Run Across America: Nels Matson Aims To Break Pete Kolstenicks Record, Starts TODAY

Any updates? It looks like he is just south of Toledo and clicking off 70 mile days. But I am not sure how you can tell where he stands against Pete's record at this point.

I saw that he quoted the 2nd fasted time as being 46 days, so that may be his new target.

I've been rather distracted by Nedd Brockmann's antics, but from Pete's Strava

strava.com

Lunch Run | Strava

View Pete Kostelnick's run on October 17, 2016 | Strava

Open link

he reached a similar point on Day 36 to where Nels finished on Day 38.

strava.com

Project Campbell's Call Day 38 | Strava

Problem solving a little pain. Tomorrow will be better. | Strava

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So Nels is approximately two days behind Pete at this point. Very impressive.

Looks like you may have been correct about Nels gradually running himself into the event.

Update after 39 days

It's not going so well for Nels right now. Only 54 miles yesterday and only 5.7 miles today. He had a very good streak from day 28-32 with 70-72 miles each day. He might overcooked it than. Day 33 got him a "pretty tender" ankle from a trip and fall the day before.

2517.2 miles so far which dropped the average down to 64.5 miles per day.
That puts him to a 46.5 day projected finish. But things can go south fast with an injury. He might even not finish. 550 miles is a long way with an injury.

Best of luck to Nels

I think that you have just cursed him, Livory. As soon as you posted, he got injured! That long stretch of 70 mile days must have been right on his limit and may have taken a big toll. Fingers crossed for him though as he's made a real go of this and looks completely genuine, unlike others we shall not mention.

Shame, it was Brockmann that I was trying to curse, but it's maybe harder to curse an influencer who has a massive crew inside a medical tent getting up to god knows what.

Anyway, now that Brockman's stunt is over I'll pay more attention to this run as it shows a lot of potential to get a great result.

Thanks for the update.

Does anybody know of a list of top 10 US Transcons? It would be interesting to see where this run may rank on the all time list.

And yeah, I know there will likely be varying degrees of suspicion of a few of these runs.

Rough list, with a few notable names. Apologies for those who are missing from the list.

Peter Kostelnick (29 years old) - 42 days 6 hours 30 minutes
Frank Giannino Jr. (36 years old)- 46 days 30 minutes
Jenny Hoffman (Female - 45 years old) - 47 days, 12 hours, and 35 minutes
Phil McCarthy (50 years old) - 49 days, 7 hours, 55 minutes
Paul Johnson (28 years old) - 51days, 2hours, 54mins
Marshall Ulrich (57 years old) - 52.5 days
Sandra Villines (Female) - 55 days, 16 hours, 23 minutes
Mavis Hutchinson (Female) - 69 days, 2 hours and 40 minutes
Dean Karnsas (47 years old) - 75 days
Gary Cantrell / Lazarus Lake (70 years old) - 126 days

I was not aware of the last interesting one.

There was a runner who kept a list alive until he was sick of dealing with all the cheaters and the backlash he got. Unfortunately this kind of endeavor is prone to cheating since nobody is looking. Frank Giannino is a good example. He only was so "fast" because another cheater was in a couple weeks in front of him. The guy never entered any ultras and there was never any prove that he was able to do that kind of thing.

Nowadays it's a little harder to pull it off without being noticed.

Nels Matson could be one of the fastest, if he survives his injury. The 5.7 miles yesterday indicates that it is looking not to good right now.
I wish him a speedy recovery, so that he can finish what he started in San Francisco.

Thanks for the list. The main ommision may be Tom McGrath from Ireland who was record holder before Giannino.

You forgot a very important person, William Goodge completed the run across America in just a bit over 55 days:

businessinsider.com

A man ran across the US in 55 days. Here's what he ate, wore, and listened to on his 3,175-mile journey.

Rachel Hosie

William Goodge never liked running as a kid, but everything changed when his mom got sick.

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This article shows Pete in his Hoka gear and wearing Cliftons (scroll down).

runnersworld.com

Ultrarunner Pete Kostelnick Smashes Record for Run Across U.S.

The 29-year-old averaged 72 miles per day during the 6-week, 3,067-mile eastward trek.

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That 42 days by Kostelnick is ridiculous...and it includes one day of 0 mileage very early on due to an injury.

I'm not sure of anyone right now who really is going to challenge that. I actually know Marshall Ulrich personally and asked him about Pete's record. He said "It's ridiculous when you think about it. I can tell you from experience that no matter how much multi day experience you have, nothing prepares you for 350 mile weeks every week for 6 weeks".

Nels had a tough 17 hours yesterday- looks like he had to walk nearly all of it but still knocked up 53 miles. Good on him.

It looks like Nels survived another day. He his now just north of Akron, OH 2570.8 miles into his run. He has approximately 460ish miles left.

Which puts him at 48.5 days at the end with an average of 55 miles for the last 9 days.

He has to be very careful now not to blow up in these last days.

hitting 60s again. good work.

66.5 miles in 18.5 hours.

This would have been the morning when Pete Kostelnick finished in 42.25 days.
Nels has probably 275-300 miles left to go.