After a three-year break, men’s course record holder Jim Walmsley is returning to the 2024 Western States 100. In this interview, Jim talks about the process of choosing to run Western States again following his win at UTMB last year, the injury he worked through during the winter, and how being back at Western States after time away feels both different and the same.
To learn more about who’s racing, check out our men’s and women’s previews and follow our live race coverage on race day.
Jim Walmsley Pre-2024 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Jim Walmsley. It’s a couple days before the 2024 Western States 100. Good morning, Jim. How are you?
Jim Walmsley: Morning, I’m good.
iRunFar: Welcome back to Western States. It’s been three years. How does it feel to be back in Olympic Valley?
Walmsley: It doesn’t feel like I’ve missed three years, so things feel familiar. Yeah, happy to be back.
iRunFar: Your life, or your running life let’s say, has taken an incredible turn since the last time you were here in 2021. You turned a lot of your focus to living and racing in the European Alps and doing mountain ultras. What’s it been like to have a total mindset shift back to something like Western States?
Walmsley: Shifting back to Western States feels more natural and more what I’m used to. Running and less gear, less pack, but warmer weather, up-tempo, and it’s kind of where things began, is what it feels like.
iRunFar: To rewind time a little bit, if we go to the finish line of UTMB 2023, after several years of improving your performances there, you get the win and then it’s just a month later where you turn around and run a Western States Golden Ticket race at Nice Côte d’Azur 100k. What was happening in that month? Were you just saying in your head, all right, now I’ve won UTMB, now I want to try this double, or I want to go back to Western States or… Take us to that month of your thinking.
Walmsley: Well, it was a really hard month personally, I guess, lots happening. There wasn’t much training in between. It was getting in some running, but not a lot. And then just trying to show up with enough energy, more focusing on that, and I think that draws a bit more on experience between races, but knowing the game of how to get into Western States. I know nailing that early Golden Ticket is pretty important. Takes a lot of pressure off going into the next year if you want focus on Western States.
So saw an opportunity a month after UTMB. Kind of crazy to go chase a Golden Ticket. Most people that ran that weekend won’t be doubling back. Just kind of looked at as an opportunity. I got to drive to the race. It was ironically pretty close and it just kind of seemed like I could swing it and work out, but also experiment a bit with doubling back after a month, even though things were far from ideal in between. But during the race, everything felt good. It was nice. It was a really great experience running through the Mercantour Alps.
I’ve run Western States and UTMB in the same year, and I’ve not been able to put both races together just for finishes. So I mean, just looking at it from finishing, or trying to land in the top 10 or podium on both, it’s almost a nice way to reset and take some pressure off that way of. It’s not really about trying to win both per se, but really showing up and having two good performances and feeling like I’m still running up to my potential a bit. So yeah, I want to finish both races this year.
iRunFar: So fast-forward a couple of months into the winter, and I think you had an injury that took out some training and did not allow you to do one of your training races in early spring, is that right?
Walmsley: Yeah, part of the idea was we were going back to Flagstaff, Arizona, in November and to train through winter a bit more and do an earlier race in the year. I was looking at Transgrancanaria, and then had an injury pop up just at the very beginning of the year, early January, and taking six weeks out right there, resetting, and not being able to do a lot on it. Turned into just March plans couldn’t work out, and then the idea was whether I’d race maybe in April or not. But decided to take my time, line up my training how I want to come back more on my own terms and just line up Western States and performing here, with also the accidental idea of maybe opening up at Western States will help with some energy later in the year.
iRunFar: You said at the beginning of the interview that coming back here after a three-year gap feels familiar, feels homey to you. However, you’ve changed as an athlete in those three years. You went to the mountains and you got tons of skills about being out all night, carrying the gear. You need to be self-sufficient, clothing changes, all things that are different, but all skills that are applicable to ultrarunning. Does it feel like coming to such a runnable 100 miler after what you’ve been doing in the Alps the last couple of years, does this feel easier, simpler?
Walmsley: Well, it feels more like a race. Up-tempo, getting after the course, and just a lot more flow to the course. Hopefully I don’t have to deal with the night. We’ll see.
iRunFar: Touch wood.
Walmsley: There’s a lot less gear management, so it does simplify things in that manner and I do have headlights packed with crew, but we’ll see. You kind of plan for the best, but prepare for the worst.
iRunFar: One of the things that I feel has developed in the men’s race since you’ve been here is that there are more men who are choosing to front run in this race, to go out hard and to set the pace, whereas maybe historically in the years that you were front running, you were alone front running for many, many miles of the race. Does it feel like, oh, I might have some companionship, people to pass some miles with, or do you think about that at all?
Walmsley: I don’t know what other runners are going to do, so that could bring in a new angle to things, depending what other people’s strategies are. Last year they had a really good weather year, so obviously, on cool weather people run fast, and on hot weather people don’t, so it looks like we’re kind of having an average year. So flip a coin, I don’t know. We’ll just roll with what plays out and just kind of see what happens in the race.
iRunFar: Crew, pacers, who’s your team for this race?
Walmsley: I’ve got Jess [Brazeau] on the crew A side with our friend Allie, and then on the crew B side, my brother Will and my friend Ben, and then got a couple behind-the-scenes people to help with other tasks throughout the week and then just also help the crew function well. And then we’ll go with no pacers. It’s been more my usual here. I just like running by myself and being in my own thoughts and knowing that I’m going to have to pace and be self-reliant. It’s what most races are around the world, so not too different.
iRunFar: All of the gear geeks have been talking about this the last couple weeks. The shoe that you wore a version of at UTMB last year and probably are wearing a version of at Western States this year, the Hoka Tecton X 2.5. Tell us about the shoe, if you can, and what you’re running in on Saturday.
Walmsley: I mean, the obvious part is it’s got a built-in gaiter, so I really like…
iRunFar: That’s something that you really wanted on that shoe, right?
Walmsley: Yeah. There’s no more little rocks getting in my shoe, worrying about that, worrying about where the rock is going in my shoe to kind of move it around over miles and miles, and do you stop and get it out, or do you just deal with it and risk blister problems because a little rock got in there. So it is super nice in even allowing me to get in creeks and sand beds and then right back out with clean feet and nothing in the shoes has been pretty awesome. Super light. It does really well getting in and out of water and then it’s just a super-plush, kind of fast, responsive shoe that has been really comfortable for a lot of trail situations.
iRunFar: I think you said off camera that for UTMB you had two models of your shoe, one that had a higher durometer and one that had a lower durometer for different parts of the race.
Jim Walmsley: Yeah, exactly.
iRunFar: Are you running in one shoe on Saturday? Are you planning to do that again?
Walmsley: I have another option that’s a completely different shoe, but I’ll probably be planning to stay in the same shoe all race, and at some point perhaps just switching into a fresh pair. I’ve generally done that at some point in the race, so my crew will have probably two options, either I can stay in the same shoe I’m in, switch to the same shoe that’s fresh, or switch to a completely different shoe if I’m needing some different sensations.
iRunFar: Got it.
Walmsley: Yeah.
iRunFar: Best of luck to you.
Walmsley: Thanks so much.
iRunFar: Like you said, it’s sort of the same journey, but it’s a different journey. Best of luck to you.
Walmsley: Thanks so much. Excited.
