This FKT has been on my radar for some time, first mentioning it in a text message to some friends back in August. It was as an aside, as the discussion at that time was focused on a SCAR attempt, which was a fun adventure and a stepping stone getting ready for MOAB 240, but did not go as planned.
I originally thought about just telling and having help from one person, Stewart D., he would be my guardian angel the entire 61.5 miles. However, after the record time was recently reduced, I knew I needed help from at least another person, Stefan E., my final pacer from Grady Rd., to the end at the Alabama state line. That was the plan until the night before and before I knew it I had my wife shuttling people and two other pacers, Henrik M. and Zac W. Henrik ran with me from Tara Drummond to Coot's Lake. Zac ran from Coot's Lake to Grady Road. I ended up having pacers for 40 out of the 60 miles. I had Janet and Mark checking in on us at multiple crossings and trailheads and extending help as needed. Terra, Jennifer, Kevin, Troy, Steven, Joe and my daughter were on board keeping tabs and providing positive cosmic energy.
The weather was perfect; cool and mostly cloudy. Starting temps were in the low 30s and we finished in the high 50s.
I posted a picture of what I ate. I also added two liters of generic grape Pedialyte. I drank about 40oz of water, used S! caps as well.
I ran in Solomon shorts, Injinji socks, and Nike Zoom Next% Ekiden Vaporfly shoes. I changed shirts from a Nike long sleeve tech to a Patagonia short sleeve, then finally a Nike singlet. Also wore Acics 5 boroughs NYC marathon gloves and my HOKA trucker cap.
We started at 5:27AM and finished at 1:37PM.
I used a Garmin Pro X Solar watch, so not sure why the GPS measured distance is a little off. Officially my avg split shows up on the Garmin report as 8:10ish, but if it is truly 61.5 miles, my actual average pace was 00:07:58.76 (hh:mm:ss) per mile.
I am sure I have forgotten something worth mentioning and probably also didn't thank someone I should have, but hopefully not.
Comments
Hey Peter- you're supposed to give me a shout before you destroy my FKT by an hour. LOL! Great job, man.
at first I almost didn't even try it, but knew what my 50 mile splits had been at tunnel hill the last 2 years, figured I would come close. I set a target of 1.2 times the women's 100k world record as plan A and just to finish as plan C. Plan B was 9:09.
you are usually ahead of me in times, so I figure a 7:30 is coming soon