John Kelly’s Appalachian Trail record bid is now past the halfway stage, and the US ultrarunning star continues to provide fascinating daily updates on his epic near 2200-mile journey.
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. That mark was something Kelly himself called: “Possibly the most impressive FKT ever.“
John’s latest update from the wild found our intrepid athlete in good spirits as he recounted two major highlights in the past 24 hours – one being to reach the halfway point, and the other in the bathroom!
Hitting halfway, and a proper bathroom
Speaking in a video posted to his Instagram account, he said: “I’m just past the 19-day mark on the clock and we are around mile 1106. So last night we stopped about 1.7 miles short of the official halfway point. So we hit that first thing this morning. That was a pretty big highlight. What I am doing now is no longer the longest thing I’ve ever done. It is slightly shorter than that other thing I’ve just finished doing.
“A good night of sleep. Looks like another slightly warm and humid but otherwise nice day. Some spots on my feet are still the biggest annoyance and biggest lingering concern from the first week where my feet were wet the entire time.
“So another big highlight, I just had a full bathroom with toilet, flushable sink to wash my hands in. That was the first time in quite a while there.”
So what is an FKT?
Kelly also used some of his daily update to explain to fans the meaning of FKT (Fastest Known Time), and the various types.
“Also I just thought I’d clarify, I know a lot of people aren’t familiar with the term FKT or what it stands for. As we pass people on the trail they say ‘oh he’s going for an FKT’.
“I kind of encourage the term speed record as it’s more self explanatory. But I mentioned to the team a lot yesterday, in terms of doing a supported FKT, there are other styles as well. There are unsupported records where you have to carry absolutely everything you need except water from natural sources from start to finish. I don’t think anyone will ever do that on something as long as the Appalachian Trail.
There is self-supported – which you are allowed to go into town and resupply. You can mail yourself supplies that you pick up along the way. But still you have to carry all your own stuff. You have to get all your own stuff.
“And to be honest, Joe ‘Stringbean’ McConaughy’s 45 days and change self-supported FKT on the Appalachian Trail is to me still one of the most impressive FKTs out there. I don’t think there’s any way I could do that, as far as carrying all that stuff. I’m not a big guy and just bearing the mental load yourself for that length of time
“So once you so much as accept a bottle of water or a Kleenex from another person, it instantly becomes supported. There’s no such thing as kind of supported.”
