Go to the page Me to Ga 2008 under my left ear to read a somewhat brief writeup of the AT Assault.
I will now get back to regular programming. There are still lots of great races coming up: Masochist, JFK, Javelina….just to name a few. Stay tuned for odds and other rambling from me.
I’ll also start doing some gear reviews for some interested folks looking for christmas gifts….only gear I use and feel is worthy. Caoi for now, now go run for me cuz’ I’m gonna rest for a while!
Use coupon code 2JV-1-QJE3H for 15% off almost everything Backcountry.com sells! Christmas is coming…….and by all means pray for some freakin’ snow. It’s PowPow time!
Karl,
Met you up on Whitetop Mtn in SW Va. Great blog on your AT journey and nice writeup after the event. I’m a hiker, surfer here in Hawaii and have several trail runner friends who compete in the HURT 100 so when I read that you’ve competed in and won that event that is quite impressive.
I’m looking forward to a big adventure in 09. Just need to decide what it might be.
Good luck with your next AT assault.
Hi Karl! Via http://www.mountainrunning.com I heard about your AT Assault. It was great to keep track of your unbelievable journey through Whereskarl. Way to go! I love mountain running myself, but living in the Netherlands does not help….. (’Flatland-country’). Luckely we have got the European Alps. It is my dream to run the Western States, so hope to fly over one day.
Karl,
Just finished reading your M to G. Simply amazing. The fact that you are considering your next go at the AT record already speaks to your determination. I thought the anterior tibialis tendonitis and fungal infection of your foot would spell the end of your attempt this year. Finishing behind the record, to me tells more of your character and toughness than had you beaten the record. You were the topic of discussion many times on long runs in August and September. I just have to shake my head in disbelief most of the time. Best of luck on your recovery.
Peter Lindgren
Karl,
What an adventure! Followed every minute, agonized over the obstacles you endured, and was furious with the naysayers (probably expressing that disgust a little too often, but hey…) I started every day with a dose of WheresKarl, and I can’t tell you the inspiration I gained. I’ve had a year off of running with injury, and have struggled getting going again. This really lit a fire for me. We’ve been fans of yours for a while (we’re “neighbors” here in Sandy, and are friends of Larry and Bonnie O’Neil, and friends of Marit’s). I’ll never be a speedgoat, but I’ll settle for being an old goat. Congratulations again on persevering… which in many ways said much more about you than breaking the record would have. We can’t wait for the next go.
Lloyd Eldredge
Now that you are done with the AT and whereskarl.com isn’t being updated every few hours, I can finally get some work done here around the office!
Thanks for bringing us along on this amazing adventure. You have motivated us to push our own boundaries and limits, which are a far cry from your abilities, yet none the less, you helped us see how high the sky is.
Thanks!
Will T.
http://willandjenni.blogspot.com/2008/09/pacific-crest-trail-hike-recap_24.html
http://www.whereskarl.com/?q=node/264#comment-2728
p.s. Thanks for the rest days during week 3 so I could finally guess your time right:
http://willandjenni.blogspot.com/2008/08/free-swag.html
Karl,
), now that you’re really familiar with the course and what can go wrong.
I’ve been following your progress on the Where’s Karl site.
Hats off to you, man. What an awesome effort!
Way to persevere and finish what you started.
It will be great to see you “knock the bastard off” next year (and, for good measure, the PCT the year after
Enjoy your beer–you earned it!
Peter
Congrats again Karl! Great report. Enjoyed following along on whereskarl.com, but was great to read your perspective on things and piece it all together. Must have been therapeutic for you to re-live it again through writing your report.
Enjoy your recovery!
Derrick
Karl,
Congratulations on your run, and now on your rest! I followed your story on the blog, and wanted to meet you in NY where I live near the trail, but I was leading a backpacking trip for the few days you were near my home. Your attempt inspired me, and also brought back good memories for me since I hiked the AT in 2003 with a schedule that was unrealistic for myself (four months…not 47 days). Anyway, I spent some time in the medical center in Front Royal, cursed and cried for a week while my shoes were too small, got “behind schedule”, had infected blisters well past half-way, and… So many similarities for such different hikes. I think that’s why your story is so inspiring. Even professional athletes experience pain! Well, I wish you a complete recovery, many good beers, and cheers to you!
You had me till you called warren a chump. I stopped reading. No thanks for the BC coupon. I’ll stick to worthy sites. Good luck.
Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I particularly liked your comments at the end … yup, you did the AT … that speaks for itself … a trail so worthy to walk it in 6 months is great, and it’s records are as stiff as the rocks themselves.
Sorry Sandy….if you ever come back, but it’s hard for me to believe Warren is such a nice guy with all the negativity he brought to whereskarl.com. We were not seeking negativity, I am sure there are plenty of negative sites out there. Perhaps you and Warren should stick to “worthy sites”. Thanks for reading the report! Yah good luck to you too. Go read somethin’ else.
Karl,
Awesome report man. Sounds like a great adventure. Great attitude displayed by you and the crew throughout, particularly with all the “hurdles” thrown at you. Congrats again.
Bedford
I was busy trying to increase my weekly mileage throughout this past Summer, and every time I experienced a low point in the training, I would log on to WheresKarl to see the latest update on the sufferFest. Kept me going big time to think of what a pansy I was, crying over 50-60 miles in a week when you were gutting out 40 a day over some serious ass terrain. I think you inspired 99% of the people who logged on to follow the journey, and as for the other 1%, I’m sure they are negative with everyone they meet. Congrats on a mission completed, and I don’t know why people were critical of the website glam, you were just having fun and trying to stoke yourself up for the attempt. But don’t try it again next year…give it some time, go over to Mont Blanc and beat those Europeans! Peace out…
It was great entertainment following along. I love trail running but I can’t imagine getting up to that day after day, you are tough, but most of knew that already. Sounded like you had a great crew along the way. I still have not had a chance look through all the pics.
The negative side I don’t really get. To go to WheresKarl and post a comment not agreeing with some aspect of the hike and moving along with their life would make some sense. But to do it day after day… why? I thought you guys handled it about as well as possible, basically leaving the posting open and letting them go right over the top. I had this vision of someone sitting in the dark at the PC hitting refresh over and over about to have a stroke over the whole thing. I have had a marathon distance triathlete, first time trail runner, show up at 50M trail race after they had posted on forum they were coming and expected to be able to average sub-9 min miles, which would be a course record. He did not break the course record, or win, but we still told him “nice job, come back next year” after the race. That’s the way it works at trail races.
To the Whereskarl sponsors, I have bought products in the past because I knew they were good enough for athletes like Karl and Scott J, money well spent backing these folks. Buzz, I was glad you posted over there, I thought the support was a good sign.
Congrats on the completion of the trek. I have been fortunate enough to read this blog for about a year now, and have always felt that in writing, you bring a positive, often sarcastic but always in good taste, view of ultrarunning and its challenges. I had to go back and find the negative posts after reading the references to them here, and I think it’s a shame that someone who would spend months at a time in the woods is petty enough to post their opinions on an internet message board. I am young, but old enough to remember when that right was reserved only for geeks who were too scared to stand up to anyone in real life. All that aside, good luck with your next adventure, your resolve to finish after TRENCH FOOT is amazing, nothing worth having is ever really easy after all.
I may wait another year to go back to the AT. hard to say right now, but hiking right now is a chore, it’s not fun yet. Needless to say it’ll take a long time to recover…much longer than any little 100 miler. That scares me.
On the sarcastic comment about my writing. you are right, I can sometimes be sarcastic and I’ll say it is all in good fun. I am not one to yack about my accomplishments, it’s really just running slow for a long time. I never intend to offend anyone here, sometimes it happens but not intentional. Cheers to all who follow my random writing. I’ll have some good stuff coming with the end of the year. More odds for Masaochist, JFK, Javelina, and others. Not to mention Speedgoat of the Year. I’ll start working on all the stats soon. And I hope to not miss any. At the moment Wardian and Skaggs are looking good…we’ll see. See what I mean, I’m getting off subject and random rambling again.
congrats again karl. if you get a chance over the next few weeks to post some more details on how your body is recovering i think that would be very interesting. i’m very curious to know just how long it is before you feel like “normal” on runs again. pushing one’s body for so many days in a row like that is really fascinating to me. i haven’t done much multi-day stuff, but just enough to realize just how insane it must be to go day in and day out for 50+ days. just to keep your mind up for the challenge for that long is amazing. sounds like you battled some of this there in virginia but overall it sounds like your mind was with it most of the way… sweet.
First, awesome run at Wasatch Geoff, super time and it sounded like you had a fun run too..
Me. I’m not running yet. It feels kind of wierd. I think it’s gonna take a while for my legs to feel normal. I just feel 20 years older at this time. My desire to run is still not there, but expect it to come around reasonably soon. I will do a follow up report on how my body feels. That should be interesting too. thanks for the idea. It’ll come soon.
Man, was it a long report! It was easier to follow daily adventures:) But it’s great to read a recount from you personally, so there, congratulation on completion! I sure am happy you decided to follow, and until the last 3 days I was hoping you’d still break the record. But if it not to be - oh, well, it was an journey worthwhile in itself. Thinking how you continued when you fell so far back, picking it up at spots, reading Billy’s “he doesn’t want to get out” makes you so normal. But then again, I already knew that. Bask in it, the full realization will probably come later. Take your rest. You will not loose your passion for running, because it is a part of you. Now go drink that beer:)
Karl,
First, let me say congratulations on quite a feat! If your experience on the AT is anything like mine, I am sure that even just the range of emotions you go through makes it seem like you’ve lived a lifetime in just a few weeks, and that’s before you even get to the physical tolls.
I have tried to provide an occasional moderate perspective on your whereskarl site, so I will continue that theme here. I have to agree with Sandy’s assessment of your comment about Warren Doyle. While I can understand your frustration at many of the things he has said, your inclusion of that statement did nothing to add value to your synopsis.
I understand that you are just speaking your mind, and I’m not one to suggest censoring your thoughts, but I had just hoped that you would not succumb to the very style of negativity for which you chide him.
Clearly there are many who are at odds with your motivations and style, but the best way to address their criticisms is by continuing to unapologetically do things your way, without so much as a second thought about your detractors; eas. I know this is extremely difficult, especially when the sport clearly defines so much of who you are, but your actions alone speak volumes about your love for what you do. While I won’t allow this one statement to lessen my opinion of your effort, I must admit that I could have done without it.
Hey Jason, sorry that bummed you out, but as I was unable to post commments while the hike was taking place, I had to throw in my two cents on how I felt about someone who does nothing but bring negativity to what I was doing, simply because (I feel) WD was just offended I did not ask him for advice about my adventure. Typically I do things on my own. I’ve run races “blind” by not checking the course beforehand many times. It makes it interesting. I can’t remember the last time I went to a race and actually looked at the map. “Chump” is putting it mildy. Honestly I’ve forgotten about all this until you brought it up. The question is: will WD be offended again when I don’t ask him again….probably, but who cares really. I’ll always be a nice guy who runs on trails, sometimes fast, sometimes slow…that’s all.
Sandy seemed a little awnry that day, I had to chuckle at her comments. I don’t think she realizes my side of it. Put yourself in my shoes and start over. If I was on a site heckling a runner/hiker for doing what he loves to do, would I be a bad guy…probably.
I was also heckled for “stopping early” and “drinking beer”. Why should I have gone out to kill myself when the record was out of reach? I enjoyed having a beer with JJ and Lone Wolf, and all the countless others who supported me. Had the record been still attainable it may have been a little different. For me it became an enjoyable thru-hike after I was stopped for 4 “0″ days. And it was a great way to scope out he course for a second run at it.
I’ll stop rambling. Thanks for the good words and you’re opinion, Jason. Good stuff! Out
Cool, thanks for the reply. Definitely understand your point of view. I’ve been exploring all of the local SW Virginia hot spots on the AT recently, and every time out, it becomes clearer to me that just being out there enjoying what you’re doing is paramount. Wish I could have crossed paths with you when you came through; it would have been cool to see you in your element.
It was quite an element to say the least!
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