Effectively after dusk on Saturday, September 21, Tara Dower was eight miles away from turning into the quickest particular person to ever full the Appalachian Path (A.T.). She was additionally on the verge of a panic assault.
Because the 31-year-old ultrarunner from Virginia Seaside, Va., trudged by means of the pitch-black woods of north Georgia towards Springer Mountain, the path’s southern terminus, she trembled with anxiousness. After weeks of working 17 hours per day on blistered toes and really restricted sleep, Dower was about to perform the unthinkable. And that scared the hell out of her.
“I didn’t know what this could imply for my life,” Dower tells BRO. “I hadn’t mentally ready myself.”
However all that anxiousness melted away a few mile from the end line. Megan “Rascal” Wilmarth, Dower’s crew chief, says her pal was “zoned in” for that final stretch of path, her tempo quickening as she noticed the nice and cozy glow of headlamps within the distance.
Simply earlier than midnight, Dower emerged from the woodline on Springer Mountain with an enormous grin on her face. As family and friends cheered, she touched the summit’s bronze plaque, ending her southbound hike in 40 days, 18 hours, and 6 minutes—13 hours quicker than Belgian runner Karel Sabbe’s 2018 file.
“All these feelings that I hadn’t allowed myself to really feel simply hit me,” says Dower. “I began crying.”
Wilmarth describes that second as a “whirlwind.”
“We had been each bawling our eyes out,” she remembers. “It was a historic occasion that’s going to be the catalyst for therefore many ladies to behave on their wildest goals.”
As a child rising up in Wake Forest, N.C., Dower by no means thought she would set a file on the A.T. However she did wish to go quick.
Her mother, Debbie Komlo, remembers the primary time she watched her daughter run competitively at a center college observe meet.
“I began crying as a result of her cadence and type had been excellent, and she or he simply regarded so lovely,” says Komlo. “I knew she had discovered her reward.”
Dower continued working by means of highschool after which performed rugby at East Carolina College. It was there, throughout her freshman 12 months, that she watched a Nationwide Geographic documentary concerning the A.T. and determined to thru-hike after she graduated.
However in 2017, simply eight days and 80 miles into her thru-hike, a panic assault pressured Dower to pack up and go away the A.T.
“I used to be inside my tent having chest pains. I simply felt disoriented and couldn’t get my respiratory straight,” she remembers. “I had by no means felt that method earlier than.”
In 2019, after taking a while away from the path, Dower returned together with her husband and accomplished a northbound thru-hike in 5 months and 10 days.
“I actually really feel like that was the 12 months I used to be speculated to thru-hike the A.T.,” says Dower, who met Wilmarth throughout her trek. (She additionally earned the path title “Sweet Mama” for her maternal nature and candy tooth.)
Hungry for extra journey, Dower started chasing quickest identified occasions (FKTs). In 2020, she set a brand new pace file on the 1,175-mile Mountains-to-Sea Path in North Carolina. In 2022, she did the identical on the Benton MacKaye Path, a virtually 300-mile footpath stretching from Springer Mountain to the Nice Smoky Mountains. The subsequent 12 months, she shattered a long-standing ladies’s FKT on the Colorado Path.
Dower additionally started competing in ultra-marathons, comparable to Ohio’s Yard Extremely and the Hardrock 100.
“By now, I’ve performed eight to 9 100-milers and a slew of different ultras,” says Dower. “I simply maintain pushing the boundaries to see the place my limits are. I need to know what’s doable.”
That’s how Dower discovered herself on Mount Katahdin in Maine at 5:47 a.m. on August 12, decided to set the general pace file for the A.T.
Rising to the Problem
The primary 10 days of Dower’s FKT try had been grueling.
“In southern Maine and New Hampshire, it’s very brutal and technical terrain,” says Dower. “I used to be principally crawling up these mountains.”
To make issues worse, a climate system rolled in and dumped rain, making the path slippery. These situations slowed Dower down, placing her nearly 150 miles not on time.
Wilmarth and Komlo had no selection however to plot methods to extend her day by day mileage.
“We began nickel-and-diming,” says Wilmarth. “On daily basis, we had been like, ‘OK, how can Tara get not less than yet another mile in?’”
In accordance with Wilmarth, Dower averaged 50 miles a day in Maine and 40 miles a day in New Hampshire. Fortunately, the solar got here again out when Dower crossed into Vermont, and she or he was capable of knock out a number of 55-mile days. However across the mid-Atlantic, Wilmarth and Komlo needed to make one other robust choice.
“We had been nonetheless not on time,” says Wilmarth. “So, Debbie and I pushed for at least 58 miles a day with some 60-milers tossed in. Tara wasn’t pleased, however it needed to occur.”
To hit these excessive benchmarks, the crew adopted a strict schedule.
At 3 a.m., Dower would get up and wrap her blistered toes in Leukotape whereas Wilmarth spoon-fed her breakfast, and the remainder of the workforce prepped her gear. For the subsequent 17 hours, Dower would run, sometimes with a pacer, solely stopping for just a few brief meals breaks and 90-second naps.
Round 10 p.m., Dower would curl up inside a tent proper off the path or in Wilmarth’s camper van. After 5 hours of sleep, she would do all of it once more.
“It was onerous,” Wilmarth admits. “I watched my pal flip into this shell of a human. It tore me aside.”
Rallying for the End
The final 129 miles had been significantly difficult. Decided to outpace Sabbe’s 2018 file, Dower determined to push by means of this final leg with no sleep. However after logging almost 60 miles, it was apparent she wanted relaxation.
To spice up her spirits, the crew allowed Dower to take a 20-minute nap within the van. When she wakened, she pleaded for an additional 10 minutes. The crew gave her three. When her alarm went off once more, Dower nonetheless wasn’t herself.
Seeing that her daughter had hit a low level, Komlo shut the van door and supplied a motherly pep speak.
“We regularly suppose we don’t have something left to provide, however we all the time do,” Komlo stated. “So you’ll want to go on the market and empty your tank. You’ll want to maintain going.”
These phrases carried Dower the final 60 miles to Springer Mountain.
In addition to proving one thing to herself, Dower hopes her FKT motivates others to discover their endurance.
“I don’t suppose ladies are inspired to check their limits, particularly in athletics,” says Dower, who, with the assist of Altra, has raised greater than $50,000 for Ladies on the Run, a nonprofit that coordinates working applications for elementary-age women. “I need to encourage individuals, particularly younger women and girls, to set huge targets and to go for it.”
Cowl picture: Virginia ultrarunner Tara Dower set the general file on the Appalachian Path. Photographs courtesy of Dower
