Live TRT165 Official Webcast

Welcome to the official webcast of Peter Lubbers' TRT speed record attempt! Beginning last Friday, August 15 at 4:00 P.M., accomplished ultrarunner Peter Lubbers began his quest to break the 165 mile long Tahoe Rim Trail speed record of 45 hours and 58 minutes, currently held by Tim Twietmeyer. You can follow his progress towards ultrarunning history here.

Monday, 8/18, 1:54 A.M.-Done! Final Time: 57:54:00

Pacer Troy and I worked really hard in the last 13-mile section (Spooner Summit to Kingsbury North) in an effort to break 58 hours overall. We finally made it to the trailhead (after 4 hours) at 1:42 a.m. and we hammered out the last 1.8-mile, downhill section to the finish at Kingsbury Grade and North Benjamin, where the crew was waiting with champagne and pizza!

Moving for 58 hours, running 168 miles with almost 30,000' elevation gain and loss has been an incredible adventure; easily the best run of my life. I am feeling great (need to get a little bit of sleep now, though). Thanks for all your support and special thanks to Michael for the live blogcast! A more detailed blog post about this great run will come soon, of course.

Thanks,

Peter

Sunday, 8/17, 9:03 P.M.-Peter has been making steady progress throughout the day and has been inching ever closer to completing the run. Now, with night falling for the third time on his unbelievable run, Peter has reached the Spooner South Trailhead, mile 152.5, and has just 12.5 miles to go! He left at 9:40 P.M. and is hoping to finish by 1:00 A.M. on Monday for a total cumulative time of under 59 hours. 59 hours! The man is incredible. When he finishes-and we know that he will finish-I think this will go down as his most inspiring performance yet!

Sunday, 8/17, 6:05 A.M.-Peter arrived at the Brockway Summit Trailhead, completing 110.4 long and arduous miles of his incredible 165 mile run. I am told that he took a 20 minute nap and, after recuperating and eating, left at 6:55 A.M. for a total cumulative time of 38 hours and 55 minutes. Shortly thereafter he arrived at Martis Peak Rd., mile 114.8 where he was joined by his pacer Gretchen Brugman. His crew said that he is feeling very tired but has no physical problems (i.e., blisters, muscle pain) besides the fact that he is very sore. He is still moving forward at a consistent running pace, and is expected to reach the Mt. Rose Trail Jct., mile 126.8, sometime in the afternoon.

Saturday, 8/16, 11:41 P.M.-Peter is now at the mile 94.3 "Access Road" checkpoint. I just checked in and spoke with his crew...and with the man himself! In speaking with Peter over the phone, one would never know that he had just spent nearly 30 hours running 94.3 miles in some very gnarly conditions. Instead he sounds excited and ready for what awaits him. Certainly he is beyond exhausted right now, but he nonetheless told me, "I'm having a blast and am so thankful for all the support." Record or no record, I have little doubt that Peter will finish his run, or at least exert every effort in the attempt, and inspire us all.

Some statistics for you: Peter is now at mile 94.3 for a total cumulative time of 29:41:00. His starting weight was 184; earlier today, he was down to 178 (not a good sign) but he is back up to 180 now and getting in lots of fluids and other foods, including a strawberry milkshake.

Although Peter remains about 7 and a half hours behind schedule to break the record, he allotted himself a generous amount of time to complete the second half of the run and it is possible, considering his current condition, that he may make up some time tonight with the help of his pacer, Rory Furest, who has joined him once more. I'm off to bed (while Peter keeps running, and running, and running....) but Rebecca says she will leave me messages on his progress and I'll update everyone on his progress first thing in the morning.

Saturday, 8/16, 8:54 P.M.-Peter has now arrived at Ward Creek, mile 85.7 and is making up some serious time! I just received a voicemail from his crew, and unfortunately there wasn't great reception so I didn't quite catch everything Rebecca said, but she said that Peter has made up 45 minutes of time and "is in great spirits!" He's passed halfway now and is on his way to the Tahoe City Trailhead at mile 91.2. I'll be in contact with his crew when he does and I'll try to get the full statistics for everyone; that should be in about an hour. GO PETER GO!!!

Saturday, 8/16, 4:40 P.M.-Peter arrived at the Barker Pass Trailhead (mile 74.2) and left an hour and 25 minutes later, for a total cumulative time of 26 hours and 5 minutes. This means that there is bad news and good news. The bad news is this:

Mile/Location/Total Time (Goal)/Total Time (Actual)

74.2/Barker Pass Trailhead/18:30/26:05

Peter is pretty far behind schedule to take down the record. According to his crew his altitude sickness didn't fully go away during the day. To make things worse, it got very hot during a 31 mile unsupported stretch through the Desolation Wilderness area, where Peter had to carry a large pack. The one good thing was he had a pacer, Frank Plucker, during this section, who kept him going; otherwise things might have gotten really bad.

However, I just spoke to his crew and we have several pieces of great news to tell everyone. The first, and most important, is that Peter's altitude sickness has abated and he is feeling fired up and hoping to make up some time in the next 11 mile section to Ward Creek, mile 85.7, where his crew is now waiting for him. Personally, I think the fact that he is feeling motivated to make up time is critical to his success right now. But circumstances are also beginning to drift in his favor. The next section is at a much lower altitude than before (around 6,000') and things are cooling off significantly. He's also now able to carry a much lighter pack and the next portion of trail is far smoother and less technical than what Peter was dealing with earlier today.

It's currently 8:00 P.M. as I right this; Peter should arrive at the next checkpoint within a couple hours and when he does I'll let you guys know. And when he does, he will have passed the halfway point and as an ultrarunner I know that will give him a huge psycological boost. Speaking of which, keep the encouraging comments coming! I've been relaying them along to his crew who is passing them along to him and keeping him motivated. Let's all send Peter good vibes now!...[ommmm]...that's good.

Saturday, 8/16, 4:30 A.M.-Having arrived an hour earlier, Peter has now left the Echo Lakes Trailhead at mile 41.7 with pacer Frank Plucker. Unfortunately Peter has fallen behind a few hours as he contracted some altitude sickness during the last stretch of trail, which had parts over 9,000' elevation. His next objective is to reach the Barker Pass Trailhead at mile 74.2.

Friday, 8/15, 9:30 P.M.-Peter has arrived at the Big Meadow Trailhead, mile 24.2 on pace for a total time of 5 hours and 30 minutes. I just spoke with Rebecca from his crew and she said that he is looking "as fresh as when he began", is in high spirits, and enjoying the beauty of the trail. On paper, Peter is just 15 minutes "behind schedule" but it seems that this is a prudent decision on his part (he's got a long ways to go!) and not a result of inability. After a quick break Peter has now been joined by pacer Rory Furest and they are making their way to the next major checkpoint, the Echo Summit Trailhead at mile 39.5, at this very moment!

According to Peter's plan he hopes to arrive there at 1:00 A.M., for a total cumulative time of 9 hours. Rebecca also informed me that the upcoming portion of trail is a particularly gentle section of the loop and that it has cooled down significantly so Peter should be able to take advantage of the nicer temps tonight. It is currently 63 degrees in Lake Tahoe with a 4 mph breeze.

A lot of you have been writing encouraging notes in the comments section; I should mention to everybody else out there that if you would like to send Peter good vibes via the comments board I would be more than happy to relay your encouragement on to him! Go do it!

Mile/Location/Total Time (Goal)/Total Time (Actual)

24.2/Big Meadow Trailhead/5:15/5:30

Friday, 8/15, 4:00 P.M.-Peter has now officially begun the TRT speed record attempt! It's a little on the warm side in Tahoe right now but I spoke with Peter this morning and he seemed excited and in high spirits. He also sent me a couple photos from his pre-race preparations:

My goodness that is a lot of sandwiches! :) Peter's first major checkpoint will be at the mile 24.2 Big Meadow Trailhead. He is hoping to arrive there around 9:15 P.M., for a total cumulative time of 5:15:00, by which point things should have cooled off.

Mile/Location/Total Time (Goal)/Total Time (Actual)

0.0/Corner of Kingsbury Grade and N. Benjamin/0:00/0:00

Thursday, 8/14, 2:00 P.M.-Welcome to the official webcast of Peter Lubbers' TRT speed record attempt! Peter's goal is to break the current Tahoe Rim Trail speed record of 45:58 held by Tim Twietmeyer, a distance of 165 miles, beginning Friday, August 15th at 4:00 P.M. I'll be webcasting the event by staying in contact with his crew throughout the next couple of days and will do my best to provide current mileage splits and commentary on how he's doing based on the information I can gather from his crew.

Weather: It's looking like it will get fairly warm over the weekend, with highs in the upper 80's, but that's not ridiculously bad. Friday's high/low is 89/47, Saturday's is 87/47, and Sunday's is 84/48. Heat shouldn't be too much of a factor as long as Peter hydrates and keeps cool effectively.

On behalf of the ultraholics and the extended ultrarunning community, I'd like to wish you good luck Peter! We will be rooting you on and sending you good vibes from afar, and we know you are going to do awesome!

-Michael Kanning