Scott Jurek Appalachian Trail Record Attempt

sweetbunsofhoney wrote:

I'm not from the US, what are "smores"?

You're killing me, Smalls!

` wrote:

sweetbunsofhoney wrote:

I'm not from the US, what are "smores"?

You're killing me, Smalls!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlddDZkkxCc

Brilliant! Thank you!

lean two wrote:

Cliche Douchebags wrote:

I know this has been mentioned but I love a couple guys getting hammered and eating smores droning on about another "missing out."

yeah ,and waking up in the morning with vaseline round their buttonholes and not mentioning anything .

jesus

Looks like he decided to stop at Full Goose shelter in ME around 9 pm for a 29 mile day. Probably didn't want to push on because he had Mahoosuc Notch approaching and didn't want to scramble through it at night. Better part of discretion there. About 277 miles left, so he's sort of coming into the home stretch. Looking at the spreadsheet, he's only about 7 miles over JPD's pace at present, but of course she was hiking southbound. It'll be interesting to see how much Jurek has left in the tank.

Looks like he must have underestimated how hard it is to beat a woman over 2000 miles. Is it normal to take 2 hour breaks when you should be haulin ass in the middle of the day.

Interesting question: What would his mile time be right now?!

quacker wrote:

Looks like he must have underestimated how hard it is to beat a woman over 2000 miles. Is it normal to take 2 hour breaks when you should be haulin ass in the middle of the day.

Given that his original goal was 42 days -- and he's now into his 41st day on the trail -- I think this experience is definitely a learning experience with him. If he really is taking a two hour break today, and it isn't a problem with the DeLorme GPS signaler, then he's having issues. The longer these daytime breaks, the more nighttime running, which will always be slower paced -- and the less time to sleep and recover for the next day. Of course, the terrain has been more difficult, but it does seem that his pace has slowed.

It does look like the GPS is inconsistent -- batteries not recharging or some other problem. In any case, it started up this morning at ME 17 a bit after 4 pm, so apparently yesterday Jurek was able to get in a 43.4 mile day. According to the spreadsheet, he has to average a little over 42 mpd to at least tie the record.

onwards wrote:

It does look like the GPS is inconsistent -- batteries not recharging or some other problem. In any case, it started up this morning at ME 17 a bit after 4 pm, so apparently yesterday Jurek was able to get in a 43.4 mile day. According to the spreadsheet, he has to average a little over 42 mpd to at least tie the record.

I have little doubt he can do it. He always seems to find another gear.

I ran the 27 mi from Mt. Ellen to Middlebury Gap in the Greens a few days ago which Jurek did northbound. Honestly can say it was hell. They don't call it the Green Tunnel for nothing.

Kind of like all those marathoners who move up to 100 and kicks it in another gear at the end eh. Its funny because he's probably made the same mistake ultra runners chastize other people for years probably even worse. He was going to come in never did this course or distance before, and just crush it with his 42 day 'masterpiece' signing autographs and taking pictures on his tour. Just because he's the best 100 miler of all time how is it possible he could lose to a hiker over ~2100 miles. Its funny to see all the articles now coronating him from day one and its like touch and go survival now.

treeline wrote:

I ran the 27 mi from Mt. Ellen to Middlebury Gap in the Greens a few days ago which Jurek did northbound. Honestly can say it was hell. They don't call it the Green Tunnel for nothing.

Jurek is on the AT, not the Long Trail. The AT and the LT are only together in Vermont from the Mass border to the Killington area, the section you ran is well north of that. The section you did is not part of the trail Jurek is doing. The part of the AT/LT south of Killington, the parts I've done (mostly around Stratton) I've found a lot smoother than the LT from Middlebury Gap to the Canadian border. There are plenty of hard sections south of Killington, but just in general If you call the section you were doing "hell" I'd call the AT/LT south of Killington "heck".

I did the LT from Lincoln Gap north over Abraham to Ellen on Sunday, out and back. Hiking, not running for me although I'll jog sections here and there. I'm amazed at you guys who can run these rocky, rooty trails.

my gear won't shift wrote:

Kind of like all those marathoners who move up to 100 and kicks it in another gear at the end eh. Its funny because he's probably made the same mistake ultra runners chastize other people for years probably even worse. He was going to come in never did this course or distance before, and just crush it with his 42 day 'masterpiece' signing autographs and taking pictures on his tour. Just because he's the best 100 miler of all time how is it possible he could lose to a hiker over ~2100 miles. Its funny to see all the articles now coronating him from day one and its like touch and go survival now.

Annoyed as pie, is that you?

The spreadsheet was updated this morning, indicating that yesterday he actually only made it to the south side of Elephant Mountain (not to ME 17), clicking off 34.5 miles, not the 43 miles I had thought he had managed yesterday. So, to finish on the record, he now has to average over 44 mpd from here on out. He could use a good day today.

So yesterday Jurek started around 4 am and hiked until a little after midnight, covering 40.7 miles to Spaulding Mt. Lean-to. I think that was a pretty good day for him -- it has been five days since his last over-40 mile day -- so psychologically he hopefully feels good about the effort. At any rate, he's out of the Mahoosucs, so he should find the trail relatively more forgiving. Especially once he gets over Avery, he may even be able to run more consistently rather than hike (hopefully his legs are in a shape to run) and measurably pick up his pace. When he started this morning, he had about 200 miles to go, and someone calculated that he has to finish before 5 pm on Sunday to break Pharr Davis' record.

Jurek is going down. You read it here first.

Scott's completed six weeks: 1987.5 miles

(as of a little past midnight last night)

= 47.3 miles per day average (for 42 days)

(also it looks like he past 2000 miles this morning)

In order to break the record he needs to touch the sign on top of Mt. Katahdin by Sunday afternoon at 5:16 pm

This looks like it will go down to the wire on Sunday!

(I can't verify this but I've seen it mentioned that he needs to get through the gate at Baxter State park by 12 noon on Sunday to be allowed to climb up Mt. Katahdin)

So it should be fun watching this on Saturday night and Sunday!

Here are the links I've been following:

Delorme live tracker:

https://share.delorme.com/scottjurek

Spreadsheet:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vh92xpsn7331f4h/Jurek.xlsx?dl=0

Scott's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ScottJurek

Whiteblaze discussion board:

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php/111652-Scott-Jurek-on-Appalachian-Trail

Speaker of Many Bold Truth wrote:

Jurek is going down. You read it here first.

We'll see. It looks like it's going to be a matter of a few hours either way. In any case, I think we're seeing that Pharr Davis's record is no joke.

Geo. Pollock wrote:

Positive Contribution wrote:

Was in Shenandoah National Park to camp Monday night. Was invited by some thru-hikers to bring my firewood and join their campfire and eat some smores and have a a beer or two.

They weren't fans of what Jurek is doing. Basically saying good for him but he's missing out what thru-hiking the AT is all about.

So, I take it that what "thru-hiking the AT" is really "all about" is eating s'mores and drinking beer? Um, okay.

More enjoyable than waking up at 5am to rung 50 miles on a rocky trail......

Douche