3rd. Annual "FFF" 50 Miler!

[Bo_Beck]

One of the fellows in the video, Karl Meltzer, will be attempting to break the record of traversing the Appalachian Trail later this summer.

He'll have to do the equivalent of running Zion everyday for 40 some days straight. And he'll have to contend with the infamous east coast heat and humidity while doing so.

What an UNBELIEVABLE feat. It's just so hard to imagine consecutive days of long miles. The body and mind must be unbelievably conditioned to be able to do this! I look forward to the documentary.

[tanya]

Check this out. These guys posted this link to my Zion blog this weekend.

http://adventurerun.wordpress.com/20...zion-traverse/


blog
http://zionnationalpark.wordpress.co...zion-in-a-day/


Dang.. you and I were going to hike this, this month, but the days clicked away so fast

[Brian in SLC]

Check this out. These guys posted this link to my Zion blog this weekend
http://adventurerun.wordpress.com/20...zion-traverse/

Yeah, those guys are fast.

Ryan and Jared did Pine Creek in just a shade over 30 minutes. Jared recently did Keyhole, standard hike, in 11 minutes.

He did hold the cirque traverse record in the Wind Rivers for awhile.

Lotta horsepower there. Wierd combo of pretty high end climber (only and/or first one day ascent of Sendero Luminoso in El Portrero Chico...onsighting up to 5.12c...yikes) and very talented long distance running (Karl has one a bunch of ultras, and, Jared finished 4 at Hard Rock with a bad foot).

Will be interesting to see what they can pull off in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

-Brian in SLC

[erial]

Accounts of other recent park runs:

http://ericjlee.com/Trip%20Reports/WhiteRimRd.html

http://www.charlieroberts.com/archives/75

[erial]

And long traverses are not just a guy thing. From Trail Runner Magazine:




Jennifer Pharr: Fastest self-supported traverse of Vermont's Long Trail



Green Mountain Club members celebrated their completion of Vermont's Long Trail's final segment in 1930 by lighting flares from every summit in the Green Mountain Range, which arcs from the Massachusetts-Vermont state line to the Canadian border.

On August 8, 2007, 24-year-old Jennifer Pharr felt like rejoicing in a similar manner after covering the 270-mile distance in a record 7 days 15 hours 40 minutes. Previous record holder is Dr. Warren Doyle, who, in 1978, covered the distance (unsupported) in 8 days 13 hours 25 minutes. Ted "Cave Dog" Kizer is owner of the Long Trail's fastest overall recorded journey (with outside support) of 4 days 14 hours.

Doyle, along with ultrarunner David Horton, is an unofficial record keeper for the Appalachian (AT) and Long Trails. He is the Interim Director of the John B. Stephenson Center for Appalachian and Comparative Highland Studies Institute at Lees-McRae College, and has thru-hiked the AT fourteen times. Most thru-hikers and runners inform him of their record attempts on significant Eastern hiking throughways and Doyle verifies their claims primarily via an honor system, and more importantly, through the Appalachian region's hiking and ultrarunning community grapevines.

Pharr, of Hendersonville, North Carolina, completed the Appalachian Trail in 2005 and the Pacific Crest Trail in 2006, but yearned to thru-hike a substantial trail in a sustained push. "I wanted to immerse myself in the trail and give it my all," says Pharr. "Nothing could have taught me more as pushing my limits on the Long Trail."

Pharr's unsupported journey began each day at 5 or 6 a.m. She averaged 30 miles daily, hiking until 8 or 9 p.m., snacking all day. She had mailed three shipments of food to towns along the trail to restock her food supply. Pharr's 10-pound pack contained food and clothing, but no tent, as she slept under the stars, and when weather looked threatening, stayed in Green Mountain Club huts.

After blitzing through 45 miles the first day, Pharr awoke on the second morning to a swollen knee and ankle and later that day, suffered a bee sting on the same leg. Mildly allergic, she endured a painful and swollen leg for two days, icing it in streams wherever possible, doubting her ability to continue.

But day four was a turning point. "I had physically overcome a great deal of pain and was now ready for the challenges ahead," she says.

After graduating from Alabama's Samford University three-and-a-half years ago, Pharr works seasonally for six months at a North Carolinian summer camp for girls and then travels and hikes the remainder of the year. She took up ultrarunning shortly before her Long Trail attempt, running Virginia's 2006 Promise Land 50K in 7:00:19 and the 2007 Holiday Lake 50K in 5:34:14. After her record-breaking hike, she also completed Lynchburg's Mountain Masochist 50-miler in 9:41:21.

Pharr is considering a thru-hiking speed attempt on the Appalachian Trail next summer. "I know that hiking strong, fast and smart can teach you specific lessons, and [being really fit] is a gift that will not always be available to me," says Pharr. "So I want to take advantage of it while I can."

Pharr's Long Trail sojourn profoundly changed her. "I am not the same person that I had been at the start," she says. "Endurance hiking had taught me to unburden myself from physical gear and emotional ties that slowed me down in the past, and in turn focus on what is positive in my life."

Pharr didn't keep a blog on her Long Trail record-breaking hike, but a thoughtful write-up on her 2006 Pacific Crest Trail hike can be found at www.brmsstore.com/blogs/jennifer

*****

FYI: Next month after wedding and honeymoon, Pharr will really go far as she'll head south from Katahdin going for the women's AT speed record.

[tanya]

Did you see all this Bo?

[Brian in SLC]

The lad's have done it back in Novemeber in 9:08. which they think is soft.

Nutty!

www.door5.com

Cheers,

-Brian in SLC