Fastest known time

I just finished my first trail race last weekend, a 32K.

I'm having trouble deciding between going for a longer race or trying for an FKT.

I'm also a backpacker.

If you have any advice how to pick between different paths for outdoor running, I'd love to hear it on the show someday.

Tessa." Okay, so this is kind of how I think about it and how I coach to some of these things.

So I think races can be really great ways to unlock mileage, maybe go after or have reasons to go to certain places.

But I think an FKT can be such an immersive experience that hits on so many different levels, especially if it's within the self-supported style.

The caveat is that FKTs, I think they have so many more factors involved that training can kind of take over your life a little bit more than a race, say.

Welcome back to the FKT podcast.

I'm your host, Heather Anderson.

Today, I'm joined by Caroline Himbert and Joe McConaughy, who set FKTs on the iconic John Muir Trail.

Caroline bested her previous unsupported time by completing the 223-mile trail northbound in three days, 16 hours.

Joe also set the supported northbound record, completing it in two days, 16 hours.

We've talked about the JMT before.

Caroline, you took 12 hours off your time last year.

Can you talk about what you learned from your previous experience and what you brought into this year's FKT and why you went back?

My through hike in 2019, I raised money for a cause then.

But on both of those, the through hike and the FKT attempt, I I wanted something to run for that wasn't just for me.

And I also wanted something when it was really hard on those really hard days.

I wanted to run further, not just because I wanted a record or my crew wanted a record.

And then after that, go into another big effort.

I was about to do after Hard Rock.

I was going to do the JMT FKT at the end of or like mid-September was my goal.

And then I was going to jump into training for a hundred mile record attempt at Tunnel Hill.

trail of course the track race that ryan's doing is not a trail race javelina is a trail race but anyway it's the flat episode here at free trail and this strava file the week fits i got an email from jeremiah sullivan's buddy i gotta find his his name real quick but right why don't you let jeremiah sullivan's Strava file play here.

240 mile new FKT on the Katy Trail in Missouri.

OK, this is an old rails to trails, an old railroad track that has since turned into a very long multi-use kind of bike path in the state of Missouri.

And what you'll notice, Zach, is it's very flat and very long.

And his year to date, again, recording this at the end of October, is already... 6,158 miles.

Jeremiah Sullivan, congrats to you.

Katie Trail, FKT.

Zach, any thoughts on this or closing comments as we end the show?

So I did that.

I did an FKT up in Pittsburgh.

That was just a really long dragging myself many miles on like a rails to trails type thing.

And then I did, of course, in Tampa or 275, the highway, they opened the other bridge so you could finally run across that, run across the bay.

But then when it comes to sharing what they're learning about the hard parts that maybe didn't go to plan, their personal story, that's where a lot of them will get tripped up because they are afraid of the trolls on the internet, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

They're thinking, well, I'm not setting the FKT or I'm not running 2,000 miles, so who cares about this? Who cares about my half marathon or whatever? So what would you say to that woman who wants to do something, do what you do of taking adventure and blending that into advocacy for a cause that you care about? How can the everyday athlete who's not going to do 2,000 miles along the Colorado River in the summer, how can we face those fears of the public eye? Yeah.

So how do you make change? So this is a very interesting question because for the longest number of years, a lot of the work that I did was advocacy and it was awareness and it was like lifting up these issues and trying to make...

Because my theory of change was...

But, you know, we knew that those were the tools that would enable the actionable outcomes to happen.

It's also hard, right? Because, you know, a lot of the time funders, especially in the look, let's call a spade a spade.

They want to fund an FKT.

They want to fund something unusual.

You've been doing them for years.

You know what? I see now in the trail space, in the adventure space, FKT space, there just seems to be so many more people that are jumping in and doing these incredible or trying to do these incredible long races and incredible feats, sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully.

It can be dangerous.

There's lots to know, lots to learn.

And he immediately, he loved it.

And he wanted to do more of these kind of things.

I just met with him this morning as he goes to attempt an FKT out and back on the Long Trail in Vermont.

I mean, you know, he's doing amazing things now.