Unsupported FKT Military Ridge State Trail

July 18th was the day I had planned to attempt this FKT (Fastest Known Time). I have been thinking about FKT's and the possibility of attempting, and completing one. While I was reviewing some pod casts I came across someone talking about doing the FKT of the Military Ridge State Trail

, and the different levels of FKT's you can do from Supported, Self-Supported, and Unsupported. I went out to the site where these are stored to see what times people were logging for their FKT times.

This got me thinking "Why not give it a try?", from the times I was seeing I was thinking I could get the record for "Unsupported". As this was an unsupported run I would need to make sure I had a running pack big enough to be able to carry what I would need for nutrition, fluids, and other essential items. With this in mind I purchased the Adventure Pack 12L from Orangemud which can be found here , while the pack felt heavier than I was used to as I was carrying my stuff, it felt comfortable enough and something I would get used to.

So I committed to doing this on the Thursday before, I have already been keeping up my weekly mileage and felt good with doing 40 miles the upcoming Saturday. I then announced my plan to my wife Andria, and that it would be great if she could drop me off Saturday morning in Fitchburg, WI for 04:30am so I could get an early start and beat the heat wave we had coming in around 1pm.

My plan was to go East to West, and finish in Dodgeville, WI. The morning of I got started at 04:30am and right to plan, and being early the weather was cool to get a good start but was still really humid.

Said bye to Andria who will be at the other end to pick me up around noon time. So headed off and had a good pace for the first 12 miles as it was cool, and the sun never really poked its head out, it was very overcast and was just getting more humid as the day went on. Always seemed to look like it was going to storm but nothing but a few rain sprinkles over the first 4 hours.

As we can see it is day light now, and still moving a-long ok.

Then when I get to mile 21 to 26 it was getting really humid, and the stomach wasn't feeling at its best. It took me a good few miles and drinking the water that I brought, and eating some of the food I had with me I was soon feeling good, and doing much better.

At mile 30 I was still waiting for the storm to hit which I had heard from people I was seeing on the trail that it was going to rain soon, I must have heard this for the last few hours. Then it did start to thunder, and lightening (Which seemed really close a couple of times). Then it started to rain, and it rained a lot for the next four miles.

It felt really good, and cooled men down and before I knew it I only had 6 miles left and at this point I was just in cruise control and was feeling really good especially with the change in weather, and also to know there was not long left and I was on pace to get the FKT.

Before I knew it I was at mile 37, and still moving a-long nicely and now really looking forward to something to eat, Gatorade, Water, and Diet Mountain Dew!

Now I am on autopilot until the end, and only two miles to go, and before you know it there is the finish.......

Now it felt really good, and I am pleased that I got the FKT. While we may not be able to run in person Trail events, there are still many ways that we can get out there and challenge ourselves have fun and hopefully help inspire others to try the same.