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WA PCT FKT: that's shorthand for my big goal for the year, setting the fastest known time for covering all 516 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington.
There are still lots of unknowns such as start date, specific time goal, direction and the exact current record (i believe it to be somewhere between 11 days 12hours and 12 days 6 hours--i am awaiting confirmation from the possible current record holders). Right now a start date of late july or early august seems best but will depend on when the snow melts. My goal will depend a bit on what the current record is, my capabilities, and logistics. "10 days or less" has a nice ring to it but so does "Washington in a week" but that would probably kill me so...anything under the record will be great. Direction has just two main conflicting variables the difference in elevation gain from north to south is about 3800ft less and the fact that all the previous speed attempts(done as part of a speed attempt on the entire PCT) that I know of have gone south to north. My capabilities by the start of the attempt is one of the biggest unknowns-- to date I've only done a handful of weeks with more 100 miles of running and none over 200 (my bests are 170 and 194 mi. weeks and a 8 day 225 mile stretch) so it's hard to know how i'll handle the big jump in mileage.
Also the logistics are tough to set in stone right now-- I'd love to have the trip fully supported but I have yet to be lucky enough to have someone volunteer for the task(although I might be able to piece together all the folks who have already expressed interest in helping some into a fully supported trip). The other catch with a fully supported trip is that there are long sections (30-75) where there is no road access so getting support in those sections seems unlikely. The limited road access would also play a large role in setting the days mileage in a supported trip where as if it were unsupported the daily mileage could be better suited to the terrain and my abilities at the time if I were self supported.
So with all that said anyone interested in running part or all of it with me or interested in crewing me for part or all please let me know and we'll discuss the deatils. james@rainshadowrunning.com or 509 846 5019
