In less than six days Rob Youngren and I will set out on a journey that will try more than our physical abilities but will test the limits of the human heart. No amount of training could prepare us for the challenges that we will come across while navigating along the 335 mile Pinhoti Trail, though we have prepared diligently. I fully expect to experience a wide range of emotions from the immense highs to the bottomless lows and everything in between. This will easily by the most difficult task that I have ever attempted in all my 34 years, running or otherwise. At last check of the plan, our mileage will average around 50 miles a day, as we make the most of the daylight hours while maximizing the nightly recovery for up to seven days or until the end. Yes, we will have support along the way in the form of a crew chief and pacers at times, but the bottom line is that our feet must carry us along the way while our minds tell us that the pain is too much to handle. We will undoubtedly take a wrong turn, miss a trail marker or run out of fuel. There will be fatigue, blisters, stomach issues, poison ivy, bleeding wounds and mind games that will attempt to hinder our progress, yet we will battle it day after day. The trick will be to minimize the mistakes in order to put ourselves in the best position to succeed. Neither Rob nor myself have ever tried anything so daunting as what we are about to embark upon and the deck clearly seems stacked against us.
Yet none of this will get in our way of this team of ultra runners will set the Fastest Known Time on the Pinhoti Trail and dare others to follow in our footsteps.
We will not stop.
I am confident in our joint ability to turn the impossible to possible.
Our strength will be our resolve.
"There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet." - William F. Halsey