I’m very sad to report that I had to abort the 800-mile Oregon Desert Trail (ODT) speed record attempt after 9 days and about 371 miles because of a debilitating Achilles inflammation.
The problems started on day 6. On day 7 I could only run downhill. I tried everything (well, except icing and resting, haha) to mitigate the swelling and the irritation, but nothing seemed to help.
On day 8 I could not run at all and I had to cut open the left shoe on the back so that I would still fit in with the swelling. Instead of running I power-hiked the entire day and still reached my next cache. Today (day 9) I was supposed to reach Frenchglen, but it became very clear before the sun even rose that I was not going to make that 49-mile stretch until my next daily food cache. After hours of struggling with my stubborn mind, I saw no other solution than to call for help by sending off a SPOT rescue message. From that point on I still needed to move 26 miles to my next water cache and point where someone could drive to. I barely made it there and in a lot of pain. In the meantime, Ursina drove about 8 hours to come and rescue me in the middle of nowhere. I was only able to hobble to the car.
Injuries suck. Failing sucks. They really do.
Now I need to rest and recover before I can tell the many stories. Thanks for all your support and encouragement, it means a lot!
Support and Acknowledgments
This speed record attempt is supported by La Sportiva and Tailwind Nutrition. Trackleaders is providing the real-time tracking.
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