US ultrarunning star is deep into his epic Appalachian Trail record bid, and he has provided another fascinating update as he gets closer to that incredible goal.
The 40-year-old great is taking on the massive challenge, for which fellow American Tara Dower holds the fastest known time of 40 days, 18 hours and five minutes which she set last year. A mark that Kelly himself called: “Possibly the most impressive FKT ever.“
John is now well past halfway on the near 2200-mile journey of discovery through the US wilderness, and his latest update finds him deep into his trek across New Jersey. And the great news is – it has stopped raining…
It stopped raining…
Speaking in an Instagram video, he said: “It’s Day 24 on the Appalachian Trail and and I am at mile 1354 and the big news now – it stopped raining. Mostly it’s been pretty constant for nearly three days now, managed to keep my feet dry since the sock and shoe change about an hour-and-a-half ago and it feels wonderful.”
Kelly spoke in detail about the challenges New Jersey had presented – notably the terrain combined with that miserable weather.
“So you know, when you think Appalachian Trail or mountains or just wilderness in general, I think for most people the first thing that comes to mind probably isn’t New Jersey, but here we are and you know the first half of the state was surprisingly quite wildernessy. It was also quite rocky – pretty much a continuation of the rocks at the end of Pennsylvania. And with the continued rain yesterday, that made things to be honest quite a frustrating day yesterday.
Rocky in Jersey
“Just a lot of those rocks were like ice and could not move as fast as I wanted to or felt I should be able to. But still put in a solid day and stopped early to try to tackle the rain and the rocks in daylight. So stopped basically at last light. And also because New Jersey has more road crossings. There are a lot of rules on where you can camp or park overnight. So our options were limited to a 53-mile day or a 66-mile day.
“At the start I thought ‘ah yeah I can do the 66, then came all the rocks and rain and that was definitely no longer possible. So was for the best that we had the earlier stop and then a much earlier start today. I got started around first light before sunrise. Another morning mostly of rain. But more runnable, smoother terrain. And again, for the moment it has stopped raining.
“And New Jersey I’ll say has become a bit more New Jersey-like with the road crossings and the constant sound of traffic somewhere in the distance on a highway or interstate.
“I can’t speak much for the views here as it’s been rainy or foggy most of the time but there were some spots, I could see where they had potential. So I will finish up New Jersey today. Heading to New York, have a good spot picked for tonight.”
Bedtime routine is key
Picking a spot to stop each night is a key part of Kelly’s strategy – he prefers somewhere easy and comfortable for his support crew and also for him. Allowing for good sleep and early starts.
“That’s a big part of my strategy, was to do all of my overnight stops at parking areas and road crossings – where my support crew and vehicle could be. Advantage is that I have a nice, fully sheltered, cosy, familiar place to sleep. Every night, solid bedtime routine. It’s much easier on my support crew to not have to hike things in and set up camp.”
