Anyone else paying close attention to this in the final days? I’m getting hooked following his progress here - https://share.delorme.com/scottjurek. If he reaches the peak of Maine’s Mt. Katahdin by 5:15 p.m. on Sunday he will break the fastest known time to travel the trail (2189 miles this year) set by Jennifer Pharr Davis (46 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes) in 2011. She hiked the trail from north to south. From what I’ve read, Pharr Davis, who had finished several ultramarathons before setting the record, did very, very little running, if any, in setting her record. Jurek, like Pharr Davis, is getting support along the trail from his spouse.
What an adventure. I try to imagine how tired he must be at this point and yet how motivated he must be to break the record with less than 200 miles to go. His stated goal was 42 days, but an early injury and slow going in the rocky New England mountains has surely changed his perspective about the difficulty of breaking the current record. I’d love to run the trail supported like Jurek is doing, although I think I my goal would be closer to 100 days.
Stuff like this always fascinates me and the AT is on my bucket list. He’s coming up on the toughest stretch with the 100-Mile Wilderness before getting to Katahdin.
I gotta admit - I’ve never heard of Kennifer Pharr Davis, but if she’s giving Jurek a run for his money at this crazy distance, I have mad respect for her. Jurek is an ultra legend, and would run standalone marathons at pretty fast paces (I’m guessing like 2:20-2:30 if my memory serves me), and also crushes folks at ultras.
I gotta admit - I’ve never heard of Kennifer Pharr Davis, but if she’s giving Jurek a run for his money at this crazy distance, I have mad respect for her. Jurek is an ultra legend, and would run standalone marathons at pretty fast paces (I’m guessing like 2:20-2:30 if my memory serves me), and also crushes folks at ultras.
And he held his own and represented USA with the Tarahumara
I gotta admit - I’ve never heard of Kennifer Pharr Davis, but if she’s giving Jurek a run for his money at this crazy distance, I have mad respect for her. Jurek is an ultra legend, and would run standalone marathons at pretty fast paces (I’m guessing like 2:20-2:30 if my memory serves me), and also crushes folks at ultras.
We all talk about specificity right? She did more specific training than Jurek, having done at least two thru hikes of the AT before setting her record. I don’t know if Jurek had run any lengthy sections of the AT before his current attempt.
I gotta admit - I’ve never heard of Kennifer Pharr Davis, but if she’s giving Jurek a run for his money at this crazy distance, I have mad respect for her. Jurek is an ultra legend, and would run standalone marathons at pretty fast paces (I’m guessing like 2:20-2:30 if my memory serves me), and also crushes folks at ultras.
We all talk about specificity right? She did more specific training than Jurek, having done at least two thru hikes of the AT before setting her record. I don’t know if Jurek had run any lengthy sections of the AT before his current attempt.
Sure, but in general, fast marathoners/ultra folks tend to be pretty darn good at going extraultra far.
I gotta admit - I’ve never heard of Kennifer Pharr Davis, but if she’s giving Jurek a run for his money at this crazy distance, I have mad respect for her. Jurek is an ultra legend, and would run standalone marathons at pretty fast paces (I’m guessing like 2:20-2:30 if my memory serves me), and also crushes folks at ultras.
We all talk about specificity right? She did more specific training than Jurek, having done at least two thru hikes of the AT before setting her record. I don’t know if Jurek had run any lengthy sections of the AT before his current attempt.
Sure, but in general, fast marathoners/ultra folks tend to be pretty darn good at going extraultra far.
I’m kind of confused by the whole thing. The article said that she did little to no running during her record setting. Did she just not sleep then? I can’t really think of a way to say this without being accusatory or the very least sexist, but Jurek is one of the most accomplished ultra runners ever, it seems kind of strange to me this woman could simply out-walk him.
The best thing about the Appalachian Trail is the scenery, camping, solitude, wildlife, etc. Hiking is the best way to enjoy it. Running it is the last thing I would want to do.
As a runner, I’d like to think Jurek could go a lot faster than a “speed walker,” but from what I’ve read I have few doubts that Pharr Davis is legit. As I wrote earlier, she did much more “specific” training than Jurek. She was 28 when she set the record so she was definitely fresher than the 41 year old Jurek. Also, we know that women close the performance gap to men as the duration of an event increases. I’ve read that she regularly slept more than 4 hours per night. I bet she got more sleep during her final week than Jurek will get.
I’m kind of confused by the whole thing. The article said that she did little to no running during her record setting. Did she just not sleep then? I can’t really think of a way to say this without being accusatory or the very least sexist, but Jurek is one of the most accomplished ultra runners ever, it seems kind of strange to me this woman could simply out-walk him.
I have a friend who held the FKT on the PCT for a while, all walking. He’s really good at being slow and staying in motion. He’s also a good runner but he can’t run for as long as he can walk!
Jennifer Pharr Davis wrote a book (Becoming Odyssa) about her record breaking trip. I saw her speak at a small trail race right after the book came out, about 4 years ago, and got to speak with her a little after the race. I can’t comment on how she accomplished her record, but I can tell you that I enjoyed talking with her and she struck me as a very open, down to earth person.
The AT at least some of it in MD is not really “runnable” because it’s so rocky and has so many short steep up/downs. You’re basically power hiking a ton plus with the crazy weather we’ve had out here with lots of thunderstorms I’m sure that slowed him down as well as his knee issues early on. Plus I heard the MD portion was a piece of cake as compared to the Pennsylvania portion so there’s that too.
I would say experience over various sections would trump outright ability.
The AT at least some of it in MD is not really “runnable” because it’s so rocky and has so many short steep up/downs. You’re basically power hiking a ton plus with the crazy weather we’ve had out here with lots of thunderstorms I’m sure that slowed him down as well as his knee issues early on. Plus I heard the MD portion was a piece of cake as compared to the Pennsylvania portion so there’s that too.
I would say experience over various sections would trump outright ability.
Just my 2 cents…
Ahhh…weather…tough sections…injuries…the solution to that of course is to get in the elliptical.
Sorry, I could not resist. This is badass what Scott is doing. The “other guy” doing N/50/50 (replace N with whatever number you think is legit, he is claiming 50) while also an endurance freak just has slippery ethics in terms of representing the feat.
The AT at least some of it in MD is not really “runnable” because it’s so rocky and has so many short steep up/downs. You’re basically power hiking a ton plus with the crazy weather we’ve had out here with lots of thunderstorms I’m sure that slowed him down as well as his knee issues early on. Plus I heard the MD portion was a piece of cake as compared to the Pennsylvania portion so there’s that too.
I would say experience over various sections would trump outright ability.
Just my 2 cents…
Ahhh…weather…tough sections…injuries…the solution to that of course is to get in the elliptical.
Sorry, I could not resist. This is badass what Scott is doing. The “other guy” doing N/50/50 (replace N with whatever number you think is legit, he is claiming 50) while also an endurance freak just has slippery ethics in terms of representing the feat.
That was my first thought, too. Scott Jurek is amazing.
I’ve seen the EllipticalCowboy on the news (prepackaged pieces), but I haven’t seen too much regarding Jurek’s AT run. That’s a shame (but probably speaks more to self-marketing than anything else).
Different goals. Jurek is already very accomplished and doing this for himself. IC is trying to make a name for himself to build a career of coaching and such. Both are fine and make sense to me.
Jennifer Pharr Davis wrote a book (Becoming Odyssa) about her record breaking trip.
I have that book on my kindle since amazon has it for a few dollars. It looks like a good read, I should start soon.
I’ve been following Scott on DeLorme, cool stuff.
According to the Intro to Walking the AT:
Each year, many prospective 2,000-milers start at Springer Mountain in Georgia, only to quit at the first town 20 miles up the Trail. Up to 10 percent quit in the first week, but approximately 25 percent make it the whole way.
An interesting footnote about Scott Jurek was the fact that though he lost to the Tarahumaran Arnulfo Quimare in the 2006 race immortalized by the book Born To Run, very few know that he came back the following year (2007) and won convincingly over all of them. He never trumpeted that success. He’s an awesome and humble megastar in the ultrarunning world.
Really hopes he succeeds in this. Especially if, as some people believe, he plans it to be his farewell triumph.
