Rough news from WheresKarl.com today, where we learn that endurance runner Karl Meltzer spent much of the day in the hospital where he was diagnosed with trench foot due to his 300 plus miles on rough trail with wet feet. It’s a good news/bad news situation however, as the pain that Karl was feeling was first thought to be the result of a stress fracture or blood clots.
Karl is of course in the middle of his Appalachian Assault, which has him challenging the speed record on the Appalachian Trail. His original intention was to run the entire length of the AT, some 2,174 miles, in just 47 days.
Obviously, having beat up feet is not conducive to setting speed records, and Karl is already behind his self imposed schedule. According to his website, he should have logged 745 miles by today, but his actual distance is 538. He took the day off today to rest and recuperate, and according to his team, he’s doing fine. He has been given a prescription to take care of the trench foot, and intends to resume his Assault, possibly as early as tomorrow.
At this point, I’m not sure there is anyway that he can make up the gap that has already built up, and especially not with bad wheels. But, Karl is determined to see this thing through to the end, and I give him major respect for that. He certainly can take a lot of punishment, and it’s impressive that he’s still intending to continue on. I wish him the best of luck. I hope he can still achieve the goals that he set out to accomplish. He’s an amazing athlete that doesn’t know the word quit.
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That is no good. Not only was he a bit behind schedule already, but this will really set him back.
Yep! He’s going to keep going, and as already back on the trail yesterday, but the speed record seems out of reach at this point, unless he can find a way to get healthy, and really start increasing his mileage to get back on track. Seems very unlikely though.