Preview: MDT FKT Attempt IV – A New Hope

A long time ago in a county far, far away. . .

Backstory

I first heard about the Mason Dixon Trail (MDT) at some point during 2017. I have no recollection of the context, but as soon as I discovered it ended in Chadds Ford about 10 minutes from my house I began thinking about running the entire length. I was drawn to doing it self-supported as a personal test of what I could accomplish by myself. Now at that point in my ultra career, I had completed a dozen or so ultras and a handful of hundreds, however nothing outside of a race context. This was going to be next level for me. I created a plan of attack and began working on what has become a very, very, very long running project.

The first step was to get the trail maps. These arrived in October 2017 and then spent the next couple years sitting in my closet as I worked on establishing a greater comfort level at the hundred mile distance. I started making tangible progress in 2019 when I ran Olde 96er unsupported along with hiking the last 2 maps with my son. In 2020, I ran maps 3-8 over four separate days. The following spring I ran the first 40 miles to finish up the complete trail. At this point, I was ready to run the whole MDT.

May of 2021 was my first attempt. It was hot. I struggled. Running down to Muddy Creek on a smooth road section I somehow managed to jack up my ankle. I slogged along for a couple miles hoping it would loosen up, but no luck. My run ended at mile 99.

In October of 2021, I went back for another attempt. That run was going much better, however I slipped on a rock and gashed my shin so bad I needed a trip to the emergency room. This time my run ended at mile 72.

The following October I had a break in my race schedule and thought I’d give it another go. This time I made it a whopping 54 miles before calling it quits. At least this time I didn’t injure myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t approach the run with the correct mindset. I started it as something to attempt, not something to complete. I got 50 miles in and while I felt fine physically, I didn’t want to do it anymore. It was a great learning experience for me about what does and does not motivate me. I was completely satisfied to leave my MDT running project unfinished as the process had been so rewarding up to that point. I made a promise to myself though that if I was going back onto the trail, that I would be 100% fully invested.

Well, a year goes by and last October I decided I wanted to run the MDT. Having learned my lesson though I didn’t immediately head out for another crack at it. I put it as the final piece of my 2024 schedule. Everything that I’ve been training for this year has been in prep for this one run. There is nothing on my calendar for the next 3 months. This has my complete and undivided attention.

Framing (Or How Names Have Power)

So the elephant in the room is that this is attempt #4. I can’t help but think of my previous failures as I look forward to this run. And by thinking of them, it’s easy to get drawn into a fatalist mindset that this run is doomed from the beginning. In all my years running ultras, my body has only failed me twice and both time was attempting the MDT FKT. And the last time, I preemptively quit before my body could betray me.

In order to combat this natural inclination, I’ve decided to have some fun with this adventure. And what’s more fun that a good Star Wars reference? This works on two different levels. First, Episode IV was the first movie in the series so I can kind of pretend like my other attempts never happened. Also, the name of the movie itself it super uplifting: A New Hope. This is exactly what I need to focus on during what is objectively hardest thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish.

Goals, Targets, And Other Nonsense

My goal is simply to run from Whiskey Springs to Chadds Ford on the MDT. Period.

I have some ideas on how long this might take me. I’m not listing them as goals. They’re not exactly targets either. Maybe guidelines? I’ve run one self supported 200 mile race and I finished it in 56 hours. That was all on roads and had about 15k less elevation gain though. Based on that, my best guess is that performance would translate into a time of 60-65 hours on the MDT. Sixty hours would avoid a third night for me on the trail. Officially, the fastest time is 3d 12hr 40min by Paul Melzer (supported). The self supported FKT which is how I’ll be rolling is over 8 days.

Sigh.

Unofficially, the fastest time for the MDT was thrown down by Eddie Pantoja in 54:35:51. I shouldn’t even be thinking about this time though. I’ve raced “against” Eddie twice at Eastern States and he’s beaten me by 10 hours each time. This is also 80 minutes faster than my 200 mile time on a much easier course. And yet. And yet. . . I can come up with some math that would make this a stretch goal. Or maybe more realistic to say a streeeeeeeeeeeeetch goal. The first hundred miles of the MDT has 12k feet of elevation gain, which is 2k more than Wild Goose. This could translate into a 25 hour pace based on how I did last month. If I slow down 10% for the second hundred miles (27.5 hours) and sleep 2 hours the second night, that would give me a time of 54:30. Unfortunately, the MDT is now pushing 206-207 miles so I would have to figure out how to run those extra miles in 5 minutes. And slowing down only 10% is just not going to happen despite the second half being much flatter (8k elevation gain).

Regardless of the time it takes, I’m going to be laser focused on my singular goal: finishing. I’m not normally a big one for mottos, but there’s an obvious one staring me in the face that I will probably repeat a couple hundred times to myself over the course of the run:

There is no try.