Today was one of the hardest days of my life. Yet somehow it was easier than I thought. Everything went according to plan, and I kept up with my planned pace of 5 km an hour. But devastation came early when i checked my email at my first break. The FKY people informed me that paying to camp would make my attempt “self supported” and therefore ruin my chances at bagging the unsupported fkt. But I kept going pretending as if I didnt learn this horrible news.
I went to bed at 130, woke up at 330 then my Dad drove me to the trail head and I started hiking at 445 am. I hiked for 16.5 hours, covering over 81 km in 1 day. Although not an FKT, this is my personal best by far. Ive been stuck at the 60 km wall since the GDT last year. I kept my pace steady, and worked through the pain, and lack of motivation, and chose to stick to the unsupported rules and not buy anything even though the options were plentiful right on trail. I got to camp in the dark, and struggled for an hour to get my permit and find my site. And once I did find it I just sat and did nothing for a while. Then finally I set up, and scarfed down my meal and got ready for the hunker down of the century.