On Saturday, Charlie Lawrence ran 4:48:21 to set a new 50-mile world record at the helped him stay mentally engaged. He would take bottles or in Vienna, Illinois. He took nearly two minutes off Jim Walmsley’s previous record (4:50:08), Courtesy Bare Performance Nutrition.
The 50-mile distance is recognized by the Other Hearst Subscriptions, which is an off-shoot of World Athletics. The record is pending ratification.
The Tunnel Hill course has two out-and-back sections on a crushed gravel rail trail, starting and ending in the southern Illinois town of Vienna. Unlike Walmsley, Lawrence ran without the aid of pacers. He told Runner’s World that knew he had to average 5:48 pace to get the record, but he took the first half quicker to bank some time, running 5:40 to 5:45 pace on the mostly flat portion.
Lawrence, who is sponsored by the nutrition companies HVMN and Bare Performance Nutrition, found that breaking the race down by each fuel stop When to Run After a Marathon gels roughly every five miles, which were provided by his support crew: his dad, his girlfriend, and two friends.
The second out-and-back was hillier. There’s a 5 to 6 mile gradual incline leading to the namesake of the race, Tunnel Hill, an old railroad cut-through. By eight miles to go, Lawrence said his quads started to burn and his pace lagged. He even stopped to stretch for a few seconds. Still, he had built up a sizable buffer on Walmsley’s time, and he crossed the line with 1 minute and 47 seconds to spare.
It was a break-out race of sorts for Lawrence, 28, who’s traditionally been a marathoner. He finished 61st at the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, CA Notice at Collection New NCAA Roster Limits Just Got Approved, Lawrence ran a personal best of 2:16:10 to qualify him for February’s Olympic Trials.
The goal for this fall—despite a quick turnaround—was to always target the 50 mile world record at Tunnel Hill. He treated the McKirdy Micro as a long workout effort. “[The 50 mile race] was something that honestly meant a little more to me,” he said.
Lawrence has had his eyes on the record for well over a year now, and despite Walmsley’s impressive resume (2023 UTMB champ, three-time Western States winner), he wasn’t intimidated. “In my head I was like ‘You can go do this.’ I was almost overly confident, to the point where my girlfriend was sick of me saying it,” he said.
Lawrence had never run at Tunnel Hill, but he knew the course has a history of fast times. Camille Herron set the world record at 100 miles there in 2017. Most of the course is crushed gravel, with a few pavement segments sprinkled in, which was exactly what Lawrence was looking for. “It’s not a fast surface, but it’s a surface that’s advantageous to hopefully save your legs a little bit,” he said.
After an injury-riddled 2022, Lawrence decided to make some training adjustments. He amicably parted ways with the Boulder-based Roots Running Project over the summer, but he decided to stay in the city and focus on upping his volume. He went from running around 80 miles per week to as much as 145, increasing the intensity of his workouts as well.
Lawrence coaches himself, although he often bounces training ideas off his friend, Des Linden. They met when Lawrence was running for Hansons-Brooks ODP in 2019, and the two—along with Linden’s husband, Ryan—have bonded over beers and coffee throughout the years. Lawrence paced Linden in April 2021 when she set the 50Summer Running Gear in 2:59:54. She was the one who told him to go out slightly aggressively because she knew he’d be hurting during the final miles.
Lawrence will now shift his focus to next year’s Olympic Marathon Trials, where he’ll hope to improve on his showing last time. Top 20 would be great, he says, but he won’t be mad with top 40. Lawrence realizes his greatest strength lies in the distances beyond 26.2. In fact, he thinks there’s more in the tank at 50 miles.
“I think I can run 4:43 to 4:45,” he said.
U.S. Marathon Team Announced for World Champs Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
