Wabash Trace Nature Trail (IA)

[davidgreen]

Wabash Trace Nature Trail is mostly crushed limestone rails-to-trails through southwestern Iowa, running from Council Bluffs on the Nebraska border to Blanchard, Iowa on the Missouri border, approximately 63 miles.  I plan to do the full length of it self-supported some time in July of 2016.  As far as I know, no one else has attempted this.  I'm far from fast, so once I establish a time, I expect that it will last as FKT only as long as it takes for someone else to attempt it.

This will be my first attempt at going solo for that much distance, so any advice as far as time of day to start, equipment, what to do and/or not to do would be greatly appreciated.

[davidgreen]

In January I replicated the distance at the MS Run The US 24 Hour Treadmill Challenge, so now I at least know I can do the distance. In June I will participate in the 12 hour Dizzy Goat Trail Run as a prep. I will bike the full length at least once before my July attempt. I am leaning toward July 19 as my attempt date so I can take advantage of both a full moon and Taco Tuesday.

One unknown that may cause me to change the date is the possibility that I will instead be on a backpacking trip with Boy Scouts in New Mexico.  I should have a better handle on that within a couple of weeks.

[joeastacy]

Good luck on your run David! I recently took up solo and trail running myself and was sort of supurised to find little to no FKT action in Iowa. I plan on running in the Booneville Ultra in my first 50K next May, but after seeing exactly how dead the FKT scene is here. I am looking at a couple of routes that I can do just to get people excited about this activity.
I am nowhere near fast, but I hope that I can help get some people excited about this...

[davidgreen]

Training has not gone as expected, mainly due to being in a boot for 6 weeks due to a stress fracture in my left foot. I also missed Dizzy Goat 12 hour due to that. My longest run in the last couple of months was about 10 miles. I was able to do some scouting on my bike of the southeastern 20ish miles last weekend. I am still a go for 7/19/16. I haven't figured out my exact start time, but I have in my head that I want to start at 5 a.m. I'm thinking this is going to take me somewhere in the range of 15 to 18 hours, but that's pretty much a SWAG.

[davidgreen]

joeastacy, how did Booneville go for you? Whenever you make an attempt, let me know if you need support, etc. You can email me at [e-mail]

[davidgreen]

I started my attempt on July 19 but did not complete it. I will post a link to my blog when I finish my report. I will make another attempt and complete with the knowledge I gained in round one.

[davidgreen]

Blog of my failed attempt. insurancenerd.blogspot.com/2016/07/wabash-trace-1-david-0-my-fkt-race.html

[sluggo]

Hi everyone -

Our friend David Greene recently attempted [an out & back Wabash Trace] FKT (Here).

Larry Kelley of Nevada, IA and myself are going to give it a go next weekend and also take a shot at making the return trip to Council Bluffs.

Here are the specifics:

FKT attempt of Wabash Trace Nature Trail with return trip
Persons attempting - Ron Ruhs (Blair, NE) & Larry Kelley (Nevada, IA) collectively known as the "Ultra Doughboyz".
Starting date of attempt - August 26th, 12:00PM
Type - Supported
Distance - Council Bluffs, IA trailhead to Blanchard, IA finish 62.3 miles, return trip of 62.3 miles for a total of ~124.6 miles 
Trail website - Wabash Trace

Ultra Doughboyz Facebook page - Ultra Doughboyz

We will do updates to the event on Facebook. Click interested on the event if you want to keep abreast of progress - Wabash FKT Event

Looking forward to spending the weekend celebrating Larry's impending 50th birthday on the following Monday and laying down what we hope
will be the start of more attempts on this trail.

Ron Ruhs

[sluggo]

A little delayed, but the "Ultra Doughboyz" had a successful FKT for the entire Wabash Trace Nature Trail last Friday/Saturday (August 26-27, 2016).

This supported successful attempt was made possible by our good friends and crew Annie, Gary and Jeff (aka Kickass, Carrot and Sexy) along with some remote support by David who made the attempt documented earlier in this thread.

Below are a couple of trail head pics and the caltopo link of the attempt. We are happy to post an FKT of 21:57 for the 63~ miles of the Wabash Trace!

Thanks,
Ron Ruhs & Larry Kelley

Online caltopo link: Wabash FKT