FKTs, or Fastest Known Times, are the greatest inspiration for me to continue to train and push the limits of my endurance. These feats of adventure, strategy, skill, and athleticism are tracked on some low budget forum(s) and seldom receive media glory and yet establishing FKT(s) is the ultimate goal for me as a runner. Outside of various portions of the PCT and the 3 Sisters (and Broken Top and Bachelor) Traverse there are not many major FKT objectives around Oregon. Back east there are tons of objectives being created and re-created all over the place.
I think we could use a little of this FKT stuff in our training diet as well. It would inspire us and let us know where we are at in terms of fitness. Racing can be certainly be inspirational and informative with regard to where one stands in the pack but there are problems with races that don't exist in the FKT world. Races have set dates and don't get bumped forward or back depending on whether you feel awesome or crappy: FKTs can be taken on whenever one feels up for it. Unless you are the race director you don't get to pick the course: the world of FKTs is wide open and the creator's only rule in creating the "course" should be that it is clearly defined and worthy of repeating. Race courses are always changing and therefore the times vary from year to year: FKTs courses cannot be changed without establishing a new FKT for the altered route. And the list goes on. Basically, FKTs are challenges of the self, or more personal than racing against others when the clock is the only competitor and there is a lot more freedom in terms of when and where they can be done.
I've decided that soon I will follow Buzz's (Burrell, sort of the King of the FKT world along with Peter Bawkin) rules or ettiquette and announce my plans, invite others and document a few FKTs on some local hills and then post them someplace (here or some other crap blog/forum) and watch some really fast guys in the area (if they care) take them on (and likely crush them).
First up, likely Sardine Mtn. from Little Dam TH. With the easy accessibility--right off hwy 22, short distance, steep 3800' climb, summit objective, and nice line up the ridge I figured it would be an objective others would be interested in taking on.
Now, back to training--for something nobody cares about...
