2021 Double S.C.A.R. FKT Attempt
October 31-November 1, 2021
Exerpt from my college admission essay written immediately after the run:
“Frederick Buechner said, “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need”. This quote, in a transformative way, has become my personal philosophy that I strive to fulfill to the best of my ability every day. I grew up strapped to my father’s back climbing mountains in the Pacific Northwest. The mountains became my cathedral and the wilderness became my home. When hiking and climbing became too calm, I started running. When I moved to Tennessee the Appalachians became my stomping ground, and the Great Smoky Mountains became my home. I would fill my days with running, my nights spent sleeping under the stars. When I first heard about the Double S.C.A.R. a 144-mile trail run across the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I knew my heart would never be content until I had attempted this run. A part of my soul was ignited. The S.C.A.R. became an unconquerable aspect of life. It served as an insatiable itch for physical challenge and mental endurance. After years of allure, I finally decided to attempt the run, but also to break the Fastest Known Time in the process. I slated the last weekend of October 2021 as my start date. During my training runs, I was left with lots of time to think, sometimes up to 12 hours of solo running accompanied only by the wind and trees. As the days fell away I realized that just completing this run in world record time wasn’t enough. I wouldn’t truly be living up to my personal philosophy. What was the world’s greatest need? How could I satisfy that? The mountains have given me so much in life, how could I repay my debts to this world?
I found the answer in the Honnold Foundation. By installing solar panels across the world in low-income communities, the Honnold Foundation serves to build a more equitable world through renewable energy. I decided to partner with the Honnold Foundation in order to raise money for a cause that I truly believe in. What better way to serve this world than to reduce inequality through environmental conservation? Hundreds of miles and $10,000 fundraised later, I stood by myself at the commencement of my run. As expected the physical and mental challenge the run posed was beyond anything I could have ever planned for. Despite my conditioning I surrendered to injury after 30 hours. I may not have finished, but for some reason, that didn’t seem to be the reason I couldn’t sleep at night.
This journey may have only lasted 100 miles, but its impact has stretched across the world. Change in the form of renewable energy has compelled the development of communities and environments, but also personal change. It will take weeks for my body and mind to truly comprehend what just happened, but as I sit here I find that I still remain discontent. Perhaps the run was never my true mission, what I sought was a satusfaction beyond that of a run. I know that no matter how far I run, I will always yearn for more. No matter how many mountains I climb, satisfaction will always lie on the other side of the next ridge. But the true reason I cannot appease myself is that my debts are still unpaid. My run may be over, but my mission in life is just beginning. It is not enough to do just my part to preserve the world. It is my mission to do more and preserve my home, our home, the only home we ever have. The day I fail to fulfill my philosophy is the day I will part from this world, but until then, you will find me in my cathedral, working to save my home.”
Report from the run:
My father dropped me off at Fontana Dam at 2:00 a.m. I was greeted by driving rain that quickly turned into snow as I ascended Shuckstack Mountain. The precipitation abated as the sun rose and I made good time to Clingman’s Dome where my father met me for my first resupply. At Newfound Gap he bade me farewell for the evening. Around mile 55 I began to feel the first signs of fatigue and began taking in caffine. I made it to mile 72 at Davenport Gap just before midnight. My father was waiting for me with some solid food and fresh socks. At mile 65 I had officially made this my longest run to date. I was tired and my feet were blistered and beaten. The rain had been on and off all day and a thick fog had made the descent to Davenport treacherous and slow. I remember wondering how in the world I was going to turn around and do the whole thing over again. I managed to pull myself together. I gave my father a hug and told him I would see him for sunrise at Newfound Gap then I disappeared into the dark, headed South on the Appalachian Trail now. Shortly before reaching Davenport I had noticed a sharp pain in my tib-fib that I attributed to shin splints. As I began ascending up to Mt. Cammerer this pain gradually increased in my left leg. Soon the pain was all I could think about. The discomfort from my blisters and aching muscles became irrelevant as every step I took resulted in a stabbing pain in my shin. A similar pain soon plagued my right shin as well. This was my first time attempting an all-nighter; I was absolutely not prepared for the mental effects of sleep deprivation. I began experiencing intense visual hallucinations and my thoughts were delusional and sporadic. In this state I was unable to responsibly assess the worsening pain emanating from my tibia. As it turns out, I was not suffering from shin splints, but rather stress fractures in both my left and right tibias. Around 4:00 a.m. at mile 90 I heard a pop from my left tibia and I immediately fell to the ground. I woke up an hour later as the first morning light illuminated me listless figure sprawled out in the middle of the trail. I had fractured my lift tibia and was barely able to stand. The pain was unlike anything I had experienced. I had reached my limit and chosen the worst place to do it. I was 14 miles from the nearest road which happened to be Newfound Gap. It took me 10 hours of painstakingly slow shuffling and crawling to reach the road. My Dad’s fiancee was waiting for me with a resupply at Pecks Shelter. When I reached her she was able to give me a shoulder to lean on.
I was not able to walk for several weeks and was in a boot and on crutches for 2 months. By Christmas I was out of my boot and just a week later I began training for my second attempt of the Double S.C.A.R.
This run was completed as a fundraiser for the Honnold Foundation to support solar panel installation in communities across the world. I raised over $11,000 for the foundation.
