Running 23 Miles Through The Appalachian Trail

I’m grateful for the support and help of friends

Ryan Fan
Publishous

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Photo of Harper’s Ferry from the Appalachian Trail — from Mark Fickett on Wikipedia Commons

Man, what did I get myself into? I asked myself.

I fell and scraped half my body several times, still having cuts on my hands, knees, hips, and thighs. Some of those times, I fell on rocks. I had to watch every step I took to see I wasn’t stepping into a slush of mud with my shoes with terrible footing. It was cold. It was raining. Every other step I was encountering either a rock, root or huge puddles.

This was half my day yesterday. Yesterday, I ran 23 miles through the Appalachian Trail, starting at the Maryland-Pennsylvania border and then heading south into western Maryland. Some of my friends were running about 46 miles through four states — Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia.

Screenshot from author on Strava

The run would start at the border of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and end at Harper’s Ferry, which straddles the border between West Virginia and Virginia. I would have done the whole run with them, but I had an obligation in the afternoon.

I would finish 23 miles in about four hours and 19 minutes, ascending more than…

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Ryan Fan
Publishous

Believer, Baltimore City IEP Chair, and 2:39 marathon runner. Diehard fan of “The Wire.”