Julia Alford Peirce (my Crew Chief) and I drove out to West Virginia on June 13 and stayed at a campground near Collier’s West Virginia. Sunday morning, June 14 at 5:54am I started my journey across the state of Pennsylvania. I would be joined for portions of this section by Jess Marks and Rich Bougay, local runners from the Pittsburgh area. I would incur some of the most difficult weather of the trip as we received a tornado warning and thunderstorms while Rich and I ran against traffic with very little shoulder. I was happy to have the company and am grateful for my new found friends. I traversed 67 miles to just West of Greensburg.
Day 2 was my biggest climbing day where I would have just over 7,300 feet of vertical in 60 miles. I would run the entire day solo with no pacers and just the support of Julia. I would end the day just East of Shanksville.
Day 3 I would be joined mid day by Matthew Todd who is a local runner in Southern New Jersey who drove 360 miles round trip to join me. Matt is a new friend who I met recently in our local running community and was instrumental in helping me get to my goal of 68 miles for the day. With 5,900 feet of vertical gain it would prove to be a long day. I was happy to have Matt’s company since we would run until 1:00am Wednesday morning to complete my daily goal and end at the Burnt Cabins Campground.
Day 4 would prove to be a difficult day, even though Matt paced me for the first 15 miles it would end up one of the hottest days I ran through. I would run the rest of the day solo but Julia was joined by Erin Stettler who would help with crewing into the evening and the following day. Erin is a runner from the Richland area, who drove 2 hours to offer her support. Erin and I had crossed paths with at races in the Philly area in the past. It was great seeing her enthusiasm for what I was doing and grateful that she joined us. I would end the day with 46 miles and 4,829 feet of vertical gain just North of Gettysburg.
Day 5 would start at 4:30 am and with a new goal of 5 days 12 hours (originally I targeted 6) and Julie and I collectively decided that I would run the rest of the route New Jersey style which meant that I would run continuously and only stop for short rests or naps as needed rather than trying to get a few hours of sleep at the end of the day. This is what I did when I ran the Length of NJ South to North FKT. I spent most of the day running on my own but was joined by Brendan Morgan, a runner from the Reading area who had also done his own run across PA a year earlier. After 12 or so miles with Brendan I would run solo for the next section but would eventually be joined by Stephanie Cooper who is a local southern New Jersey Runner and had previously trained with me for one of her recent races.
After Running with me for a couple of hours Stephanie departed, and then I continued on for a section solo. Next I was joined by my girlfriend Sol Rios who has always been supportive of all of the running things that I do and is an instrumental part of my support and helps take care of keeping me on the road/trails since she is a massage therapist.
After a short nap Sol and I would continue together until early the next day where I would be joined by a local runner from Cinnaminson New Jersey, Brian Bear. Brian was great since he originally planned on running 10 miles with me but at this point in the effort, the fatigue over the past 4 days was mounting and Julia was concerned for me running by myself and asked Brian if he could continue running with me on a couple of occasions until he finally reached 28 total miles with me. Up to that day he had only ever run 1 other marathon and a 12 hour event where he did 42 miles so this was his 2nd longest run ever. I was certainly grateful for the time he spent with me.
When I reached Paoli I was given a boost by the arrival of one of my friends and fellow Runner, Nick Lafraddo who is a Radnor Bike Cop. He escorted me on his motorcycle for the next hour. during that time I was joined by fellow ultramarathoner and friend Tina Custode who ran a section with me into the main line of Philadelphia. It was a boost as well since Tina and I have shared many training miles together and she had pace me for 60 miles of the Length of NJ FKT.
After the section with Tina I was joined by fellow runners and friends, Christopher Britton and Kevin McCool. As I arrive to the van I was also surprised by Brendan Morgan who jumped out of the van to see me to the finish as well. As Kevin, Christopher, Brendan and I meandered through the streets of Philadelphia on our way to the Ben Franklin Bridge we got news from Julia that they may be closing the pedestrian bridge an hour early at 8 PM instead of 9 PM. At this point I was not going to make the 5 day 12 hour time, but was gonna be close as long as we could make it to the bridge before they closed. Our backs against the wall and I had to push the pace.I ended up running some miles at a 9:30 to 10 minutes per mile in order to get there in time, a feat not easily accomplished with over 350 miles on your legs in 5 days.
Ultimately they did not end up closing the bridge early. We made it to the state line on the center of the Ben Franklin Bridge just before 8pm to complete the entire run in 5 days, 13 hours, 57 minutes and 50 seconds. In addition to Julia, Kevin, and Brendan I was joined by a few friends at the finish. Thank you Eric Escalon, Cara Farrell, May Trinidad, Ric Giambro, John Bellace and Julia’s gracious husband Keith Peirce for putting up with his wife joining me on this crazy adventure and running in cowboy boots while playing the Rocky theme song as I finished.