Tim Walz Wears Garmin, Hoka and runs a bit. Will he campaign for VP using Strava?
Few people here in the UK know or care who Tim Walz is, yet many American readers of this site might be excited that the country’s favourite 60-year-old schoolteacher wears a Garmin watch, can run a bit and probably has a Strava account. In the image above, Governor Walz is seen either marking some homework very generously or signing into State law a free lunch provision for kids.
Subsequent to the photo-op, the internet exploded with stories seemingly confirming that Walz wore a Garmin. Well, there was one story on the Garmin subreddit but it was removed due to its political nature. I felt obliged to share the same image and tentatively confirm that Walz is probably wearing a black Garmin Forerunner. He’s probably not short of a few dollars, so let’s go out on a limb and say that the best bet is that he’s wearing the top-end Garmin Forerunner 965.
Is Tim Walz a Triathlete?
A: Probably not. But he can run ‘a bit’ as evidenced by the fact that he is running for office (ta-da!)
At 57 years old he ran a 1:32:38 at the Twin Cities 10-mile3 (2021). Before that race, he was interviewed by Runners’ World where he said that he started running in 2012 with the goal of a 20-minute 5k which he does not seem to have since achieved. Steve Magness seems to have found evidence that he did manage a 21:43 5k at age 49 and I can confirm that performance would be worth something like a 67% age-graded score, representing someone committed to running to a more than average degree. His 1:47:00 Half Marathon at 51yo is comparatively less impressive.
Is Tim Walz a Driver?
Yes, cyclists beware. He was banned from driving for 90 days (1995), having been arrested on a DUI charge. Tut, tut.
How Does He Compare to Other Internet Running Noteworthies?
I guess it depends on who you compare him to. Mark Zuckerberg managed a sub-20 5k at age 38. Zuck’s 19:34 time sounds a lot more impressive but the age-graded score is pretty similar (slightly better) to Walz. Both are ‘quite good’ as evidenced by the words on my spreadsheet, below.
I recently got myself back to an 80% 5k age-graded time but, to be fair to Walz and Zuckerberg, that’s it for me and all I will ever get elected as vice president of would be the local model yacht racing club. Actually, I’d struggle at that as well 🙂
What is the Hoka connection?
In the aforementioned Runners World interview, Walz expressed his love for the Hoka Bondi 8. Now you know. You’ll run faster with Nike Vaporfly
And Strava?
The real Tim Walz is almost certainly on Strava but good luck finding him. I’m sure the Chinese and Russian ‘security’ agencies have already had a very good look and would love to track his movements. Almost certainly that’s why Tim Walz won’t be campaigning on Strava anytime soon. A nice thought though, he does seem genuinely interested in using running to stay fit as he ages, which is a laudable and inspirational goal for any Western politician seeking to inspire the masses.
Other Tim Walz Race Stats
Please post any other known race stats in the comments. Maybe we underestimate him?
Fancy revealing your political colours? Feel free to fill your boots in the comments below.
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I bet he has an fr245 – he is a midwesterner
Are this Page sport technology, no? Woke man
do foreigners have 1st amendment rights?
I’m surprised, I would have thought raising his DUI arrest would have me branded as a raving Trumpist rather than woke.
Everyone in the US outside of rabid leftist liberals despises “stolen valor” Walz. Stick to technology, leave the politics to other sites.
what is a leftist liberal? is that your definition of a communist? to me, a leftist liberal would be a normally reasonable and tolerant person and to the right of a socialist.
just like the UK, the winners of the US general election will do so by capturing voters in the middle, not that from the ‘extremes’. those in the middle probably are liberals in some shape or form.
Lol if you think serving in the national guard is stolen valor then I’m sure you think trump is an American hero for his draft dodging, mocking McCain for being a POW, and also denigrating the men and women who serve or have served.
You must be a weirdo like trump and probably jealous that your times are slower than Walz’s.
Not true. He’s a fan favorite because of his positive attitude and dad-vibes
tfk – You seem to be having fun with these posts recently. 🙂
The only thing whackier than US 2 party politics is the UK X party one.
Color me, admittedly a bit right of center politically, unimpressed by Walz’s watch and apparent running ability (that 21:xx 5K must’ve been 40lbs ago). My bet, he was told he needed a “smart watch” and, being a boomer, eschewed the obvious Apple choice and went with the relative old-school Garmin instead.
It helps me put off looking at bike computers that are either too expensive or don’t work.
UK vs US – there’s a lot of whacky similarities. Probably some historical link between our countries explains it 🙂 The EU is even whackier with proportional representation…if you vote, then it actually makes a difference! wow! crazy-stupid politics going on there. (But then they get lots of *properly* far right nutters elected who long for the 1940s)
yes I’m unimpressed by anyone’s ability to buy an expensive watch, including my ability to buy several!
his running prowess is unimpressive. Yet impressive in the sense that, unlike many, he gets his ass off the couch and does something with his legs, so we can’t be too critical.
Apple: good point that would have been the obvious choice for a Democrat I would have thought (from my limited knowledge of American politics). Do proper Republicans buy Garmin Tactix watches and then go and shoot something? or is that just a stereotype falsely put out there by malicious commies? Or is owning a Tactix a second amendment right? I get confused.
and another thing. if the Constitution was so great then why do you have to keep amending it? actually it is/was pretty good and has stood the test of time relatively well. We have higher courts to do the amending, based in other countries (true!)l
Well I was aiming more at old vs young with my Garmin vs Apple comparison than Right/Left or Conservative/Liberal – although you pretty well sketched it out there. Possibly a true far-right republican MIGHT have a Casio G-shock or something similar – if they opt for Garmin then Instinct.
Nah – I meant Boomer vs everyone-else-younger who would likely go with Apple (or Samsung) for their smartwatch choice.
P.S. Thanks for the laugh. Politics, and the future outlook thereof, have been too concerning if not downright depressing here lately.
I avoided watching the Bing Bang Theory for years. just started it…so plenty of laughs over here now for me, admittedly with the wrong kind of comedy (American 😉 !).
I looked for the highest resolution version of this pic I could find and blew it up, unfortunately the photo is a bit blurry so it’s still hard to tell what watch it is:
https://i.imgur.com/d6ePZlX.png
I think based on the color of the display it’s probably a MIP model, since amoled screens are black.
So, maybe Forerunner 955?
I enjoyed reading this article and the comments made me laugh too. Thanks!
We need to know the Vo2max of all the candidates 🙂
found this image that look nithing like a garmin but mire like a TomTom:
https://img.apmcdn.org/f9bfe4c06b19026741d2c3dc4c97827411c8c398/uncropped/434790-20180815-walz301.jpg