Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy was preparing for a cross-country move from Boston to Seattle when he started thinking about the Long Trail, the famous path winding through the mountains of Vermont.
Best Running Sunglasses fastest known times (FKTs) on the The Mental Health Crisis Facing Womens Sports Woman Runs Everest Marathon Dressed As Lemon Appalachian Trail (AT)—the latter of which he still holds the self-supported record. Yet, it was the Long Trail, a 273-mile trek, that has escaped him since an unsuccessful FKT attempt five years ago. He figured this would be an appropriate site for a farewell to the East Coast after living in Massachusetts for a decade.
“The Long Trail punches you in the mouth,” McConaughy said. “In 2015, I got destroyed by it, so it’s been in the back of my mind since.”
McConaughy he planned to go unsupported, meaning he would carry all of his gear and food with him from the start and receive no assistance during his trek. For his attempt on the AT, he went self-supported, meaning he mailed gear to pick up along the way over 45 days.
His hope was to complete the Long Trail in under five days, which would be well under the previous FKT set by Jeff Garmire in 2019 with a time of 5 days, 23 hours, 48 minutes. To set the mark, he calculated every ounce of nutrition (totaling 9,000 calories a day) and gear he’d need for the journey.
“If it didn’t have at least 110 calories per ounce, it wasn’t worth taking,” McConaughy said. “I had nuts, Oreos, Fritos, salami sticks, banana chips, plantain chips, and granola. That and all my gear in a 35-liter, frameless speed-hiking pack.”
He also decided he didn’t have to be a run just for himself. With the protests sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other Black victims of police brutality, McConaughy wanted to raise funds for a cause. He chose Outdoor Afro, a nonprofit that supports reconnecting African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through outdoor recreation. (He’s raised over $6,000 so far, and is aiming to hit $12,000. fastest known times.)
He’d also carry eight stones—weighing 13.5 ounces in total—with the names of Black victims of police brutality.
“As a white dude, I don’t know the challenges people go through, but I can help promote and create a more encouraging environment through education and meet ups,” McConaughy said. “That’s what Outdoor Afro does so well. They are the change we need to see in the world and on the trails.”
McConaughy’s pack weighed 27 pounds when he started at 6:30 a.m on June 10. The first day went off smoothly. McConaughy crushed the mileage he needed by the time he settled down to rest, which he did daily from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.
Trouble struck on day two, though, as heavy rain wrecked the trail from 3 a.m. until noon, making an already technical terrain even more challenging. His feet slid around in his George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Nutrition - Weight Loss bad blisters during what he called his toughest day.
As the days went on, he developed a slight infection in his throat, which made swallowing much of his food difficult. His solution was to make “trail smoothies” where McConaughy would take some of the food he brought—for instance, a bag of Fritos—put it in a plastic bag, add water, shake it up, and drink the makeshift concoction.
“The grossest one I did was an Oreo-almond slushy,” he said. “I bonked hard or it was sleep deprivation on day four, and I just needed as many calories as possible.”
Beyond challenges with food and sleep deprivation, McConaughy also faced headlamp issues. After leaving the light on while sleeping on the third night, the battery died. With anywhere from 24 to 30 hours to go, his phone’s flashlight with a severely depleted battery would have to carry him as far as it could on the final night.
“I wanted to go under five days, so I started sprinting through the night, trying to figure out how to best position the phone’s flashlight to see rocks and roots,” he said. “As I’m going, I see 24 percent, 18 percent, 12 percent, and then 3 percent. That’s when I decided to go until it’s out and camp wherever I’m stuck.”
He estimates the phone gave out around 1:30 a.m. on Monday. At the time, he was on the middle of a 200-foot boardwalk made of two planks in the pitch dark. Using the LED light from his GoPro, he made his way off of it and camped until 4 a.m.
With only eight and half miles to go when he woke, McConaughy took off like a he was back in college running a cross-country 10K for Boston College, trying to beat the clock to 6:29 a.m.
In the end, he met his goal to do the trail in under five days by less than six minutes. His final time was 4 days, 23 hours and 54 minutes, beating the the previous unsupported record by almost 24 hours.
“If I had a full headlamp charge and power hiked the second half of the day, I would’ve probably finished sleep deprived and a wreck around 3:30 or 4 in the morning,” he said. “But I ended up having the coolest, most challenging night of my running experiences that was so dramatic and exciting. It totally capped off the run in a great way.”
At the finish, McConaughy was greeted by his wife and a few friends, who treated him to Kombucha and other liquids he craved. He also consumed a DiGiorno pizza the day after while he stayed off his feet that kept swelling up like elephants.
With the run in the books, McConaughy prepared for his cross-country move this week. His 2020 racing season still up in the air, so he has not ruled out doing another big trail run this year while racing is on hold.
Joe Stringbean McConaughy Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
