Joshua Tree Traverse FKT

How I set a new FKT and why running against yourself can be more rewarding than racing at times

When my coach suggested I run a race as final training preparation for HURT 100, I thought of two FKTs instead: the Joshua Tree Traverse or the less classic, though no less epic, Cactus to Clouds to Cactus route that runs from downtown Palm Springs to the top of San Jacinto instead. The routes couldn’t be more different.

The Joshua Tree traverse runs 36.9 miles, from BlackRock Campground on the western edge of Joshua Tree National Park to the North Entrance Station. With a little over 3,000 feet of climbing, the difficulty of the route isn’t the climbing but the terrain: sand and sand and sand, with little balls of cholla cactus occasionally threatening to stab into your skin with their fish hook spines.

Meanwhile, the Cactus to Clouds to Cactus route totals 35 miles with 10,400 feet of climbing, most of it very technical and high altitude.

While the latter route could have fit into my training for HURT, I wanted to take a bigger leap and go for the route that is more competitive. On the men’s side, Dylan Bowman held the supported FKT for two years before Aubrey Myjer took it in 2023. On the women’s side, Clare Gallagher set a fast supported time in 2019 in 4 hours, 52 minutes (in the lead-up to winning Western States 100 a month later, no less). Two and a half years later, in December of 2022 (before winning Black Canyon 100K in 2023) Keely Henninger bested the time, finishing in 4 hours, 42 minutes.

Keely’s time is blazing fast. Still, I wanted to see if I could nab it. And, at the very least, just pushing myself to run hard on a route like this would result in a great final training effort for HURT.

Some notes: FKTS are fastest known times getting from one point to another. Check out this article to learn more, in addition to how they are accepted and logged. It was important for me to go after the supported time, since that is the faster time between the supported and unsupported times that have been achieved. An unsupported effort means that you carry everything on you, without any help, the entire route. It also means that you cannot have pacers or other people running with you. A supported effort means that you can have pacers and support through “aid stations.” This means that you simply have to move yourself from point A to point B without physical help.

A few days before the race, my coach and I spoke on the phone. She was excited for me, but also honest, which I appreciate. She said, “If you had the chance to run this route four times, I’m confident you would get it.” I agreed. This meant that for me to get the record, I would have to have everything go right. A 25% chance is something, but certainly not a guarantee.

Nick and I drove out to on Monday, December 5th and were joined by our old friend, Robert Hunt. We met at Joshua Tree Coffee and planned out the day: who would pace me first, where Robert or Nick would meet me for water and food refills, what times they should expect me, and how fast I needed to be. I felt confident in the plan and there isn’t anything I would change, which shows just how amazing their support was on this effort.

Enjoying the subtle colors of a J-Tre sunset the night before the FKT.

After an early bedtime, we woke at 5:30 a.m., walked and fed Cashew, fed Rumi (one of our pet rats who came along on the trip), and drove the short 15 minutes to Black Rock Campground. Both Robert and Nick urged me to do a short shake out run, since I’d have to immediately begin running hard. Keely’s time left no room for wasted seconds.

Nick stretching out my feet right before the start.

Chilly but excited to begin the day! I took off the gloves at the top of the first climb when my fingers felt a little less frozen.

At 6:44 a.m., I began. We had decided that Nick would pace me first, since this section was the longest—we wouldn’t see Robert until more than 19 miles later at Ryan Campground. I had dressed in shorts and a crop top with gloves. I was freezing, but figured that would only help me cover the first section faster. Dawn had broken, but light hadn’t reached the canyon, and the cold sandy wash seemed to trap the cool air.

From the beginning, I felt the pressure. I had memorized Keely’s splits to the top of the first climb, and knew that I would have to land within ten seconds of each mile: 8:27, 7:42, 8:11, 8:23, 8:56—all fast, considering the first climb covered about 1,300 feet of vert, all through very loosely packed sand.

We hit the top a little behind Keely’s time, and already I was panicking. “This feels like a RPE 9,” I said to Nick, unconvinced I could hold this effort for another 32 miles. Suddenly it didn’t seem possible that I could match Keely’s time, let alone beat it.

I went silent for many miles after realizing that there was nothing I could do but find out what would happen. As soon as we crested the top, I took advantage of the slight downhill and increased my pace. The route was beautiful here and the soft light only accentuated the forest of Joshua Trees in front of us. I was working too hard to speak, but I pointed out a particularly beautiful blue flower nestled into a crack. Around mile 14, Nick yelled and fell back farther behind me. I stopped for maybe ten seconds to wait for him and he yelled back to keep going on, that he had gotten a cholla in his leg. When he tried to pull it out, the cholla had stuck to his hand and then his wrist, before he was finally able to release it. Close call! He caught up and we carried on.

I could hear Nick a few steps behind me through most of this section, but as we got closer to Ryan Campground, his breathing began to sound heavier. “If I fall back, just keep going,” he said between huffs. “Robert will meet you there.” It felt unnatural to push on without him, but I reminded myself that we had planned for this scenario: my goal was to just keep going.

I looked down at my elapsed time around mile 19 and realized I was behind. Keely had reached this point at 2 hours, 34 minutes, 34 seconds and I came in at 2 hours, 35 minutes, 50 seconds. With another 18 miles to go, I wondered how I could possibly gain that time back. At that point, I realized I needed to let go of the time splits; they were only making me anxious. Plus, my secondary goal was to run as hard as I could, even if that meant coming in well behind Keely.

Robert was waiting right at the intersection of Ryan Campground and the California Riding Trail and he passed me a new handheld of water and offered me a gel. I had been taking in about 360 calories worth of Precision an hour, and my stomach felt good.

We moved at a good clip over the next five miles toward Geology Tour Road where Nick was waiting with another handheld and gel switch. Robert had dropped back a little in the last mile and yelled for Nick to switch out with him again, so Nick fell right back behind me as I came through. All I recall is running really hard, dealing with some side stitches, and only thinking of clicking out the miles as hard as I could: 7:04, 6:48, 7:05, 7:22.

Nick dropped back in the last mile again and told me to go ahead once more. Robert swapped out my handheld for the last time, and we started climbing once more. At this point, the stitches were rough and for the first time ever in a race or FKT, I felt like I needed to throw up. But there was no time! I disgustingly swallowed back down what had come up (Precision gels and bile) and kept moving. Nick appeared at Park Boulevard Road to cheer us on and that was the last I would see of him until the finish.

Unbeknownst to me, I was within a minute of Keely’s time, still, at mile 31.9. All I knew, having not looked at my watch for several hours, was that I was working as hard as I possible could and within five miles, it would all be over!

At the last “aid station,” I had put on my headphones, hoping music would drown out the pain. Songs by Bonnie Raitt, The Dillards, The Byrds, Bruce Springsteen and Chilliwack took me to another place mentally and I found myself clicking off faster miles as I began the final descent: 7:12, 6:53, 6:52…I have to puke! No, you don’t have time to stop! Swallow it down! Robert handed me my phone which he’d been carrying and told me to go on, that he was falling behind, that this was what I had worked for and now it was time to turn it on. I willed myself to still continue avoiding looking at my final time. Just push as hard as your body will allow you!

About a mile from the finish, when I could begin to make out our Subaru parked at the end of the trail, I audibly thanked my body for what it had done for me today. No matter what, I had tried as hard as I could and I was so thankful that it had done exactly what I had asked of it: I had run as fast as I could.

Large portions of the route look like this: sandy trails, sandy washes, and an empty sky.

As the trail made a suddenly left, veering directly toward the finish, I hit a final mile of 6:33 and then there was Nick and then there was the finish and then I was on the ground, completely spent.

I stopped my watch.

4:40:11.

I had done it.

The final time! My Coros watch has a GPS that runs a bit slow, so this is actually 36.9 miles total.

Completely spent at the end.

The finish at the North Entrance.

Today, two days later, I’m still pretty wrecked from the effort. It’s both humbling and exciting to think that the pace I averaged over 36.9 miles—7:39 minutes/mile—is faster than what my hard workout pace used to be in my first few years of running back in 2013. My first half marathon was 1:55, a 8:48 mile average, which at the time felt impossibly challenging. There are not many activities that feel as rewarding considering the number of miles and hours that I’ve put into training since then and I am continually motivated by finding my own potential in this sport, wherever that might be.

Nick made a great video if you want to check it out! It’s an inside look into what the day was like for Nick, too, and how supporting someone can be as challenging (and anxiety-inducing) as running it.

Watch Nick's video about the FKT here!

And you can see the published FKT here!

For now, it’s time to recover then get back into my final block of training before HURT in January.

I have Nick and Robert to thank for their massive support in getting me fed and hydrated, from start to finish, and in believing that I could make this happen. Thank you so much, guys!