Pacific Crest Trail Sign. Photo by Jonathan Miske via Flickr CC2.
Emily Halnon recently set the speed record for running the Oregon portion of the famous Pacific Crest Trail. She ran 453 miles from California to Washington in 7 days. Through snow and bitter cold, up and over mountains, and through long days and longer nights, Emily ran in honor of her mother who died of cancer earlier this year, and to raise money for rare cancer research.
Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is challenging enough, but running it to set a record is unimaginably difficult. On August 9th, 2020 Emily crossed Bridge Of The Gods into Washington and set the fastest overall known time (for men and women) on the Pacific Crest Trail. The previous fastest time was set by Brian Donnelly in 2013 at 7 days, 22 hours and 37 minutes in a self-supported run. Emily ran the PCT in 7 days, 19 hours, and 23 minutes.
There are two ways to set a record like this on the PCT: supported and self-supported. Emily ran with a support team of friends who met her at trail crossings to run with her or to bring her food or help massage the aches and pains out of her calves. Read about how her team supported her in her Instagram Post below:
Emily averaged 57 miles a day, which is incredible given the rough, rocky terrain she often had to traverse, the mountains she had to climb on the trail and the poor conditions she often had to run in. There were times on the trail where she was wet for 14 hours straight from the elements. There were also violent river crossings, snow fields to cross, and harsh cold to contend with.
On day six Emily posted to Instagram, "The early terrain is a monster. Miles of trail over jagged lava rocks that are slow and tedious." She also wrote that day, "By our first crew stop the weather is changing. The temperature plummets and sheets of rain cascade from the sky. A mountain storm has arrived."
Emily thought of her mom a lot while on the trail. She said her mom would have been beyond proud, and this was her way of feeling connected to her. Through her record setting run across the Oregon portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, Emily raised $32,000 for the Brave Like Gabe foundation to support rare cancer research. In an Instagram post Emily wrote: "My mom's fight against rare cancer was full of dead ends. When that first round of chemo didn't work, her oncologist had terrifyingly few options to offer her." Her mother passed away in January of 2020 after a 13 month battle against a rare uterine cancer.
