Congratulations to Scott setting a new overall AT record and a new Northbound AT record on Sunday afternoon: 2189.2 miles
46 days, 8 hours, 8 minutes
An average of about 47.2 miles per day.
He beat the overall record (by JPD) by about 3 hours and beat the Northbound record by 1-2 days (I can't find the previous NOBO record right now).
Onwards: Thank you for posting a link to the interview on top of Mt. Katahdin - very insightful - and for your comments throughout this discussion.
I'm looking forward to some more interviews with Scott and articles to find out more details in the future.
A few thoughts:
1. It appears Jurek kind of "winged it" in preparation/planning, training, and execution, etc. and he still broke the record.
He had never hiked the AT before (other than one 30 mile section) and had never hiked a 300+ mile week in his life before this.
Further, he set the record going Northbound which is much harder than Southbound (because of the mountains in New Hampshire and Maine).
To me this is a credit to his athleticism (at age 41) and his strong will to fight through it.
2. That Jurek was able to break the record (albeit by only 3 hours) going Northbound, on his first try (and first time on the AT), at age 41, and winging it, tells me that the record is still "soft."
While I think his Northbound record will stand for several years, I think the overall record can be reduced by several days - going Southbound - and will be in the coming years.
3. Going Southbound is the logical way to break the record:
If you get to Vermont and are not ahead of record pace - you can just quit at that point - no sense continuing.
But if you get to Vermont ahead of the record pace, then it's game on.
Maybe Karl Meltzer will do it next year (with Scott pacing some of the way).
3. As the record continues to drop, sleep management will become an increasingly significant factor.
Again, congratulations to Scott Jurek!
It is an impressive athletic achievement - a great example to inspire us to take on the whatever challenges we face!