A year from today I am setting out to break the Appalachian Trail FKT Record, Today was Day 1 of training and my first day back to training after having Sinus Reconstruction Surgery.
I have never run more than a 5K but as a coach who helps people transform their lives I wanted to quite literally walk the walk and do something that proved that I’m (you’re) the difference between the impossible and possible by going from couch to completing 2,190 miles in record time. The current record is 41 Days 7 Hours and 39 minutes but someone is currently attempting to break that record and I plan to attack whatever record they set starting June 11, 2023; giving myself a full year to train.
I am blessed to be partnering with the Make-A-Wish foundation seeing as how I was a Make-A-Wish recipient and this is a full-circle moment that should not be possible because of my health issues.
I have an incurable heart issue and I have had multiple heart surgeries, heart attacks, and strokes, one of which left me paralyzed for a year. Thanks to a health and Wellness Program I joined last in March after 6 weeks of training I had a heart Dr visit and I went from 16 pills a day down to 5 and for over a year I have received a clean bill of health from my cardiologist declaring my heart stronger than a man half my age (I’ll be 39 in July).
In addition to the years I put back on my life, a potential 8th heart surgery was put on hold into the future beyond sight. Because the fitness program gave me my health back I also turned back to my love of hiking and last year did multiple long hikes including a 40-day cross-country trip where I hiked 10-25 miles a day!
For Day 1 I wanted to do a test 5k (3.1 Miles) run to get a baseline to build off of. My results were pretty encouraging considering this is my first training day in 5 weeks. I finished the 3.1-mile run in 41 minutes and 45 seconds, with an Average pace of 13:28. I also Hit 3 PR’s on this Run.
I Tracked this using the Strava App connected to my Apple Watch, but to be fair I have only used the Strava app a handful of times since first using it in 2021 but I like the platform and data it provides so I will be using it going forward. Because I have historically had issues with other apps on trails I will still likely use Alltrails, Nike Run App, and Apple Fitness as Backups so I can be as consistent as possible until I get into a consistent groove of finding what works
PR’s:
2Miles- 26.29
1K (.62 Miles)- 6:48