How do you feel?
So bad.
There's so many different aspects that are challenging,
so you always have to be on your game.
My name is Joe McConaughy.
I am an ultra runner from Boston, Massachusetts.
Currently we are out here getting ready to break the speed record FKT on the Wicklow Round.
Pack your bags man, we're going to Ireland.
An FKT stands for fastest known time and it's generally done over a set point from A to B.
The Wicklow Round FKT route is about 70 miles, 26 different peaks, 20,000 feet in elevation gain.
You also choose your own best path from peak to peak.
You can't not think about failure when you do something like this.
It's always a little scary.
I have done runs from breaking the supported Pacific Crest Trail record, and Appalachian Trail speed record.
I think I got what it takes.
And I'll give it what I have.
Three, two, one, go.
Let's go Joe.
I feel like we've met.
I know, I do too.
We've exchanged enough emails.
My name is Eoin Keith.
I hold the FKT for the Wicklow Round.
I set it about nine years ago and I've been waiting a long time for someone to come along and break it.
Eoin's given me a lot of advice leading up to this whole trip.
Put deep hole.
Now, that's an easy one to spot.
I'm really just not used to running in this kind of terrain.
It's gonna be muddy, there's gonna be heather and bog.
It's just a lot more standing water than I thought.
If I had to pick a weakness for Joe, it's the simple one that he hasn't been on the route before.
A lot of people will take a couple of months going out trying this bit, going out trying that bit.
Joe is only arriving here on a Saturday to attempt it on a Sunday.
This run is gonna come down to beating Eoin Keith's time of 17 hours and 53 minutes.
You really don't want to get off course.
The worst thing for me would be for him to just beat it, because then I'd have to do it again.
If he smashes this...
That's what I wanna see.
Hey!
How's it going?
Going good, how are you?
Good.
You can have a support crew and you can have aid.
I already went waste deep into a bog.
No way.
And I'm wearing new pants.
Congrats, are they comfy?
They're great, yea.
Katie will be here, my girlfriend, along with my mom Mary-Anne, Josh Katzman and Steven Clark
an awesome group of runners.
At the end of the day it's nice to have those familiar faces pushing you along.
I'm at almost a marathon.
By far the hottest it's been on the course.
I was going downhill, caught my foot on a little tuft of grass, and just did a full barrel roll.
Last time kinda wrecked me.
Woo!
Here he is, over here.
Woo!
You needed some sugar.
Yeah, I'll probably vomit in about 30 minutes but it's okay.
I just have a few more mountains to go.
Only a few more real assents.
Hopefully I can walk off all this food and not lose it to the bog.
He's obviously tired but he's absolutely 100% lucid, and he's not showing any signs of real mental tiredness.
He's just physically wrecked.
Hopefully there will be no surprises.
Joe was coming down without reaching the actual top.
So, he actually has come down, and he's going back up, basically.
I just saw the south peak, tapped it, sprinted straight down and then realized that the road that actually counts is the north peak.
So we were frantically waving, hoping that he'd see us.
I wish I could be up there with him to tell him, don't go there Joe.
Part of the challenge is doing it yourself.
Every minute I might lose from a navigational issue or error, makes it really challenging
to feel confident.
To know that clock is always ticking.
That's it, come on let's go.
But ultimately a lot of running, especially in ultra running, success comes around positivity.
I think that error made a little fuel under my fire.
But I lost maybe a good 30 plus minutes or something.
With two feckin' mountains to go.
A love of distance and pain is what really separates an ultra runner from a distance runner.
You have to accept the wins and the losses.
I'm really hoping I can go out and my best is good enough.
Come on Joe!
Do you have an official time?
17:09:44.
Well done then.
Are you ready for your nap of honor?
Didn't tell you about that, did he?
No he didn't.
What drives me to run is really my passion.
It's what I get excited about.
It's what I love to do.
I'm lucky that I'm surrounded by a lot of people who also love running, so I can share
my passion and excitement for running with people I love in my community.
Glad to be beaten by a world class athlete.
Excellent.
In doing something like this, it's just for me the ultimate adventure.
I felt really good in the shoes.
I'm honestly amazed that you can wear one pair of shoes through that much water.
No treads or blisters.
Pretty amazing.
Hi, my name is Joe McConaughy and I just set my bucket list FKT on the Wicklow Round.
What's yours?