Coming to you every Friday: interviews with FKT-setters and other athletes in the world of Fastest Known Times.
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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.
The Colorado and California 14ers have long been top objectives, and the Idaho and Utah summits over 12,000' have been done, but NOBODY had done the highest summits in Montana - until Nate.
"I did eight scouting trips, logging over 180 miles, 340 miles, and 126k of vert."
Listen to Nate's great description of what's cool in Montana, and how not to get attacked by a Grizzly Bear.
"I'm not a great ultra runner ... I just wanted to spend big days in the mountains rambling around."
The "Speedgoat" has won 40 hundred mile trail races, including one every year 18 years in a row.
"I do want to win my 19th in a row, but at some point it's all going to end ... is that time now"?
Listen to Karl's thoughtful and honest comments, what it means to be slowing down, his descriptions of the Appalachian Trail, and ... his next project:
Jeff just did the Arizona Trail Self-Supported, 9 hours faster than the Supported time! How do thru-hikers do that?
"I work it out so I can go for hours without even taking off my pack - bending over to get water out of a stream takes time."
Really? Yes, really - thru-hikers work to save seconds on trips that may take months. Jeff has done the Calendar Triple Crown and the Great Western Loop, while only running one ultra - listen to how a real thru-hiker approaches these huge trips.