Earlier today, I saw on my FB feed that Scott Jurek just completed a supported thru-hike (actually run) of the AT in a record 46 days, something hours and some more minutes. It got me thinking...what's the point? IMHO, it completely defeats the purpose of why I'm out there to begin with.

I did a day-hike a couple years ago in the Delaware Water Gap area of NJ and 3 of the 4 of us were actual hikers. The 4th was a walker, a speed walker at that. He saw nothing, appreciated nothing and blew past anything of note on the trail. What's worse, for some reason I felt compelled to try to keep up with him. It kinda ruined my experience, at which point I promised myself I would never allow someone else's pace to dictate mine. Hike your own hike.

So I ask - what do you think about the concept of speeding through a long distance hike just to set the speed record?
_________________________
Did you know that 83.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot?