My name is Matt Ford and I successfully ran the entire D and L trail in 41 hours 8 minutes and 21 seconds. Here is my story.
I started at the Northern terminus in Wilks-Barre at 4 am on Friday morning May 1st. My brother Sam dropped me off, said our goodbyes and as soon as 4 am hit I took off down the street. It was around 2 miles of road section through the city or maybe a little more until I swung left onto the trail itself. It was still dark at this point, and this section of trail is mostly unmanaged although it looks like it’s been kept up/ or worked on more since the last time I was on it. The trail was mostly sandy small rock with a ton of large puddles to work around. I saw a porcupine climbing a tree a few miles in which was fun. The majority of the elevation gain happens in these first 13 or so miles so it was slow going for the first few hours. There’s a newer section next to the railroad that looks like it’s been bulldozed and is being tamped with rock and dirt, this should become a nice section of trail once there done.
I kept trucking south towards mountain top as the sun camp up. At one point a construction worker was driving up the trail, I’m assuming to jump into the bulldozer I had passed. He seemed fine with me being there, but I was nervous since being on this part of the trail at night is a grey area. I hit the black diamond trail head used the outhouse which was awesome and kept moving south. The weather was beautiful the sun was out but not too hot. I had taken just enough fuel and liquids. I was around 17 miles in at this point so just 12 or 13 more miles until I saw my crew.
I ran through the town of Whitehaven which was very small and sweet. I saw a diner that looked like it would have served a good breakfast. It was a little past 10am when I saw my wife and our friend for the first time. I switched into road shoes, refilled my bottles, and left with a Dunkin sandwich that really hit the spot. I saw my crew about 8 miles later at the Rockport area. I took a few extra minutes to sit since this would be my last stop until I hit Jim Thorpe. I was doing ok at this point, but I was ready to get past this long section. I used the bathroom again, ate some perogies and went on my way.
This is a beautiful section of trail but in all honesty is one of my least favorites. The first few miles past Rockport was awesome, lots of water to look at etc. but after this I believe you run through Lehigh gorge which is an extremely long, flat, hot section. I was in good spirits at this point. I saw a few trains with tourists on it pass by. Lots of bikers and a few other people walking. But it was a long haul. I eventually strolled into Glenonoko which felt great because I knew my crew and one of my favorite stops was just a few miles away. My phone was on 1% battery at this point, but I decided to risk it and finally put an audio book on after several hours of silence. Somehow my phone stayed on for the remaining few hours and I was able to keep it going on the 1% battery all the way to Jim Thorpe. I stopped at Jim Thorpe and sat in the parking lot with my wife and friend/driver/crew member Mikaela. They got me a donut which was amazing, and it really lifted my spirits. Seeing more people and knowing that I had just completed the longest section felt great. Now I would see my crew every few miles and be able to keep my pack on the lighter side.
The next 10-15 miles flew by and around mile 65 I picked up my first pacer. Nayt Mihal joined me and my friend, and previous FKT holder Dan King also joined to help crew for the night shift. It was great to catch up with Nayt. We ran through some pretty sections in the daylight and nighttime was approaching fast. I believe it was sprinkling at this point but still warm enough out not to be too much of an inconvenience. At this point I had passed the less then 100 miles to go point which felt good but was also incredibly overwhelming. We put our headlamps on and kept heading south. It was fun to reminis about the last time I attemped the trail and how much better it was going this time. We got through places like Cementon and North Ampton and kept on moving. This was a time just to get miles under my belt and bank as much time as I could.
At this point my pacer was getting pretty worn out. He was coming off of having strep throat and was struggling to keep the pace we were hitting. So around 11 pm I think (miles and time started to blur together here) I dropped him. Nayt was able to take Dan’s car (who was crewing at the time) and head south while Dan paced me for the short 4 mile section. This surprise section with Dan was great, we got to catch up, strategize and lock in and prepare for the rest of the attempt. At this point I think we were around the Allentown area, Nayt’s girlfriend picked him up and I ran the from this point on until mile 100 alone.
My pace started to slip but in a normal way. I had an audio book playing and was hitting my run walk paces like I wanted to. Finally, around 3 am I hit Forks of the Delaware which is right around the 100 mile mark. Here I changed my socks and shoes, popped some blisters, and picked up my second pacer Sean Tracey. It was raining at this point, so I was wet, but not super cold yet. While I was changing my shoes a cop rolled in to ask what was going on. when Dan explained that I was just changing and would get going soon he said it was fine, and we kept on moving.
I hit 100 miles in about 23 hours. Right on my goal pace if not a little faster and with plenty of time left to hit the FKT. I did a few shorter sections with Sean and reconnected. It was great to see him again. Around sunrise I really started to struggle. My knees were hurting, my stomach had gone south I was cold and wet, my pace was slipping. This was my first very deep valley, and I knew it was going to hit hard. At the next stop I sat for probably 20 minutes knowing that if I didn’t get myself right it would be the beginning of the end. After a ton of tums, some coffee, Dan giving me his own hat and fleece shirt, and some food that was finally sitting ok with me I was able to get up and moving again. At this point I had thrown up twice which rocked me. My watch was also not charging but we were able to get that working after several nerve-racking minutes of playing with it while walking.
I came out of this low and kept trucking on. At mile 116 my wife and Mikaela came back to crew, rested and ready to go, they had a sandwich for me and also three fresh crew members ready to bring the energy. Nate (Mikaela’s husband), Emily, and Josh also showed up at this stop ready to help crew and pace when needed. This woke me up a ton and got me going again. I got to mile 121 (Tinicum Park), said good bye to Sean and Dan and picked up Jimmy to pace me for the next 15 miles or so. This was a beautiful part of the trail with great looking houses and a really nice view of the river. Very open, sunny, awesome to look at. But again, some really long sections. There was a 7-mile section because the crew didn’t have access for the road and that was a real struggle. At this point talking to my pacer was exhausting. Everything hurt. I had mentally told myself no more shoe or sock changes and I was “death marching” mostly. I was walking a 16 minute per mile pace with some jogs when I could. Still very on track to hit the FKT. But I knew I had another 10-11 hours of this walking on exhausted legs. The mental struggle of knowing that was the day ahead of me, knowing I couldn’t wish it away or make it go faster was difficult.
Jimmy got around 15 miles with me I think and then he switched with Josh. We were at New Hope at this point I believe. I had to jump up on the road for about 100 ft to go around a section of trail that was impassable, thankfully the crew saw it and got me around it in the shortest way possible. Josh walked around 9 miles with me. Mostly walking hard to run at this point. The crew stops were only 4 miles or less apart at this point but anything over 2 miles felt like an eternity. I was really sleepy; caffeine wasn’t touching it. It was getting hot. My spirits stayed high but we still had several hours of this death march left. Eventually Nate switched with Josh and we kept on trucking. Now I really was death marching. I only ran every few miles or so and only for 100 yards and then had to walk again. We kept this up for several hours. Walk a few miles, sit, drink try to put something in my stomach and move forward. I was exhausted enough that I kept asking if I had enough time. They assured me I did but the sleep deprivation was making it hard to do math and I was struggling to believe my crew or myself that I was still doable.
I had slowed down so much but they assured me unless I started to crawl, I would get it. 16-minute miles turned into 17s, but Nate kept me walking well and we were starting to wind down. I don’t recall where this was but at one point there was a sign that said, “historic Bristol, 9.1 miles ahead”. I think I was 36 or 37 hours in at this point. That’s when it hit me that this was going to happen. If I just kept walking, I would make it. don’t lose it now, don’t fall asleep, don’t sit too long just lock in and finish it up. Tears started to flow. Lots of emotions all at once. I only sat another three or four times after this realization. No more maintenance to do at this point just get it done.
We got to a trailer park. I believe this was my last real sit. This part of the trail was long and had several road crossings. Not much to see honestly. We then got to a point where I only had about 4 miles left, and we kept trudging forward. Here is where my wife joined nate and I. We had about an hour until it got dark so we put on our head lamps just incase. Everything hurt so bad my pace slipped down to an 18 minute mile. We walked for what felt like hours and finally arrived within 1 mile of the finish. We navigated with my watch and with Nates google maps as a secondary assist. Getting across the right places of the road and finding the right-side walks were tough but we figured it out.
I finally got close enough to hear my crew and see their headlamps at the finish. I tried to take off and run but it ended up just being a hobble. I weaved around the sidewalks making sure to follow the correct path on my watch and gave what little I had left to finishing this huge attempt. I stepped on the southern terminus stone in Bristol after 41 hours and 8 minutes of running. I said nothing did nothing, until I was sure that I had stopped and saved the progress on my watch… I then collapsed on to the stone, and the rest is history. What an experience.