SANDY — There is not a lot of romance in Karl Meltzer’s reasons for wanting to break a record most people don’t even know exists.
“It’s the hardest, toughest, most iconic trail in the world,” said the 48-year-old Sandy man of his desire to break the record for the fastest supported thru- hike/run on the Appalachian Trail. “I grew up in New Hampshire, and so I hiked all around it. ... But it was just something I thought about.”
Those thoughts turned into a proposal in 2008 when he mentioned it to his then sponsor, Backcountry.com.
“It was just an idea, I never really thought they would bite on it because it’s expensive,” Meltzer said of trying to cover the 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail, which snakes through 14 states from Maine to Georgia.
But Backcountry.com did bite, and Meltzer made his first attempt.
“We worked out some logistics, but really not knowing what we were doing,” said Meltzer, who admits he's a guy who relishes the unexpected aspects of adventure as much as the physical challenges. “That was tough. I didn’t know what to expect. … I made a lot of mistakes. … But you learn from your mistakes.”
He missed the record by a week.
“I said, ‘I’m never going back’,” he said, laughing. “And then in 2014, I went back.”
In that second attempt, injury stopped him about 600 miles from the end.
So when Red Bull, a company that has supported his incredibly successful ultra-running career since 2001, suggested (in January of 2015) that he give it one more try, he didn’t immediately turn them down.
“I said ‘Let me think about it for awhile,’ ” Meltzer said. “I decided I wanted to go after it in 2016. I wanted more information. We needed a little more time in order to do the research, in order to do it right.”
After coming up with a “more definitive plan” than he’d had in the past, he agreed to make one more attempt at the record, which was set anew the summer of 2015 by Scott Jurek.
“I decided to take one last crack at it,” he said. “It all sounds great on paper, but it’s punishing and it’s misery. … It isn’t really fun. Yeah, there are times out on the trail where there are a lot of great views, but generally speaking, it’s misery.”
But embracing misery is what’s made Meltzer, who is also a running coach, the most decorated ultrarunner in the country.
“Every day is a grind,” said Meltzer, who has 57 ultra victories — 38 of those 100-mile wins — more than any other runner in history. “It was ridiculous.”
So why torture himself for the record?
“(So you can) talk about it later,” he said. “When you’re done, it’s the glory stories at the end. … There is nothing like it.”
He said pushing limits is what ultrarunners do, and for him, there was no higher bar.
“I don’t know if I can raise the bar,” he said after breaking the record by covering 85 miles on the final day to beat Jurek’s mark by just 10 hours on Sunday, Sept. 18, in Springer Mountain, Georgia. “It’s incredibly overwhelming and satisfying.”
Meltzer, who began the run on top of Mount Katahdin in Maine on Aug. 3, traversed the 2,190-mile trail in 45 days, 22 hours, and 38 minutes. Like any endurance athlete, he had low moments and mental struggles, but he said there was no point at which he considered quitting. In fact, it went so well at the beginning, he had a 50-mile lead when he did suffer an injury in Pennsylvania.
“I could afford some time off,” he said. “So even when I was hurting, why would I quit if I’m still ahead (of the record pace)? I never fell more than nine miles behind. And nine miles is three hours. I was always in it.”
The benefit of two decades of ultra-running experience is that he’s very familiar with his limits.
“In the back of my head, I always think ‘You can’t bail unless you give it all you have’,” he said. “I had to stay in because of all the people behind me, all of those supporting me.”
Another source from which he drew inspiration was the fact that he is 48 and rarely the fastest runner on the course.
“I’m just out there to have fun,” he said. “I’m not the man to beat anymore. I’ll do fine, but …My best day of running a 100 might be 40th place or sixth place. When I run races now, I don’t expect to win.”
So breaking the record is a reminder that he’s still capable of being the best. And that is just one of the many gifts the world’s longest continuous hiking trail offered him.
“I learned that I can still raise the bar,” he said. “It gave me confidence that I can still do (stuff).”
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