Record Attempt

[Just Bill]

I don't know if anyone is following Drew anymore since his shot at the record was lost long ago, but he is still running the trail. His day to set the record was Sunday but he came up 425.6 miles short. Here is a plot of his progress. I didn't spend much time on it. The mileages in his blog posting have not been very consistent or accurate, and rarely has given actual locations. As a result, the graph is just based on estimates using the numbers he did post. The red line is the JPD pace (linear). For fun I calculated how fast he would have gone if he had done the same miles per day, but without taking Sundays off (green line).

Attachment 28003

Good for him. I poked in once or twice but his updates are quite sporadic as you say.

The cynical side of me wants to say that the folks likely to donate to this sort of thing will likely find a way to appreciate the old testament like trials, tribulation, hardship and eventual perseverance through faith. Those folks likely know nothing of the trail or the record and will hear only of a monumental run of 2,180 miles that is as mind blowing to them as any long distance hike seems to be to the folks any of us encounter.

The spiritual side of me wants to say- humble yourself or be humbled by the trail. So maybe in that mysterious way that sorta thing is supposed to work he may still meet his fundraising goals with a bit of proper spin and a decent documentary.
Worst thing that happens is some kids get the help they needed and nobody gets famous in the process- sounds about right to me.

The kinder hiking side of me wants to say- there's no such thing as a bad hike and best of luck to him finishing safely.