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Update: After submitting this for FKT verification it was determined that I deviated from the course at Harpers Ferry. They noted that the deviation didn't give me any advantage or time savings, but that in the spirit of the FKT I didn't complete the course as advertised. I'm cool with that, it was always about the experience first and the FKT was always secondary. 


First off need to thank Louise Valentine for giving me a hall pass this weekend!

Logistics: I drove to Harpers Ferry at 0330 and summoned an Uber. The Uber driver dropped me off at Pen Marr Park near the PA border. 

Weather: I had been looking at doing this since the fall waiting for the right weather conditions. I zeroed in on this weekend early in the week. Unfortunately as the day got closer the forecast got worse. I had mentally committed on Thursday and couldn't turn back. There were thunderstorms the night before with a ton of rain. The thunderstorms knocked down a bunch of trees and made it difficult in some parts to traverse the trail. The rain made it impossible to run in many places and the rocks extremely slippery. The actual weather the day off was 60s in the morning, but climbed to nearly 80 and sunny by midday. Needless to say the hot weather crushed me.

Supplies: I carried my Nathan Quickstart running pack, poles, extra water bottle, water purification tablets, and a ton of food (bars, gels, gummies, etc). 

The Run: From the start I knew I had the endurance to beat the FKT on this route. I had the required pace in the back of mind and knew I wanted to start conservative from the start. The first 15 miles went by without incident and I was well under the needed pace. I had targeted Washington Monument State park as my first water stop, that was a mistake. I bypassed water at a spring location somewhere well before that and ran out of water. Mile 15-21 were painful trying not to overheat with no water. Once I made it to the park I was able to get additional water, change my socks, and cool off under the water fountain. At this point I was half way there an easily on pace for 9 hours and some change to finish this thing. As I started again I overheated quickly and again ran out of water prior to the next water stop. I was forced to power hike a good portion of due to overheating and excessive mud. I stopped at South Mountain state park and repeated my routine of water and cooling off. At this point I was in bad shape. I began puking as I left the park and knew I was at the point I had to power hike almost everything and hobby jog on any flat portions. The theme of the day, I ran out of water before I got to my last water stop at Gathland Park. I had about 11ish miles left at this point and knew I was still on pace, but little room for error. I again ran out of water around Weverton cliffs due to the heat and made extremely poor time going down the cliffs. It was a welcome site to see the C&O "pancake" flat canal. I power hiked and hobby jogged this portion knowing I could get water in Harpers Ferry. I made it to Harper Ferry and got to my planned water stop only to be surprised that the water was locked. I was so mentally crushed at this point, but I decided to continue on for the last 3 miles up to the VA state line. I knew without water it was be extremely hard to climb the 800 feet out of WV to VA state line and beat the FKT. The last 2 mile climb and rocky terrain absolutely mentally and physically destroyed me. I saw the sign a distance away and hobby jogged it there. I stopped my watch at 10:42:51, which gave me less than 5 minutes better than the previous FKT of  10:47:35. I sat down at the VA border to take it all in and realized that was a poor choice as I still had to hike 3 miles back to Harpers Ferry. I pulled out my phone and let Louise know I was ok and ordered a pizza for the way home.

This FKT is not super popular, especially the unsupported one. It was extremely hard to only rely on yourself to carry all your supplies with not help along the way. While my time is not fast, I think in the right conditions I could do this at least an hour faster, especially after getting the logistics nailed down. A big part was just the unknown if all the water would be open along the way, which is wasn't. Plus I didn't have a real good idea of all the opportunities to get water along the way in the springs, which was poor planning on my part. I suspect this record will be broken again in the fall as others continue to challenge themselves with this attainable FKT. 

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Zach Valentine

Unsupported FKT Attempt AT Four State Challenge (PA, MD, WV, VA)

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Back to work and hotel hopping

Humble brag…I’m better at crushing 🍕 and 🍺 than running

Fighting that lake life wind tunnel

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Road show continues

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