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By J.C. Shelton

Willie Milam qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon in October of 2019 at the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:14:54. Surprisingly, it was only Milam’s second marathon, ever. Even more surprisingly, it was a complete turnaround from his first.

“I ran my first marathon in June of last year in Minnesota” at Grandma’s Marathon, Milam said.“I wasn't very prepared and I kind of bombed the last 10 miles of the race. I think that with marathons it's truly a monster in terms of distance and time. You need to stay engaged and that first time around I was totally unprepared in terms of distance and even the pace toward the end of the race.”

After his disappointing experience at Grandma’s where he finished with a 2:20:35, Milam approached the marathon in Chicago differently, both with his training and with his mindset.

“We increased his volume during the Chicago training cycle while keeping the intensity lower to allow his iron stores to replenish,” said Richard Hansen, Milam’s coach. “In contrast to Grandma’s Marathon, we planned on Milam coming out of the gate conservatively and then letting him get a feel for the pace and then possibly increase his intensity at the halfway mark.”

Milam’s training and new strategy propelled him to a PR and an Olympic Trials invitation while giving him some valuable experience.

“Going into Chicago I felt more prepared and I thought I did a lot better, although the last three to four miles were still pretty rough,” Milam said. “So it was definitely another learning experience. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was a lot better than that first marathon in Minnesota.”

After a collegiate running career at Gonzaga University, Milam became a full-time financial analyst in Portland, but soon realized that what made him happy was running competitively.

“After about 10 months I realized I wasn't happy and that's when I was not running competitively at all,” he said. “I decided to leave Portland and move to Colorado and give all my effort to run professionally.”

Now, Milam is training for the Olympic Trials full-time and working remotely as a website developer. He is running upwards of 115 miles a week while fitting in three training sessions between long runs.

“Coming off of Chicago, he was pretty banged up and fatigued and had a minor abductor strain,” Hansen said. “There was a turning point in December where he started to feel much better and now we are confident that his fitness is in a place where he will have the opportunity to place well.”

Milam is excited for the Trials, but his main focus is staying calm and focused during the race while being careful not to push too early in the difficult Atlanta course.

“Qualifying would really be a dream come true,” he said. “I'm not going to count myself out but I know where I am at going into this race and I am highly motivated to exceed my expectations, getting under a 2:14 would be amazing. A realistic goal on a good day would be a top 10.”

Leading up to the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon, Atlanta Track Club partnered with the Grady Sports Media program at the University of Georgia to profile some of the competitors in the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. The authors of these stories are undergraduate students enrolled in the program and have been lightly edited by the Club. See all of the stories at https://www.atlanta2020trials.com/news/uga-trials-project.