On Thursday, July 10, 2025, I set out to run an FKT for supported female on the 80km Lefkada Trail in Greece. I was supported by a group of friends who stayed with me throughout the day, taking turns pacing me on foot for the single track trail sections (or riding a bike next to me for the road sections,) while others went ahead to source water and snacks from local small cafes and businesses so that we could stay fueled, while also supporting small businesses on the island during the attempt.
I began my run at 4am in the town square at the start of the route, launched the GPX file on my watch and on my phone, and set out on my run. The first two hours, I ran in the dark, with two friends running with me. That was a bit of a wild experience - we had several dogs start following/chasing us, we saw hundreds of glowing green eyes which turned out to be a lot of goats in a field, and we ran through some overgrown thorn bushes on the trails that cut up our legs a bit. The reward, though, was the most beautiful sunrise overlooking the ocean and villages below.
Around Mile 10, I stopped to take my first fueling break, where I refilled my hydration pack with water, and also had some juice and Coca Cola for extra sugar and calories. I also ate a peanut butter & jelly sandwich that I had packed to bring with me. I switched pacers and we set off for some of the most grueling miles. Mile 11 was a straight uphill climb, covering almost 1,000 feet of vertical elevation in one mile alone. These miles were some of the most difficult on the entire trail, but visually spectacular, with beautiful views around almost every turn. We had some further "animal encounters" here - turns out Lefkada has tons of humongous spiders that seemed to all spin their webs at exact face height! Ick! We quickly learned that the person running in front needed to carry a large stick so that we wouldn't be constantly getting spider webs on our faces.
After this exhasting climb, we started to take more frequent breaks, roughly every 4-6 miles, stopping for 5 minutes or so to refuel and refill hydration packs, since the temperature was starting to climb, and the elevation was causing us to go through our hydration very quickly.
Around Mile 14, I switched pacers and luckily we encountered a bit of running along the road! Although that quickly came to an end when we returned to single track that was once again quite overgrown by thorns. That opened up into a large field that we needed to cross, per the GPX file, in order to get to a climbing fire road. We got quite scratched up by the thorns and I felt pretty hard core finishing that section with some blood on my legs.
Around Mile 18, I took a slightly longer break to eat some food and refuel, and switched pacers again for another grueling uphill climb section, especially miles 19/20. These were some of my favorite miles though! This section was quite spectacular and almost other worldly, with white limestone rock, sand, and a feeling of almost being on another planet. It was quite spectacular and unlike any vista I had ever seen before!
The Lefkada Trail is divided into six sections, as it is meant to be done by hikers across six days, so when we began "section 3," I switched pacers again after a slightly longer break and we began a steep single track ascent section that saw a return of hundreds of those huge spiders, some more offleash dogs, and bright sunlight beating down with very little shade. There was also a section with some cows and bulls roaming freely, so I made sure to be slow and calm through that section, as I recently had a rough encounter with a bull on a trail in Arizona. This section took quite a while as it was rocky with loose rock and had steep ascents and descents, but reaching the summit and getting to pose for a photo with the sign was extremely rewarding. I also knew that we were close to the halfway point of the trail - only about a marathon to go!
After another quick refueling break where I think i drank almost an entire liter of Coca Cola that we had sourced from a local cafe, we had some nice descending road miles back down the mountain. I was surprised to be able to hit some quick paces here with several 9-10 minute miles, which was a nice way to make up some time after some of the slower single track miles.
Now for the real summit! This was probably the most challenging part of the trail because reaching the highest summit required some tricky navigating - the trail was more like boulder scrambling, with sharp thorn bushes everywhere. I fell a few times and scratched myself up quite a bit but WOW! Those views at the top were absolutely incredible. I don't think I have ever seen such panoramic vistas before. The view was truly worth the difficult climb and the difficult descent back down.
After that, i was rewarded with some slightly easier road and runnable single track - with some beautiful decorative water fountains to dip our hats in and put water on ourselves as the day was extremely hot by that point (about 85 degrees fahrenheit by then) - although there was one tricky section where the trail was at the top of a hill and then suddenly dropped to the bottom of the hill that was so steep that we basically had to crab crawl down the hill on our bottoms to be safe.
The final 8 miles, I was pretty deep in the pain cave. After all, we had climbed over 11,000 feet of elevation and had already gone almost 45 miles in pretty extreme heat. However, my pacers and crew were very cheerful and excited for me and kept me going. We ran past a lot of beehives and a small business stand on the street selling honey, so we each got a taste of fresh honey which gave us an instant jolt of energy. One of my crew members even bought a jar of honey to take home. We really did try and support as many local businesses and vendors along the way as we possibly could! At one cafe, I remember we went in and just said "we'll take ALL your coca cola" - that was nice because supporting those businesses typically meant that they allowed us to use their bathrooms as well.
With about six miles to go, I could see the lighthouse which marked the very tip of the island, the final point of our route. I also saw my mom along the side of the road who had come out to cheer for me and give me a hug, which put a big smile on my face.
The final 3 miles was a lovely descent along road to the lighthouse. Our entire crew decided to run this final 5K in together to celebrate such an incredible day. Even though I was exhausted, these were beautiful miles with the ocean on our left the entire time and a beautiful breeze coming off the water to cool us down. I wasn't talking much by that point, but I remember feeling so happy and grateful and looking down at my watch to see how I was doing against my goal time - which was 15 hours - and seeing that I was on track to do it!
With just a few hundred meters to go, my crew ran ahead so that they could all be waiting for me at the "finish line" at the lighthouse - and they presented me with a little medal they had made for me for the occasion. I looked down at my watch and saw 14:50:39 and absolutely jumped for joy. Total distance wound up being closer to 83km (51.55 miles) and over 11,000 feet of elevation (11,799 to be exact.)
It was probably the most difficult one day run I have ever done in my life but it was incredibly beautiful, and worth every single moment.