Rhino - Pacific Crest Trail Journal - 2014

Record attempt is over...crazy

It is with an extremely sad and devastated heart that I'm announcing PCT record attempt is over. After doing about 42 miles my knee was slowly giving out. It's my IT band. I had this injury from my hike in 2011 but for some crazy reason, wether it be karma or not or just the universe telling me it wasn't meant to be, my IT band started flaring up a couple weeks ago. I refused to believe this was h...appening right before my trek and stayed mentally strong and positive as so much was riding on this and it being so hyped up and even having friends and family and strangers donate to help support me (which I will now refund but please be patient as I don't even get the money from Indiegogo till June 22). I even got a few sponsorships which was amazing and those who really know me know I was a hiking mad man. I was ready to dominate. I did everything I did in 2011 to heal up, rest, ice, compression and elevation. It was a ritual for me when I got home. It worked before so why not again. Thats why I delayed my trip by a couple days to rest just a tad bit more. And I actually felt really good going into yesterday. But than mile 16 hit and you go down this canyon and come back out and I could start to feel it. I hate going down hill. I made sure I rested more and ate and drank constantly. But it seemed like the inevitable was happening and it was freaking Day 1. I would say about mile 30 I started hitting this wall, which usually happens, and thats where the mental part comes into play. But besides my IT band hurting, other things were coming into play. I'm not sure but I guess I was getting heat exhaustion or something. I'm pretty sure some parts of the trail were pushing 90+ degrees. I was forcing myself to eat but really couldn't, was forcing myself to drink but didn't want to anymore. I had noticed I hadn't gone to the bathroom since the morning so when I forced myself to pee (because I wanted to see what color my pee was) it was already dark yellow, and I thought I was drinking a lot. Anyway, as I was hiking and tearing up and just thinking that if this is day 1, it's only gonna get worse and the next day will be hotter with probably no cell phone service. So when I finally made it to Mount Laguna I got reception at the Mount Laguna store and made the call with tears in my eyes to Carolyn to come get me.

I am deeply sorry everyone. I thought this was the year.

I just found out that another record attempter Jay "Young Gun" Bonthius has left the trail after mile 400 with the heat and the beating his body took day after day. He was setting the bar high and I knew I had to keep up. If I would have known I might have played out the day differently, (but probably not) Now were both done and on top of that, Ryan Weidert aka Tuna Helper decided he wasn't going for the record either. So that leaves one guy on the trail still Eric Fuller, who left June 7th and another guy named Matthew Robison who is leaving the 14th or 16th. Good luck to you guys.

As you can imagine I am very dissapointed and embarrassed and will be seeing most of you sooner than you wanted to.

Thanks for all the support and love you guys.
Rhino (was coming thru)

Entry 7 of 7
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