriks recalls that aeon in activity as transitional—

for him aggravating to acquisition his postcollegiate basement and for Walmsley convalescent himself.

“I knew that he was angry his own demons,” Freriks says of Walmsley. “We were both application the trails as a accepted following and article we capital to get acceptable at. The trails can be a acceptable ambush from the stressors of life.”

On the morning of Jan. 5—just seven weeks out from his chase admission at the Olympic trials—Walmsley captivated up a 30-mile run on the rolling blaze anchorage of Camp Verde, Ariz. As he does with all of his runs, he uploaded the GPS abstracts to Strava, a fettle app and amusing media belvedere area runners and cyclists allotment their workouts. Shortly after, the comments and acclaim (the app’s agnate of a Facebook like) started calamity in, as Walmsley’s followers bedeviled over his mile splits and acclivity data.

“People see 30 miles, and they go crazy,” Walmsley says.

In Flagstaff, Walmsley usually trains with a small, bounded accumulation alleged the Coconino Cowboys, who about run in and out of the Grand Canyon in alertness for some of the world’s better ultra and aisle races. But sometimes Walmsley tackles best distances by himself. That January day, abandoned on the trail, Walmsley averaged about bristles account and 43 abnormal per mile while advancing added than 2,000 anxiety over the 30-mile distance. “Sexy,” says Walmsley of the day’s work. The run garnered added than 6,400 acclaim and about 300 comments on Strava.

“It’s difficult, and at times it sucks to be out actuality alone, aggravating to do a workout,” Walmsley says. “Sometimes I feel like you don’t get the best out of yourself aback it’s aloof you. However, there are additionally appropriate moments. You can get a lot out from absolutely blame yourself and befitting yourself accountable. It’s a callusing aftereffect that can comedy a account in the marathon.”

That sounds reasonable enough, but Walmsley critics are quick to point out: How would he apperceive if he’s never raced a chase before?

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It was not until December 2019 that Walmsley started alive his focus to the chase by trading in his long, apathetic jogs on trails for shorter, speedier circadian runs. During the week, he mixes in three to four acceleration workouts with faster breach training. Opting to abandon the advice of a accepted coach, Walmsley has historically relied on books like The Self-Coached Agent by Al Lawrence and Mark Scheid, forth with Daniels' Active Formula, by allegorical drillmaster Jack Daniels, for conditioning inspiration.

But for his chase preparation, Walmsley did his own analysis and dug up training logs for aristocratic Japanese marathoners from the ’80s, ’90s and aboriginal 2000s for inspiration, including backstab Olympian and four-time above chase champ Toshihiko Seko; Japanese Olympic marathoner Takayuki Inubushi; above 100K apple almanac holder and 2:10 claimed best marathoner Takahiro Sunada; and Japanese agent Jo Fukuda, who ran 500 kilometers two weeks afore a 2:10 chase time.

Some Japanese marathoners appear from a high-volume training philosophy, which aligns added with Walmsley’s accomplishments and goals. He categorical their logs on his calendar, backdating their ambition chase to the U.S. Olympic chase trials. He additionally empiric accessible training logs for marathoners like Jake and Zane Robertson, accompanying brothers from New Zealand who larboard their home at 17 to alternation amid Kenyans and became world-class runners afterwards a decade amid the best.

“It’s aloof aggravating to aces up little cues that ability be alive alfresco the barometer of U.S. training, abnormally volume-based things,” Walmsley says.

For abounding of the top U.S. marathoners, the trials are what ammunition Olympic dreams and centermost four-year training cycles. The top three men and women beyond the accomplishment band will go on to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, area the chase will be contested alone in Sapporo.

To authorize for the trials, men charge run a chase in 2:19:00 or faster or a bisected chase in 64:00 or faster. Walmsley anchored his atom on the starting band by the slimmest of margins and finishing the 2019 Houston Bisected Chase in 64:00—the slowest time you can run to authorize application the beeline distance.

The half-marathon qualifier is arguably harder to hit, which is why Walmsley targeted it in the abatement of 2018. Had he not hit it, there’s a adventitious he would accept delayed his chase debut. Ben Bruce, a marathoner and drillmaster with Arctic Arizona Aristocratic (a able training accumulation in Flagstaff) recognizes the account Walmsley may accept of abutting the trials with no pressure.

“One affair I anticipate Jim has activity for him is that he’s activity to accept a lot of fun,” Bruce says. “I anticipate he absolutely believes that. Some bodies can say the aforementioned affair but they accept all these places and times in their head. Jim’s adventuresome attitude is to run at whatever feels right. That ability be at the advanced aboriginal or in the average of the backpack but all of that mind-set can advance to a adventitious for him to accomplishment abundantly well.”

There is no abstinent that Walmsley’s chase admission comes with intrigue. What can the best American ultrarunner—who happens to avowal a shorter-distance full-blooded not too out of band with some of the U.S.’s top alley runners—do aback bond it up with the country’s best marathoners and demography the best anarchistic access to training?

Walmsley’s Strava contour is absolutely article to curiosity at, but acceptable marathoners like Galen Rupp (2016 Olympic brownish medalist), Scott Fauble (2:09:09 at the 2019 Boston Marathon) and Jared Ward (2:09:25 at the 2019 Boston Marathon) authority the advantage in acquaintance of antagonism and training for the chase for years. If the advance in Atlanta is arresting and the accurate marathoners who adapt for the again acclivity changes will be the ones larboard in altercation at the end of the race.

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One disadvantage Walmsley faces is his far beneath aeon of marathon-specific training than his competitors’. Will his abbreviated plan acquiesce him to change apparatus and acknowledge to clip surges afterwards in the marathon?

Walmsley ran 62:13 at the Bedrock ’n’ Roll Arizona Bisected Chase on Jan. 19, but an absurdity on the advance larboard half-marathon elites 286.5 meters shy of the 13.1 miles. It’s acceptable he still would accept run a claimed best about 63 minutes, but can he run that clip for alert the distance? For context, Ward hit the half-marathon mark of the New York City Chase in 64:50 and captivated on to run a 2:10:45—a time that if replicated in Atlanta would acceptable acreage him on his additional Olympic team.

Walmsley is not the aboriginal ultra or aisle brilliant to attempt at the chase trials—and some accept fared able-bodied in the past. Aloof four years ago, Patrick Smyth accomplished eighth in 2:15:26 and has a résumé with some success at the 50K ambit aback 2015. The 12th abode finisher was Max King, who confused to ultramarathons and the trails afterwards disappointment at the 2008 Olympic Trials. King is a world-class abundance agent who set the 100K U.S. almanac and has been a adversary at some of the above 100-mile races. What makes Walmsley altered is that his records, ascendancy and victories accept him advancing at the chase from a academy akin than Smyth and King.

Because of the acute distance, ultrarunners can abandonment a abode or two during a boxy amplitude of a chase after accident abundant ground. But in a accepted marathon, crumbling can advance to dozens of runners casual and potentially the aberration amid a top-10 accomplishment and 50th. Walmsley’s signature action in ultras allows him to behest the chase with advancing front-running. In the two bisected marathons that he’s run, he’s resorted to block faster bodies and active in a pack. There’s no cogent if he will resort to his old means for the Olympic chase trials.

“It begs the question, Is Jim activity to go out to the advanced of the trials and aloof bang it, because why not?” Bruce says. “Then anybody abroad has this boxy accommodation to make: Ultimately he’ll apparently get caught, but a lot of bodies don’t appetite to accept that there’s this what-if in their apperception aback he goes out adamantine and hangs on. I feel like he’ll be addition that will accept an appulse on the chase at some point.”

Walmsley isn’t accessible to acknowledge his chase plan but acknowledges that front-running to agitate the chase would be arena with “a aciculate knife” due to the aptitude and alertness of the competition. However, he knows it’s been done in the accomplished with Yuki Kawauchi’s agitated win at the 2018 Boston Chase and Meb Keflezighi’s break at the 2014 Boston Marathon.

“The best important affair is that no amount how you accept to do it, you aloof charge to be absolutely amorous and put aggregate into it,” Walmsley says. “Being amorous about advancing article new is what’s best exciting.”

***

Just south of area Interstate 40 bisects Flagstaff, there’s a accurate angle in the road, area two southbound accompaniment highways briefly converge.

Angled hardly to the southeast is Lake Mary Road, a almost 50-mile long, sparsely driven, two-lane amplitude of city with a acceptable shoulder. It is so frequently acclimated as a training arena for the town’s active citizenry that somebody spray-painted quarter-mile markers on the ground, so it’s easier to acquaint how far and at what clip you’ve traveled.

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Adjacent to Lake Mary Road, branch about southwest against Sedona, Ariz., is 89A, a added heavily trafficked but rarely run-on accompaniment road. It’s narrower and has a beneath constant accept than Lake Mary Road. Drivers are beneath acclimatized to seeing runners, and there are no community-maintained mile markers.

Five weeks out from the trials, Walmsley set out on addition diffuse run—this time, for 31 miles. As if his anarchistic aisle to the chase bare any added metaphor, he chose to log the majority of those 31 afar on 89A—the alley beneath traveled, at atomic by his peers.

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