107 days to finish the Appalachian Trail

A new speed record was set on the AT this last week.  Here's the description from Run:

 

One of the most grueling records in American endurance sports fell late Saturday night in northern Georgia. Tara Dower, a 31-year-old ultrarunner and long-distance hiker born in North Carolina and based in Virginia, reached Georgia's Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, at 11:53 P.M. She completed the arduous southern thru-hike of the iconic trail, crossing 14 states and 2,197 miles, in 40 days, 18 hours, and 5 minutes. It's the fastest known time for hiking the iconic trail in either direction.

Her finishing time cleaves approximately 13 hours off the 2018 benchmark set by Belgian runner Karel Sabbe, who in 2018 hiked the trail from south to north. It also returns the overall record to a woman for the first time since 2015, when Scott Jurek eclipsed Jennifer Pharr Davis' then-record by only three hours.

 

I hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1978 with a friend from Bates College—Deb Kupetz.  That summer we were the only couple who started the Trail and finished together.

 

We were passed in Pennsylvania by a run/hiker (this was '78—the term "ultra" would not appear until more than 20 years later) who finished, as I recall, in a then-record 63 days.  We knew about the success within two hours, not because of YouTube or cellphones, but because of the "TomTom drum" passing of the news across the web of northbound and southbound trail hikers.  We were in Massachusetts the day the runner finished.

 

I hiked the AT faster than most…3 ½ months.  We hiked 20+ miles 67 days in a row.  We only took one day off.  I left to take a graduate assistant job in the English Department at the University of Wyoming 12 hours after we left Mt Katahdin in Maine.

 

Hey, Deb—if you're out there still somewhere, we were amazing.  Thanks for that.  40 days by this woman is pretty amazing, right?  I'm very impressed.