Multi Day Update

“I DIDN’T FAIL” – David Horton on the Colorado Trail

David, the multi-day king, wanted to go out on a good note after a sour day on the CDT last year. He and Jonathan Basham came to Colorado to train and acclimate for three weeks; their preparation was good.

I was thus taken aback when David’s smiling face greeted me at the Grouse Gulch aid station during the HR100. He was in excellent spirits, looked good, and it was great to see him. He had called it quits after 6 days – oddly while still right on schedule for the record – but with mounting issues that clearly precluded continuation.

His blog has an excellent account, excerpted here:

“Going after the CT record might have been my most difficult multi-day attempt so far. The CT record is very TOUGH. The trail itself was tougher than I thought it would be. I averaged 40 miles per day on the PCT and AT and 45 miles per day running across America. Averaging over 54 miles per day on the CT was VERY tough. I started very day before daylight, usually around 4:00 AM and finished every day after dark. My average time on the trail was around 17 hours per day. This left very little time for anything. I was usually in bed 30 to 45 minutes after finishing each day. Each day, the last section ATE my lunch. It took everything that I had to finish each day. I never knew at night if I would be able to go again the next day.”

“Day 6 should have been an easy day but it was not. We got lost before daylight and ran 4 miles off course. Later in the day it was very hot and the dry heat started sucking the life out of me. In the middle of the days my hands started swelling, sausage fingers you say. I have had them before but NEVER as big as they got this time. In the last section of the day, I became very concerned about them and how big can they get before damage occurs. On the back of my hands, the skin stuck grossly very high. My forearms started swelling all the way up to my elbows. It was getting tighter and tighter. How big can they get?? What damage can occur?? I was also thinking about the next day as it was going to be the toughest day yet, over 60 miles with one road crossing. I knew the possibility that if I got in trouble in this section that I would put myself and my crew in a serious problem. I knew then that I must stop. Could I have run the next day? Yes. Could I have caused myself or others some serious problems? Yes.”

Upcoming Multi-Day Trail Record Attempts

The season is gearing up! Here are just a few of the Big Trail record attempts developing.

COLORADO TRAIL – David Horton

The professor emeritus of multi-day trail records is back! David set the record on the Appalachian Trail in 1991, followed up with the record on the Long Trail in 1999, and after a John Muir Trail attempt  aborted on the first day, became the first person to do a supported run on the Pacific Crest Trail, establishing in 2005 what is still fastest time.  (An excellent video called “The Runner” was made of this project). Last year David tried the biggest big trail of them all, the Continental Divide Trail, but abandoned after the first day, June 7, which went very badly.

This year he hopes to start in Denver at 6 am on July 4 and break Paul Pomeroy’s 2008 record 8 1/2 days later in Durango.  This timing would enable him to be on the Hardrock 100 course, a race he has won, when the race itself is taking place – the HR100 and CT courses are briefly the same.  That would be remarkable.

2008 Multi-Day Wrap-Up

Marshall Ulrich just finished running across the United States in record time, ending in NYC the evening of Election Day.  His massive 52-day effort wraps up a great season of multi-day record runs!  

First summarized on this blog back in June, this was a big year for multi-day running.  While clearly a fringe activity, multi-day runs do capture the imagination; besides the obvious extreme aspect, their real allure might be how they arouse our yearning to “be a runner” instead of “going for a run”; to live the life of a self-propelled person fully and wholly.  Our re-cap follows; this list includes only record-attempts (non-record runs are wonderful but are not included here), and all but Marshall’s are off pavement.

Colorado Trail – new record

It’s a big year for big trail records!  While Karl starts on the AT in just four days, Peter Bakwin, on his excellent new website, takes note of a lot of other activity: 

“FOUR people are separately going for speed records on the Tahoe Rim Trail over the next couple of months … and David Horton has been reporting about Jennifer Pharr’s attempt to break the women’s record on the AT as well.” 

Most recently, Paul Pomeroy of Lyons, Colorado just broke Jonathan Basham’s Colorado Trail Record.  (Jonathan was supported by Andrew Thompson, the current AT Record holder, and vice versa).  Paul went “under the radar” by choice;  almost no one knew he was even on the Trail.  “I did it entirely for personal reasons”, he notes.  “I didn’t want to talk it up.  I wanted to do it”.  Paul is well-known in local running circles as an outstanding athlete, with a sharp wit and sense of honor.  Fortunately he is also gracious and shared a few words with me about his recent trip: