I began my FKT of the Man O’ War Trail @ 11:01 A.M. on Sunday January 12, 2025. It was a sunny-blue-sky-slight breeze-mid-winter day. L of 23° / H of 51°— perfect running conditions, especially w/ the slight tailwind.
I wore my Saucony Triumph 20’s + carried my Nathan run vest filled w/ 1.5 L of Liquid I.V. + 2 squeezable apple sauces.
I started out easy- averaging ~8:15/mile. I slowly picked up the pace after the majority of the elevation in the trail was out of the way. Working my way down to a 6:30/mile average. The latter half of the trail is a net downhill w/ ~ 500’ of elevation total (very fast/runnable).
The views of Pine Mountain, GA, Callaway Gardens, F.D.R. State Park, Hamilton, GA, & the woods of Harris Co., GA make this an incredibly scenic route.
I am proud to be the first official runner of this FKT, but hope others will get out there and make their own attempts to run this incredible trail!