I believe I've set 3 FKTs during this run:
1. Lukla - EBC - Lukla (Round Trip): 23h42m13s
2. Lukla - EBC (Uphill): 11h01m49s
3. EBC - Lukla (downhill): 12h31m02s
(NB these two up/down segments don't add up to the total because there was about 10 min of lapped stoppage time at EBC. The Polar track linked below shows all of the laps. The up segment starts at 00:00:00 and goes to 11:01:49. The down segment starts at 11:11:11 and goes to the end)
Trip report: https://strivetrips.org/blog/ebc-writeup/
What an amazing day! Grateful for this one. A challenging route on a day w/ tough conditions. This route can be run much quicker later in the season w/ no snow -- go get it!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B93MKHoH6-q/
We did it. New Everest Base Camp Trail #FKT: 23:45:12! (press release linked in bio)
On Monday, I had the privilege of spending literally almost all day running, hiking, and climbing through the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal. As runners, I feel like it's common to say that you "feel like you could run all day" when you're fit. I got to put that to the test.
I left the sleepy town of Lukla, Nepal at 12:06am, woke up every dog (and probably their owners) in the valley for the next several hours, ate 5000+ calories (while burning 11,000), listened to all of the Hamilton soundtrack (and only cried a little), climbed up to 17,600 ft. at EBC, and found a new level of motivation, a new answer to that "why?" question, in order to make it back before the clock struck midnight and my shoes turned into pumpkins.
Seriously, though, it was a special day and though I certainly had moments of true suffering, pain, and really wishing I could teleport the last 15 miles or so, I was and am so grateful for having the opportunity to do this.
Thank you so much to all those of you who were out on the trail: those who gave me a shout and a high five whom I'd met or had heard about the attempt as well as those who gave me a confused smile and concerned whisper to their companions ("do you think he's okay?"). Thank you as well to all of you have helped me get to this point, this day, literally, especially my parents, DW, MW, SB, GK, JW, PR, AF. I have cried with all of you in these past months and I'm not sure I'd be here without all your support.
Thanks to all of you who sent along your words of encouragement, both before, during, and after, from near and far. Your messages mean the world to me and I try to reply to every single one.
And lastly, thank you to the Himalaya Mountains. Someone wrote to me that "I hope you found what you were looking for in the mountains." I'm not really sure I knew what I was looking for at all when I came here, but I found so much. Thank you to the mountains for giving me that space for self-discovery and letting me journey and return safely.
Now, it's time to head back to the USA (for a bit) and think about what's next. There's much more to come.