Been riding an incredible high for a few days now. It started with establishing a new fastest known time (FKT) on the Georgia Loop on Tuesday. This route is approximately 55-60 miles w/ at least 15K feet of vertical gain and takes most backpackers 3-5 days to hike. I ran it in 11h 19m 28s shaving nearly two hours off my previous attempt and took off over 1 hour on the previous FKT established about 26 years ago. If anyone is interested in these type of things my report is below:
https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/ben-mercer-georgia-loop-ga-2019-03-19The effort was the culmination of a couple years of very consistent running with a 16 week stretch of very specific training in the lead up to the attempt. Truthfully it's probably the most significant accomplishment of my life. It took a lot of hard work and time.
Since then my recovery has been coming along pretty well. Although I've been struggling to fill the caloric deficit and haven't been sleeping great I've still tried to treat myself by eating a lot of junk food and beer (Normally eat really clean). Today I was able to get out and walk/shuffle for about three miles which I was super grateful for since today was my birthday. I turned 32.
I celebrated the run and my birthday this evening with my parents by going for a really nice meal. Dinner was amazing. I had oysters and lobster bites for appetizers, followed by a 16oz prime rib cooked medium rare with black truffle butter. The sides were roasted cauliflower and brussel sprouts and mushrooms. All followed by some stupid good creme brulee, house made vanilla donuts with a fresh black cherry compote.
To top it off I had saved a bottle of Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout from 2017 for a special celebration. This made for a great night cap and the end to a week of ridiculous excess.
It's been an amazing few days but I'm ready to get back to some normalcy.