Lunch Walk

Evening Run

Morning Workout

Day 5:
42.8 Miles
Edit: This Part wrote after FKT
For the entirety of the trail for the first 2 days especially i had said "If i can just make it to day 5, i can finish this thing".  It felt just like my first Ultramarathon when I knew I was out of shape, and hurt and I just thought "if i can make it to the final lap (20 miles) I am sure I can do whatever I need to finish this.

In retrospect this is crazy math,  at the start of the day I had around 130ish miles and yet internally i was like "im basically done".  Alot of hiking and running is motivation and that was my biggest motivation, get to a manageable finish.  

I was out of camp at 410ish and passing hikers that day was the first time i vocalized that I was going for the FKT because it was the first time I REALLY felt like it was a possibility.  It was hot, there was an EXTREMELY steep downhill about 20 miles into the day that my knee could not have handled 2 days earlier, but I made it through the day and hiked until midnight to get to fontana dam, before collapsing.  

This was the latest I hiked all trail, but it felt worth it because fontana dam to me signaled the start of the smokies and then i REALLY was close to finishing the trail.  (even though i had 94 miles left) 

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Chris LeBlanc

Benton Mackaye Trail Unsupported FKT Day 5 Actual 42.8 miles

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