| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Charles R. Lawrence |
| Born | March 24, 1995 USA |
| Sport | |
| Country |  United States |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event(s) | Marathon and ultramarathon |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | Marathon: 2:16:10 50K: 3:09:11 50 Miles: 4:48:21 |
Charles R. "Charlie" Lawrence (born March 24, 1995) is an American ultramarathon and marathon runner. [1] [2] He set a 50-mile IAU World Record time of 4:48:21 at the 2023 Tunnel Hill 50 in Vienna, Illinois. [3] [4]
Charlie Lawrence is the son of two cross country coaches. He was confident in his running potential from a young age. He said in an interview "I knew I was a runner in first grade. I watched a state cross-country meet and told my mom and dad, 'I want to win that, and I’m going to win that.'" [5] [6]
At Foley High School, he was a state champion in the 3,200-meter race and he set school records in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. [7]
Lawrence graduated from high school in 2013 and attended the University of Minnesota, where he got undergraduate degrees in Business and Sports Management and a Master's degree in Sports Management. He competed on the school's Cross Country and Track teams for five years. [6]
Seven months after graduating from the University of Minnesota, in December 2018, Lawrence finished 20th at the U.S. Championships. In January 2019, he signed a professional deal with Hansons-Brooks Running Club, and he trained for a year for the 2020 Olympic marathon trials. While training, he worked as a ticket sales and development coordinator at Oakland University in Southeast Michigan. He finished the 2020 marathon trials 61st, and he believes he had overtrained for the race. He left Hansons-Brooks Running Club and moved to Boulder, Colorado to train with a coach named Tom Schwartz. At the time, his only sponsor was a supplement company called Live Momentous. [6]
Charlie Lawrence finished 61st in the United States Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2020. Lawrence became upset interested in setting the 50-mile race record in the fall of 2021. Earlier in 2021, he paced Des Linden in a 50K, where she broke the world record by more than seven minutes. [8] He got a stress fracture in 2022, and he paused his training until February 2023. [8]
On October 14, 2023, he set a personal best marathon time of 2:16:10 at the McKirdy Micro Marathon in New York, achieving a spot at the 2024 Olympic marathon trials. [8]
The Tunnel Hill 50 was his first 50-mile race; previously, his longest race had been in the low 30s in terms of mileage. [8] He planned to run in the 5:40 to 5:45 range for as long as he could hold on. During the race, he ran the first 24 miles at a faster pace than anticipated, below a 5:40 per mile pace. He slowed down before the 40-mile mark, with a mile pace between 5:50 and 6:00 per mile. Then, after passing through a 200-meter tunnel, the final ten miles had a slight decline. He paused for about ten seconds near mile 47 to stretch his legs, and he ran miles 48 and 49 at approximately a 6:30 pace. [8] He finished the race with a final time of 4:48:21, average pace of 5:46 per mile. [9]
His 50-mile ultramarathon record was ratified on January 16, 2024. [8] He beat the previous record of 4:50:08, which was set by Jim Walmsley at the HOKA One Project Carbon X event in California, by almost two minutes. [8]
Charlie Lawrence moved to in Boulder, Colorado in 2020 for the altitude and the competitive athletic environment. [8]
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