Tag: Mt Rainier

Two of the Best Wonderland Trail FKT Films (Yes, this is a very subjective statement.)

I am a slow runner. This is not a complaint, and it’s not a critique. It’s just a plain statement of the truth. I can hold a 12-minute/mile pace for about 10 kilometers, and a 15-minute/mile pace for 20 miles, but that’s about it. After giving it absolutely everything, I was able to finish my first 50-mile race in just under 25 hours. Yes, I did spend roughly four hours in aid stations and getting my foot iced and taped so that I could keep moving, but still, this is SLOW.

And so it might come as a bit of a surprise that I do, in fact, enjoy seeing people chase FKTs (fastest known times), even though I know that nothing like that will ever be possible for me. (Well, unless I establish a route and keep my snail-paced FKT until someone comes to take a stroll and beats it.)

Today, I wanted to share with you two of my favourite FKT documentaries (oh wow, saying I’ve got a favourite FKT documentary feels like choosing a favourite child), both of them from the wonderful Wonderland Trail (most up-to-date FKTs can be found on this link).

The first Wonderland Trail FKT film I ever saw was about Gary Robbins who got his FKT in 2015, made by Ethan Newberry, also knows as The Ginger Runner. I re-watched it several times since. Gary is a beyond-inspiring runner (seriously, watch “Where Dreams Go to Die” to see what real grit is).

The second film I’m going to recommend today is also by Ethan Newberry, and follows Kaytlyn Gerbin, the current holder of the female supported FKT, and Dylan Bowman, who held the male supported FKT on the Wonderland Trail for just five days.

I hope you’ll enjoy these, I hope they’ll motivate you, and I’ll be back next week, hopefully back from the dead so I can tell you all about my Cool Moon 50-mile race which I haven’t recovered from yet. Just a little teaser: I totally got my money’s worth, having experienced it all; hallucinations, chafing, unstoppable nosebleed, nausea and throwing up, ridiculous heat, being stripped naked at an aid station to be brought back from the dead, and having to walk downhill backwards because legs gave up on me.

by Pina Marek

Mt Rainier | One Photo

John Muir said it best.

“Of all the fire-mountains which like beacons once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest.”

And it would be hard to disagree; Mount Rainier welcomed us dressed in snow and with gardens of ever-so-beautiful wildflowers which were hard to ignore. The slopes of Mt Rainier were covered with young trees, fresh grass and dozens of crystal-clear streams running down through the meadows.

It was beautiful and completely breathtaking – and it returns to me often in my dreams. Again, the only thing I can say is how grateful I am for that I can be in this world and experience it.

More One-Photo posts:

Foggy Redwoods

Grand Teton

Crater Lake

Bridalveil Fall

Half Dome

by Pina Marek