The Appalachian Trail Assault Begins...

Ultra running bad-arse, "Speedgoat" Karl Meltzer will begin his Appalachian Trail Assault on August 5, as he tries to set a new supported speed record covering the trail from Maine to Georgia faster than anyone else has done it. Photo by Tommy Chandler, from whereskarl.com.

Frequent readers of The 4-1-Run may recall a post a couple months ago about two long trail record attempts this summer. As it turns out, the Speedgoat, Karl Meltzer himself, stopped through to offer his thoughts on his planned Appalachian Trail Assault. Nice to have an ultra running legend swing through and say hey!

August 5 is the big day for Karl, as he begins the madness. And the coolest part, for those of us not on the AT ourselves, is that we can follow it all, with GPS coordinates, posts, photos, etc. on whereskarl.com. Tune in and stop by. Pretty remarkable stuff.

Karl has switched his focus from winning more 100 mile trail races per year than anyone else (which he has accomplished each of the last two years), to running 47 miles or so each day for 45-ish days to step up to a truly epic challenge.

And, in addition to just following Karl, on a more local level, keep an eye and an ear out to see if the Speedgoat crosses paths with our own Wood Frog while in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Now THAT would be sweet. And Keene, if you find yourself on the trail running up there, you better take some pictures! :)

Good luck to Karl, his crew from Backcountry.com, and Matt Hart and the other runners who will be joining him along the way.

The Summer of the Long Distance Trail

Ultra runner David Horton (foreground) during his record setting Pacific Crest Trail thru hike. His journey was chronicled in the film "The Runner" by Journey Films (photo from Journey Films website).

This summer two legendary ultra runners will attempt to set new speed records for two of the three long trails in the United States. And further, you can follow each of them through their adventures with daily postings on websites and blogs.

David Horton is no stranger to extreme running feats. At one time he held the record for fastest thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. A couple years ago, he set the speed record for the Pacific Crest Trail, which he still holds. He has also run across the country as part of the Transcontinental Race; won the first two Hardrock 100 mile races; and has directed several races as part of the Lynchurg Ultra Series, including the Mountain Masochist 50 miler, which turned 25 in 2007. Horton has written a book about his adventures on the AT and running across the country and was the subject of the documentary film, "The Runner," which followed his PCT run.

Horton will be calling in frequently to Clark Zealand, who is already posting reports on his blog for his race-directing company, Eco-X. If successful, Horton will have held the speed record on each of the nation's three noted long trails: the AT, PCT, and CDT. To make it all work, he has to cover roughly 2,959 miles in just over 69 days. Ouch!

Meanwhile, starting in early August, on this side of the country, Utah uber ultra runner Karl Meltzer will take a shot at the Appalachian Trail speed record. Meltzer currently sits atop the trail ultra world--winning 6 and 5 100-mile races in the past two years. The AT record has been broken/lowered twice since Horton held it and is currently held by speed hiker Andrew Thompson.

Meltzer has a number of stalwart sponsors (as does Horton), who are helping him with logistics, etc. for the trip. One of Karl's primary sponsors is Backcountry.com, who have outfitted an RV to follow the route and serve as bunk and base of operations. They have set up a website, whereskarl.com , that will track his progress along the trail, each day. The site currently has training videos, current news, etc.

Each of these guys are big names in the sport, with extraordinary accomplishments to their names. I dig that neither are content to sit back, or to simply run races. They are each thinking creatively and pushing their bodies in new ways. And in both cases, they are organizing ultra races for others, bringing us out to the trails they themselves run, to push ourselves and experience that self-transendence that can come with that kind of effort.

So follow along if you are interested and either way, a tip of the hat and best of luck to David and Karl as they spend all or part of their summers on the long trail.