Coming to you every Friday: interviews with FKT-setters and other athletes in the world of Fastest Known Times.
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Josh is from Michigan - sounds mundane? Think again! You wouldn't believe what this guy is doing ...
Fastest person to visit all 50 states - and run a 5k in each: 6d, 6h, 58mins!
Most countries visited in one day - and run in each country (read the article below): 13!
Most 14ers climbed in one day: 10
Who won the inaugural Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc and the Hardrock 100? AND, who is a really nice person? You know it's Krissy Moehl.
"I love running - the tribe is getting bigger - I really enjoy people!"
She set FKTs on some of the most iconic routes in the west: Tahoe Rim Trail, Wonderland Trail, Trans Zion, and R2R2R. She wrote "Running Your First Ultra", and if you purchase it from her website, it comes signed with a personal inscription: http://krissymoehl.com
The Hut-Hut Traverse is a New England classic, especially with the "Croo" ...
"The section between Greenleaf and Galehead is really steep and usually wet - you have to use your hands - that's what those trails are like."
Jeff now lives in Colorado, with more big plans. What's the difference between the Rockies and New England?
"There's nothing like New Hampshire. And I'm still living the dream."
On June 20, Karl broke Kilian Jornet's time on Denali by one minute. After more than 11 hours, it came down to the wire?
"He used skis, so I was way ahead at the top, but he was much faster going down."
Karl is going for FKTs on all the Seven Summits - he holds 4 of them simultaneously right now!
"I'm not that fast, but I'm at home on glaciers, up high, in the mountains. This is what I was born to do."
Very honest and insightful descriptions of what it takes to survive and thrive in the biggest events, from two of the best!
"100 miles is really hard, it’s a long way - we’re not running for our lives; it’s something we choose to do. So what can we learn, how do we get through the dark places?"
"I hate it too - but it's a soul-searcher - but you need it in your life."
"FKTs are more personal; they are more likely to be for the right reasons."
In 2001 Flyin' Brian hiked the entire PCT, AT, and CDT in one calendar year. He changed the game.
"The difference between impossible and possible is very narrow."
Brian kept going - he's an engineer who likes to solve problems - so he worked at Barkley, and achieved the "course record" in 2008 on his third try. His wisdom is a delight:
"Volunteer trail work is a real joy. I'm doing what I can; not worrying about what I can't."
Not only has he finished Hardrock 100 22 times (!), but he also holds an obscure record for road Marathons! Listen to Blake's comments on the cancellation of this year's race, and recollections on a few remarkable FKT's, from the John Muir Trail, to being the first person to run cross country from Badwater to the top of Mt Whitney, AND the first person to finish the Nolans 14.
"This was before cell phones. Dad and I were talking to each other on FRS radios."
In 2016 Adam took a 200' fall in the Canadian Rockies.
"Nick Elson and Dakota Jones ran down and were so relieved to see me moving. They thought I had died”.
10 months later Adam finished the Hardrock 100 in 33 hours.
More runners are taking up climbing and skiing - do they have the needed skillset? If you mess up in a race you might get blisters; if you mess up in the mountains you might die. What can YOU do to be safer in the mountains? Adam has some thoughts.
"It doesn't have to be hard to be fun!”
Darcy Piceu and Gina Lucrezi share thoughts on this important topic.
"We're in a real interesting time right now. If I do nothing else in the sport, it would be to raise awareness."
This is a different conversation for Fastest Known Time, and quite worthwhile.
Trail Sisters has established 5 recommended practices for races:
"Nellie" won almost everything she entered - 441 events with 390 podium finishes - until she almost died. Alone in the desert for 3 days and 2 nights in December, with a broken pelvis, lying unsheltered and unable to move Alone, except for her dog.
“Taz,” she said, “maybe you could go and get some help for me.”
It's a good story. They were on the Today Show and a Discovery Episode, and now listen to Nellie describe this in person, and what she's doing now.