Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Just has that patented. Here we go. Bam. We’re live. So I figured out I made a few posts for members only just to test it out. And I saw today what you sent me, Susa, that if you want to be a member, oh shit, wrong glasses. The blue light blocking ones business business. Here we go. If you want to be a member and you want to join and you’re on the app, on the YouTube app, you can’t, it’s going to have to take you over to the browser. The browser. Yo Charlie
Charlie Lawrence (00:38):
Gentlemen, what’s up?
Sevan Matossian (00:39):
What’s up bro?
Charlie Lawrence (00:41):
Not too much.
Sevan Matossian (00:42):
Holy shit. There he is. He’s real.
Charlie Lawrence (00:46):
Charlie. I am real in the building.
Sevan Matossian (00:47):
Present. Charlie, are you in the Bay Area?
Charlie Lawrence (00:50):
No. So I live in Boulder, Colorado actually.
Sevan Matossian (00:53):
Okay. You come to the Bay Area a lot?
Charlie Lawrence (00:57):
No, no, not really. Last time I was in the Bay Area was college, so 2017 I think.
Sevan Matossian (01:06):
Okay. I watched a whole handful of YouTube videos and I had picked up that you trained for sure there in Boulder, but then for some reason I was getting the impression that you lived in Silicon Valley.
Charlie Lawrence (01:18):
No sir. No. Maybe one day when I retire. We’ll see. I don’t know. It’s gorgeous there. So I fell in love the first time I was there ever at Stanford Racing in college. So
Sevan Matossian (01:34):
This is a live show. It could get quite cantankerous.
Charlie Lawrence (01:39):
I’m here for it. I’m here for it all.
Sevan Matossian (01:40):
So fucking a. Alright, here we go. How old are you Charlie?
Charlie Lawrence (01:45):
I’m 28.
Sevan Matossian (01:46):
Holy cow. Dude, you were ageless. How is someone who’s putting your body through what you’re putting it through? Looks so young. I cannot believe it. I thought you were going to say like 20
Charlie Lawrence (01:55):
Genetics. That’s probably my dad’s 60. He’s going to kill me if I don’t know his age. 65. He looks like he’s 40. So hopefully I trend that direction.
Sevan Matossian (02:06):
And do you have siblings?
Charlie Lawrence (02:07):
I have one younger sister. Yeah, so she’s 26. She looks her age though.
Sevan Matossian (02:12):
Hey, so this is starting to make a little more sense. So she looks her age, she’s going to kill you. Hey
Charlie Lawrence (02:19):
She’ll. That’s a shot.
Sevan Matossian (02:22):
So you’re a veteran. It’s crazy. Okay, so I watched some YouTube videos of you running in college. Did you run cross country in college? Is that what I saw?
Charlie Lawrence (02:29):
I did cross country and track, yeah, for the gophers.
Sevan Matossian (02:32):
Okay. And then I guess I didn’t do the simple math, but I just assumed. I was like, wow, this guy’s just an overnight sensation. But you are a legitimate veteran of the sport is 28 years old, senior for what you’re doing at the level you’re at.
Charlie Lawrence (02:49):
Yes and no. I mean this is coming to the end of my fifth year running professionally. Prior to that I was running competitively at the division level for five years. And then I’d say I was pretty competitive too all the way through. Well high school, but you’re doing training, but you’re not doing real training. So I’ve been at this at a super, super high level. I’d considered D one pretty high level for really 10 years now. So really kind of the prime marathon age and is about 28 to 34, 35. So I’m just kind of getting into that hopefully prime really in my career.
Sevan Matossian (03:20):
And is that what you call yourself a marathoner?
Charlie Lawrence (03:23):
Marathoner? No, I guess you could probably call myself. I could probably call myself an ultra marathoner break in division mile world record. But yeah, I still think to be good at the ultra stuff, I need to be a marathoner first. That’s helps with the speed and all that in my opinion.
Sevan Matossian (03:38):
Charlie, so tell me what is a marathoner? I don’t even know what a marathoner is. What’s a marathoner?
Charlie Lawrence (03:44):
I’d say anyone that’s run 26.2 miles does it as a hobby, does it as a job like me? I dunno. Have you guys done one at all?
Matthew Souza (03:55):
No, my wife did and I cheered her on a motherfucker. You know what I mean? But that was as close as I came to a marathon.
Charlie Lawrence (04:01):
Yeah, your wife’s a marathoner then. There you go. So that’s probably the simplest definition if you’ve done and completed a marathon. So obviously some do it faster than others, some do it for fun, some do it to try to rip other people’s heads off like me. So it’s however you want to slice and dice it. Just run the distance.
Sevan Matossian (04:16):
But you do it occupationally, meaning you put bread on the table, you pay your car payment with it, and your body is the machine that’s doing the work. You’re like this living embodiment of the machine that is the full-time marathoner.
Charlie Lawrence (04:35):
That’s what makes my money. Yeah, it is going to running fast and putting in the miles, doing the work.
Sevan Matossian (04:43):
Take me back as early as you can. Remember your first ever running, you’re first ever like, Hey, I’m running. Look at me, I’m running.
Charlie Lawrence (04:51):
So this is actually a pretty easy, I’ve told this quite a bit. So I grew up in a small town in central Minnesota in a family of coaches. My dad was a football coach, a varsity football coach. My mom was a varsity cross country coach. My dad also coached track. So they were obviously same hall sold, everyone knew them to the coaches, but they ended up getting divorced when I was in first grade towards the end of first grade. Normal,
Sevan Matossian (05:13):
Normal, totally normal.
Charlie Lawrence (05:15):
So then the fall, when I’m in second grade, I had two options. It was either go to cross country practice with my mom or go to daycare. And I was always just a super active kid, pretty competitive, definitely a hothead spastic. I’m like, no, I’m going to go to cross center practice and try to beat up on these junior high kids. So the first day of practice, I’m in second grade, they’re seventh and eighth graders and they do this time trial. It’s an 800 meter loop kind of around the back football fields, the softball fields, baseball fields. It’s roughly a mile, two laps. Like, all right, we’re going to do this time trial. And my mom’s like, tr, you want to do it? And I’m like F it, sure, we’ll see what we can do. Went full stick. You
Sevan Matossian (05:54):
Put your cigarette out, you put your cigarette out on bottom on some other kid’s back and you’re like, fuck it. I got this mom.
Charlie Lawrence (06:00):
Yeah, yeah. I said, mom, hold my beer. And just literally as a second grader in seventh and eighth graders and a couple of ninth graders out the gate as hard as I could to sprinted, did it one by 30 seconds, beat all the seventh and eighth graders as a second grader. I’m like, alright, I’m pretty good at this. So always just kind of had a knack for it, but did play basketball through 10th grade.
Sevan Matossian (06:24):
How important was that, Charlie? Did you get looks from seventh, eighth, and ninth graders and girls that you think left forever imprint on you that they’re like, wow. I mean they must’ve been like, holy shit, you must’ve gotten some attention for that right in that moment. That was insane.
Charlie Lawrence (06:40):
Oh yeah, for sure. And these kids are cuing over after the race and I’m like, are we doing that again? They’re like, no, that was just a one-time trial. I’m like, oh, I want to beat ’em again. So yeah, definitely left an impression. The junior high kids definitely hated me because I would just, truthfully, I just try to show up most days and try to just race them, which is not the point of practice. Most days’ you’re trying to be pretty chill. And then I was also the kid too, where it’s like if they’re doing a track workout and I’m in second grade, I’d take the first rep and burn ’em. Then wait, wait a rep or two, they go the next rep and burn ’em again. Just make sure I keep burning them. But again, it was just all kind of fun. I’m competitive and honestly they hated it. So I was pretty arrogant, pretty cocky, even as a second grader. So
Sevan Matossian (07:22):
Why do you think you were good at running?
Charlie Lawrence (07:25):
I mean, going back to genetics too. I mean this really honestly goes back to I think my dad mostly. I mean, my mom was a pretty good recreational runner. She’s run under three hours for the marathon. My dad was a division two, all American football. He was a cornerback, had a short stint with the Minnesota Vikings as well. So just a freak athlete can jump out of the gym here on track in high school before going to play college ball. Yeah, he was like a under two minute 800 meter runner. Heck of just an athlete. So I think I got a lot of that from him. And he has a lot of quiet confidence about him. But he was, when he talks about his time, whether it’s being an All-American, leading the, he still has the school record and tackles, I believe, or least he did, he kind of has this quiet confidence about he was a dog. So I think I got a lot of that ability just from him. And obviously growing up with going to meets even as an infant or it’s a couple years old, remembering going to those cross country meets or track meets definitely just kind of carried me through and saw how they coached their athletes and how competitive they were. And I think that was ingrained in me from an early age.
Sevan Matossian (08:27):
How tall are you?
Charlie Lawrence (08:29):
Five 10. The girls ask ’em six foot.
Sevan Matossian (08:31):
Understood. And how much do you weigh?
Charlie Lawrence (08:35):
About 1 37 to one 40. So right around there.
Sevan Matossian (08:38):
And what’s the most you’ve ever weighed in your life?
Charlie Lawrence (08:40):
About 1 48.
Sevan Matossian (08:43):
That’s the most you’ve ever weighed?
Charlie Lawrence (08:45):
Yeah, that was two weeks off after nationals pretty much consumed at least half my body weight and alcohol over those two weeks. Back on pretty quick.
Sevan Matossian (08:58):
Hey, and do you know the least as an adult, is 1 37 the least you’ve ever weighed?
Charlie Lawrence (09:03):
I was 1 31 at one point. This is 2019. That was too small.
Sevan Matossian (09:10):
That’s is insane. Dude. Five 10. So I’m trying to think, is that the most felt athletes in the athlete kingdom?
Charlie Lawrence (09:24):
Good question. I don’t know. I mean, as a runner I’m pretty muscular for a lot of runners I’d say. So yeah, I’m probably one 40 there. Maybe one. Probably under a little under one 40. But those are the boys up in, that’s in Lake Spie right there. So that was a fun weekend.
Sevan Matossian (09:44):
Hey, are those dudes runners? Do those dudes run?
Charlie Lawrence (09:47):
They are. So the one on the very far left, that’s my best friend, Jeff. He was in 800 meter runner at Minnesota. And then guy in the middle, Adam, another one of my best friends. He was a kind of cross country 10 K guy. So that was up at Adam’s place in Cornucopia, Wisconsin, middle of nowhere. It’s just like the town shuts down for one day. It’s called corny day. And we just, his parents own a place on the lake on Lake Superior. So we just wake up, they have a 5K. All three of us ran it and ran dusted everyone by five minutes. And then we just started drinking all day. So I think that was 2018.
Sevan Matossian (10:18):
So you’re having fun.
Charlie Lawrence (10:21):
I try to, when I’m locked into a segment, like I’m right now getting ready for the Olympic trials coming up. I don’t really do much. My life’s pretty boring now, but back then, truthfully, I was training, but I hadn’t signed a pro deal yet. So I was still working full-time, just kind of training as much as I could on the side. I was still running over a hundred miles a week, but not quite as serious as I am now because it, my straight livelihood is more of a competitive hobby. But I do try to have fun. So when I can, it goes in spurts for sure. I’m due for another party day after the trials.
Sevan Matossian (10:55):
I’m wondering if that’s why you look so young, because you are having fun too.
Charlie Lawrence (10:59):
It helps for sure. I mean, I enjoy what I’m doing. I mean, I get up and my days are, I don’t say they’re easy, but I mean today I ran 18 miles just between two runs and a core session. But the rest of it’s, I’m just chilling and living life. I’ll look out my window and I see the foothills and flat irons, sun’s out, life’s great. And I get paid to do that. Pretty fortunate.
Sevan Matossian (11:19):
2023 tunnel run. Fuck. 10 minutes into the show. I’m finally telling you guys what you’re looking at. You guys are truly looking at greatness in a couple ways. 2023 tunnel run, four hours, 48 minutes and 21 seconds. You ran 50 miles and beat the world record, which had previously been set at 4 50 0 8. You almost beat it by a complete two minutes. The reason why I’m tripping that you’re 28, is this the pinnacle of your career doing this even though, yeah. Is this the pinnacle? I mean, I have a feeling that you’re changing the sport. Anytime someone sets a record, it kind of brings all this attention and now you’ve done it again. And this might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and makes the 50 mile like holy shit, the 50 miles a legit race.
Charlie Lawrence (12:20):
Yeah, at this point in my career, 100%. I mean, before this, the thing to hang my hat on was just I qualified for the Olympic trials in 2020. I mean, I had a great debut in 2 16, 10 in my marathon debut. That’s
Sevan Matossian (12:32):
My first Wait, slow down, slow down. 2020 Olympic trials. You ran what?
Charlie Lawrence (12:36):
So in 2018, my marathon debut, I ran 2 16, 10 to qualify me for the marathon trials, and that got me my first pro deal. Wait,
Sevan Matossian (12:46):
What does that mean? Your marathon debut? You hadn’t run a marathon until 2018 in your life?
Charlie Lawrence (12:51):
No, sir.
Sevan Matossian (12:52):
That was your first one?
Charlie Lawrence (12:54):
Yeah. Yeah, that was my first one.
Matthew Souza (12:55):
Holy shit. And what was that time again? One more time?
Charlie Lawrence (12:59):
Two sixteen, ten two sixteen ten.
Matthew Souza (13:00):
What’s that average mile pace?
Charlie Lawrence (13:02):
Five 12. Holy,
Matthew Souza (13:04):
That’s stupid.
Sevan Matossian (13:05):
What’s the world record?
Charlie Lawrence (13:07):
Oh, I mean, four 30 pace, two hours, 35 seconds. Calvin Kitchen. Who broke that this year? So that’s the thing too. So hear me out. That’s a good marathon. I qualified from the trials, I did that in 2020. I’ve also qualified for the trials coming from 24. That’s actually my next race. So going back to your question for sure, my biggest accomplishment in my career to this point is the 50 mile world record. 100%. No doubt. That’s far and away. And I’m a good marathoner, but I’m not going to make an Olympic team. I just won’t, can’t compete with, I’m not going to win a global medal in the marathon, but hopefully I can win a global medal at the alter distances in the 50 k, in the 50 or in the a hundred K, those distances that do have a world championship race.
Sevan Matossian (13:51):
But those aren’t in the Olympics.
Charlie Lawrence (13:53):
They’re not. No, but they do have annual world championships or biannual.
Sevan Matossian (13:59):
Have you met this cat who had the 50 mile world record before you,
Charlie Lawrence (14:04):
Jim? I’ve actually never met Jim. No, but he’s one of the greatest American alter runners ever. So
Sevan Matossian (14:12):
Man, you’re in such rarefied air, it’s kind of mind boggling. Hey, at some point when I was listening to an interview, you talk about this running this, you said at the 47 mile mark, no, sorry, at the 42 mile mark, it started getting rough and you took some ketone gel that you were waiting to take until the 45 mile. That caught me off guard ketone. That’s just fat, right?
Charlie Lawrence (14:52):
No. So I mean, hopefully if there’s any scientists, listen, they can tell me if IF this up, but ketones are, I guess it comes from the keto diet. So do you guys know what that is? Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (15:06):
Well, here’s what I tell you. I know mitochondria or what animate us, and they burn on two things, either glucose or ketones. But when I think of ultra-marathon runners or just any runners, I think of you guys as just sugar junkies and I’m like, why isn’t he taking glucose? Why is he taking ketones?
Charlie Lawrence (15:20):
Yep. So for me, I stack the two. So when you get later in a race or in a marathon or just any sort of long run and you’re running low on glycogen stores, your body’s going to go into oh shit mode and start producing ketones anyway just for energy. And that focus, because you start, when you’re low on glycogen, you’re going to lose focus and all that. So I’m stacking ketones with my carbs. So one of my sponsors is HVMN, ketones iq, and it’s the best supplement that I take. It’s my favorite supplement
Sevan Matossian (15:48):
That I take. Do you notice right away, Charlie?
Charlie Lawrence (15:50):
Oh yeah. I mean, I love coffee, but I don’t drink, when I race, I only have ketone shots as my energy because it helps with one focus and then two, it’s like, especially in the 50 miler, I’m not burning through glycogen as fast. My heart rate isn’t nearly as high as in a marathon or a shorter race. So I’m tapping into those fat stores anyways, so that’s where this comes in as energy as a fuel source.
Sevan Matossian (16:16):
And I’m going to put you on the spot here. Do you know that through experience or has someone told you that, or both? Are you more than just a believer you’re like, Hey dude, I’m not telling you this, I believe it, but
Charlie Lawrence (16:31):
Oh yeah, no. So I reached out to them first. This is back in the summer of 22. I reached out to their CEO, O Mike Brand, now a good friend of mine. So I’m that one percenter guy. I’ll do anything if it’s, or try anything, if there’s a possibility of helping you. I’m looking at different foam rollers, bands. I mean, I have an altitude tent, you name it. I try it. So I was just curious about the product. And after I started taking, I’m like, oh shit. You feel of anything, you just feel so dialed because it does cross. The blood brain barrier i’s just instant focus. It’s a great alternative to caffeine or coffee, even though I do love my coffee and it’s great, and I know how I feel when I’m off it and when I’m not on it, I don’t run without it. Now, I don’t want to say I’m dependent, but I just know I feel a little better on it. So
Sevan Matossian (17:21):
For you, for a highly tuned machine, what mild does that happen, do you think? I mean, you’re not in ketosis, right? In your day-to-Day life right now. You’re not in ketosis, right? Or
Charlie Lawrence (17:32):
Oh, no, no. I mean, I need carbs and I eat what I think is inadequate amount of carbs to fuel my training. And so
Sevan Matossian (17:40):
When does that happen? When do you think that happens for you? At what mile is there? You’re like, okay, mile 32 fuel system’s shifting?
Charlie Lawrence (17:49):
Yeah, I mean in the 50 miler, I think it was probably right around 40, 42 where I was really starting to, my collecting into the stores were I was in the red or I was at zero pretty much through the stores that I had in my body. So it was just like, how can I stay on my feet? So it was like I wanted to save a gel and that ketone shot till 45 because there really wasn’t any station between roughly 40 to 47 ish or 41 to 47. And I was like, I need to burn this now because I am blowing starting to blow up and I feel it. So I had a gel that I finished too and then chased it with the ketone. But there too, I’m like, I’m still trying to get carbs in even though I’m blowing up. And also the ketones to hopefully have the ketones there without my body needing to necessarily create them for energy. Obviously they’re creating them, but it’s also just stacks upon on top of that. Excuse me.
Sevan Matossian (18:41):
At the 47 mile mark, you mentioned that you debated stopping and stretching and then you finally did it. You stopped and stretched, and I got a ton of questions first. Is that the first and only time you stopped in the 50 miler?
Charlie Lawrence (18:54):
First and only time, and it was a dumb internal battle for about five miles from about 42 to the time I stopped. I’m like, like if you stop, there’s no in hell. You’re going to be able to start again and pick up at the pace you’re doing, your body’s going to shut down and you’re not going to be able to pick your legs up again. So I’d been thinking about it for really at that point, probably 25, 30 minutes and finally got the point where I was like, I think I need to do something. I’m really starting to blow up. I knew I had enough time with the bank. I did the math at like 46 something. I can run pretty much seven flats and still get it. Hey,
Sevan Matossian (19:29):
Real quick. So is that a way you test your acuity? Do you ever try to do the math and you’re like, fuck, I can’t do the math, I need ketones. Would that be a sign? Or You can always do the math.
Charlie Lawrence (19:41):
I’ve been around the sport long enough where I can always do the math fortunately. So that was never an issue. But honestly, I’ve never been that late in a race either, and I didn’t have an issue. So maybe the ketones did contribute to that for sure. But yeah, it was just this big internal battle. Finally, I’m like, there was a tiny, it’s a pretty flat course, but there was a tiny rise that went under a bridge, so we should kind of shoot through this. Not really a tunnel, but it’s like a massive culvert you run through and then it’s no more than five feet up over 25 yards. But that just shot my legs right at 47 and I’m like, F dude, you got to try something. So just quick stop, stop pulled it back, pulled the other one back. And in my head I’m just like, fucking go fucking start running again. And I just took off to what I felt was okay and I was running back under a six minute pace, felt great, felt like I was about probably at mile 25 to 30 again for about half a mile. But the male kind of felt the same as they did prior, but still again, had enough time in the bank and enough to work with.
Matthew Souza (20:44):
What does that mean when you’re blowing up? Does it start with you feel something in your calf and then all of a sudden you’re like, shit, and it’s creeping up and then it’s getting worse and worse? Define blowing up for me.
Charlie Lawrence (20:55):
For me, in that race, it was just the quad fatigue. It was again, so it’s a double out and back course. So it’s a roughly 13 miles south, 13 miles back to the finish or to the start. You go past the finish, then it’s a gradual 10 mile uphill the entire way. So I’m already, the farthest distance I’ve done in training in one session is 28. My largest day was 35 miles, so I knew I could maintain,
Sevan Matossian (21:23):
Wait a second. Before that race, you’ve never run more than 35 miles straight?
Charlie Lawrence (21:27):
No. So the farthest I’d run prior was only straight was 50 K. So 31 miles
Sevan Matossian (21:34):
Straight in your whole life?
Charlie Lawrence (21:35):
In my whole life, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (21:38):
But this
Matthew Souza (21:39):
Was your first 50 miler. You broke
Charlie Lawrence (21:40):
The This is my first, this is my first mile. Yeah. God.
Sevan Matossian (21:43):
God, dude.
Charlie Lawrence (21:44):
Beast. Beast.
Sevan Matossian (21:46):
Sorry, back to the legs blowing up. Sorry.
Charlie Lawrence (21:48):
Crazy. Yeah, so I’m in unchartered territory, right? So I knew I could hold it for at least 35 to 40. Then I’m like, that’s the unknown. I don’t know beyond that. And the thing too, it’s like from 30 to 40 you’re going uphill. It’s nothing crazy, but it’s just a gradual incline. And I already have 30 miles on my legs, so I’m trying to keep pace. And then you hit the turnaround and essentially eight-ish, nine miles back down. But things you put in so much work for 40 miles, their quads are just shocked. So now I’m essentially loading them again. It’s a great fully fresh I could rip. I run that 10 miles at under a five minute average about a perfect decline, but crazy. But at this point, I’m just smashing my quads every step. It just hurts. So that was me blowing up was my qua. I’m just not getting any power from them. Probably after about really 45 to 47, I just feel like I’m just picking up putting ’em down. I’m not actually really putting power into the ground and really moving forward.
Sevan Matossian (22:53):
Hey, do you know Hunter McIntyre?
Charlie Lawrence (22:56):
I don’t.
Sevan Matossian (22:57):
Okay.
Charlie Lawrence (22:58):
Why does his name sound familiar though? I
Sevan Matossian (22:59):
Think he gave me your name. He’s a runner. He’s the High Rocks guy. He’s just the big, Caleb will show you a picture of him. He’s just this big massive man who shouldn’t be running, and he just keeps setting the world record at High Rocks. Okay. But he put me in touch with, he basically, he comes on the show regularly and he’s like, dude, you’ve got to get Charlie Lawrence on.
Charlie Lawrence (23:21):
Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, I’ve seen his page Rex. People are wild.
Sevan Matossian (23:26):
This guy’s wild as shit. This guy’s a human tornado. Yeah, he’s so fun. You what? He kind reminds me of you, he, he’s in a good mood too. He’s up. He’s up. He’s up like you. So when you crossed the finish line, you look like you’re in perfect condition to me. And then two steps later, you turn into an 85-year-old man, you start shuffling. Actually before I go there, sorry, Caleb. Sorry. Good timing. Caleb, before you go there, how do you know if you really need to stretch or it’s your body mind playing tricks on you that as an excuse to stop? How do you know it’s not just the boogeyman? You know when you’re a little kid and it’s like, look under the bed. Look under the bed, and you’re like, motherfucker, there’s no one under the bed. But then you still get out of bed and look under the bed. Yep. I already checked three times before I went to bed. How do you know? It’s not that
Charlie Lawrence (24:19):
I didn’t, so that was
Sevan Matossian (24:21):
So you don’t even know. You can’t even tell. You’re like, are you the boogeyman or you really need to stop.
Charlie Lawrence (24:25):
Yeah, that was the one gamble. But truthfully, I think I could have kept going. I don’t question myself a hundred percent comment. I could have kept rolling, but it was just like, how can I feel better to really make sure I put this record away and not have to see the clock and be rigging and trying to get there. I was pretty confident checking my watch that I had it. So that was the one gamble that I just didn’t want to have any possibility of seeing the time slip away as I’m running towards it. So yeah, I didn’t, truthfully, I didn’t know. It was just kind of a guess.
Sevan Matossian (25:02):
When you talked about your dad, you clearly got, your dad is a man of a great self-confidence, swagger belief. And you said that before you ran the race, even though you’d never run more than 35 miles, that you went out there to set the world record, you knew you did it even before the race. You were like, okay, I’m going to set the world record today.
Charlie Lawrence (25:23):
Damn right. Yeah, no, that it would’ve been a waste of a trip, a waste of a run if I didn’t get it, in my opinion.
Sevan Matossian (25:28):
Did anyone else know? Did you tell anyone you were going there to break the record?
Charlie Lawrence (25:31):
Oh yeah. No. As soon as I signed up for the race and everything, emailed Steve Durbin, the race director, let him know. Let my agent know. I’ve been talking about it for two years too, so I guess we will go way back.
Sevan Matossian (25:44):
I’m coming to your house. I’m taking your girl and leave the keys in the car. I’m leaving in your car. Crazy
Charlie Lawrence (25:51):
Dude. I’m pulling up. I mean, so two years prior I paced my friend Des, she’s 2018 Boston Marathon champion to the 50 K World record. That was the first time it was in my head. So I paced her at 5 47 paced for 50 K. What does
Sevan Matossian (26:04):
That mean? She was setting the world record. And you were one of the people who ran portions with her.
Charlie Lawrence (26:09):
Yep. So I ran the entire time with her every second, just paced her as a long run. So in my head. So we got it done. She did it 5 47 pace, and in my head I’m like, that was pretty damn easy. I think I could do this pace for 19 more miles because that’s one second faster than the current world record at 5 48 Pace. So it was already in my head for a few years, had verbalize late in 21 than I really wanted to go for it in 2022. But I was injured all of 2022, so I couldn’t do it. But the entire time my girlfriend had known, my family had known lots of close friends, had known, old teammates, had known. So yeah, it was no secret that that was the mission and goal.
Sevan Matossian (26:50):
You were injured for a year. A bunch of questions around that. How did you get through that and do you think the goal to set the world record for 50 mile was part of what got you through it? How did someone like you get through a year of injury? That sounds insanity for you.
Charlie Lawrence (27:06):
100%. I mean, it was miserable. So the goal going into 2022 was to try to win the 50 K championship. So that was slated to be, oh, okay, 50 k that was slated to be February of 22, came out with a grade four sal stress fracture that January 22. And I felt it right away probably as a stress reaction. But of course I’m a month out from the 50 K championships. I keep doing workouts on it. It gradually gets worse and worse. It got to the point where I’m popping four leaves, rubbing voltarin on it, waiting for that to sink in, and then just going and running as much as I could. The faster I went the less it hurt. So eventually I cracked it straight through. So for me,
Sevan Matossian (27:47):
Timeout, Caleb, what is a sacral stress fracture? Isn’t your sacral where your butt hole is?
Charlie Lawrence (27:54):
I mean, it’s like the lower back area, but pretty damn close. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (27:57):
Is there something there called the Coxs
Charlie Lawrence (28:00):
That’s like underneath it
Sevan Matossian (28:02):
Stretch your butt hole? I wish you would’ve smash your Coxs. It’d been funer to say sacral sounds like something only girls have.
Charlie Lawrence (28:09):
Yep, I
Sevan Matossian (28:10):
Got one of those.
Charlie Lawrence (28:12):
So I cracked that straight through.
Sevan Matossian (28:14):
How the fuck dude, is that just not from eating? Not right. Is that from just being 137 pounds?
Charlie Lawrence (28:21):
I was a hundred percent under fueling and over training. Yeah. Not intentionally, but it’s just like I was on that line for too long and it just eventually just, wow.
Sevan Matossian (28:29):
You split it like this down the middle?
Charlie Lawrence (28:31):
Yeah, here since this,
Sevan Matossian (28:32):
Sometimes I think my penis does that to people. Oh. Oh, Stevie not cool. That’s crazy. Damn. Damn. Oh sacred. Oh, someone says it’s called sacred because it’s the sacred hole. Is that true? This guy’s name is Stand Stand room only. So I don’t know if that’s true.
Charlie Lawrence (28:54):
I don’t know if you can, but that’s the crack straight through.
Sevan Matossian (28:58):
Damn, that looks like something the Hubble telescope took a photo of.
Charlie Lawrence (29:02):
Yeah, I spent way too much time in the M MRI machine in 22, so I pretty much funded Boulderer health images that year. So
Sevan Matossian (29:09):
How did it get, were they close enough together where you just chill and they come back together?
Charlie Lawrence (29:15):
Yeah, so I just couldn’t run. It was just cross-training. So kind getting back to your question was for me, in the back of my head it’s like I want to win this 50 K title. I want to go get this 50 mile world record at some point, but it’s like, how do I get there? So it’s like I can’t run, so I need to cross train. So a lot of time in the pool, a lot of time with the trainer. When the summer rolled around in 22, I went and spent way too much money on a nice road bike, but it was just enough to keep interested in cross training. And for me it was just like if my minimum every day was three hours, let’s put it that way. And for me mentally, I was like, okay, three hours in the pool. If you’re going to break the 50 mile world record, that’s four hours and 50 minutes or 40 hours, excuse me, four hours and 40 minutes of running and.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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