OUT AND BACK SELF SUPPORTED!
I was pretty much all ready and packed when I got the call 2 days before an unsupported FKT attempt that was gonna take roughly 2 weeks. My dad had a massive heart attack and would pass soon after. He swam, biked, and hiked all that morning. There were no signs of anything wrong. It was a total shocker. Thankfully, I had time off work for this FKT and now this will be time I can spend with family and helping out my mother. I helped out for about 2 weeks and had to get back to reality the following week. I wouldn't be able to attempt the 2 week FKT, but I would be able to squeeze in a 2 day FKT. I decided this route and style would challenge me greatly. So this is in honour of my father. He always supported my goals and dreams and I will never forget that. I love you dad!
I got home on Friday and my plan was to start early Monday morning. So I had some time to pack and sort my gear out. My plan was to complete the loop, then sleep in my car for a bit before completing the loop again in the opposite direction. This would require a 1 mile hike before the start and then at the very end back to my car. I also hiked out and dropped off a couple of energy drinks at the intersection of the crack trail. 5 hours of sleep and it was go time...
I was used to training with a much larger and heavier pack, so wearing a small running vest would be a nice change. I started counter clockwise which means I would do the hard stuff first. This also means I would have to finish on the hard stuff later. Yikes. The first loop was going well. I felt great. My body was holding up just fine. I was eating and drinking often. I brought a water filter with a soft flask to stay on top of the hydration. I think I only saw one group of hikers the entire loop. It is a hard loop and by the end I was ready to be done and get some sleep. The loop took me a little under 17 hours. Now the goal was to wash my feet, eat and drink, and sleep. I did have thoughts about not doing another loop, but I planned like I was doing another and wanted to give it a shot. I decided to give myself 5 hours of sleep to help out.
The alarm went off, I ate and drank and got moving. I think I started a little before 3:30 AM. I felt surprisingly good early on. The sleep really helped. The sun came up and I kept doing my thing. I did notice the bugs were being a little annoying today. I barely noticed them yesterday. I was well far out on the loop and it was the point of no return. It was either finish the loop or get rescued. I did start feeling my energy going down but I just kept on eating, drinking and moving. Towards the end of the loop I was really feeling rough. I was looking forward to my cache of drinks though. They helped a little but I was sure moving slowly. It felt like a never ending trail. I did get to the sign where it all started though. Phew. I did it. It's always harder than you think it's gonna be. I am very happy with my effort though and I'm glad it all worked out. I had trained so hard over the winter and it was nice to put my fitness to the test. Even if it was shorter than originally planned.