Jimmy Elam | Golden Ticket to the Big Dance

Jimmy Elam has been running competitively since he was nine years old. He was an All American in college, ran his first and only marathon in 2:21, and has had tremendous success in the MUT scene, setting a CR at the wild and competitive Broken Arrow Skyrace, pushing Walmsley hard at Nine Trails last month, and this past weekend, grabbing an Altra Golden Ticket at The Canyons 100k.

Jimmy Elam midrace

Did he go into Canyons aiming for a ticket to the Big Dance? With TDS also on his calendar, would he do both? And with many of his races being largely technical vert, is Western States Endurance Run even his type of race?

In this interview, we talk about the pressures of running as a youth and what he learned while running as a teammate of Tim Tollefson at Chico State.

We talk about his training in the mountains outside Salt Lake City and how/if that skillset translates to flat and downhill courses. We talk race strategy when it comes to nutrition and how he’s able to pee while running 6:30 mpm pace.

Jimmy Elam (c) at the Broken Arrow Skyrace, 2018.

Jimmy Elam Episode Notes

Jimmy runs for rabbitPro. Here’s the rabbit site.

Here’s the Altra Duo Jimmy was talking about.

Here’s the 50 mile trail around Mammoth Lakes I referenced. It’ll be a few years, but worth the wait.

Here’s the Melvin IPA.

Jimmy and I both share a love for The War on Drugs. Try not to up your tempo when this song comes on.

At the end, I spoke about my run at Mendocino 50k. Here’s the race site.

Intro music: David Rosales |. Outro music: Matt Flaherty

Jimmy Elam in the redwoods

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Jimmy Elam knee deep in the snow.