T minus 6 days: driving cross country

It's hard to believe that Karl's out there right now, on a heartland highway outside of Lincoln, Neb., heading east to Maine in the Where's Karl? RV. He left Salt Lake yesterday morning with a ready rig, food for the road, and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson loaded on his iPod. (Karl and his entire crew are reading or listening to this right now, so we all have a better understanding of the story and the history of the AT.)

The first stop along his way was Boulder, where he hooked up with his team at La Sportiva. I'm sincerely sorry I didn't mention this beforehand, but they hosted a Live Chat session with Karl yesterday afternoon on their Adventure Running blog. If you weren't logged in, definitely check it out.

Some people have questioned Karl's desire to drive the rig cross country all by himself right before the challenge of the AT record attempt, but he's stoked about it. He has been busy preparing for this run, putting on the Speedgoat 50k, and getting last-minute schedules out to the athletes he coaches... A long road trip will give him time to decompress, and that's exactly what he wanted.

T minus 2 weeks: Budah and The Speedgoat

Karl called me at 5:18 this morning. That's not normal.

We were scheduled for a TV live remote on Utah's FOX 13 and we had planned to meet the crew at a local park at 5:30.

So Karl's on the phone with me at 5:18: "Where are you?"

"At home. Where are you?"

"At the park. Nobody's here."

"Hell, Karl. You're 15 minutes early. In the 5 o'clock hour, that's like hours. I'll be there in 10."

T minus 3 weeks: SPOT Karl!

Dig the new site? According to the giant ticker, we have 18 days and 18 hours left before Karl hits the trail. I have pre-race jitters already, and all I'm doing is driving the rig.

Backcountry.com will be adding more tools and functionality in the next few weeks. On day one, we'll be switching out the countdown clock for a table that shows Karl's goal time and mileage versus actual, as well as his resting and max heart rates and the calories he's burned each day. And you'll be able to track his progress on the map as he goes. The SPOT tracker that he'll be wearing will ping every 10 minutes, sending beta to the satellites and relaying the information in real-time to whereskarl.com. Super cool stuff.

T minus 4 weeks: Speed Doesn't Matter

This week's training update from Mr. Meltzer, Jr.:

This week consisted of more hiking than running, three longer days in the 4-5 hour range with many 1000s of vertical feet climbed. It's all about staying out there for a long time, speed is no longer something to think about, sounds crazy, but a 4 mph average takes the 47 day record down by about a week, something that probably won't happen. I just have to train to hold back now, with no herky jerky movements! Two more weeks of this, then the Speedgoat 50K. We're parking the Where's Karl? RV at the Speedgoat finish line and making it command central. I want to give it a little taste of what's in store for it on the AT. Oh, and because she's gonna be my baby, I've decided to call her "Nannie."

T minus 5 weeks: gearing up

Five weeks to go until Karl hits the trail and things around Backcountry.com are frenetic. In a nutshell, we're stoked to welcome some new sponsors to the team; we're about ready to launch the new, improved whereskarl.com website; we've got the crew all lined up for the entire 47-day stint; we're working out all sorts of crazy travel logistics; the Where's Karl RV has been out and about; and Karl is out there training. The new website will be awesome. We want to get it up soon so you can check it out.

Fires suck.

Well, ok. The Western States has been canceled due to the hellish inferno of wildfires in Cali right now. Total bummer for the 400+ runners who trained and traveled and were expecting a good race. Sorry, guys. As for Karl, he's taking it in stride. Literally. He's going for a run later and then he's heading home. Forty days to go till its go-time on the AT.

T minus 6 weeks: WESTERN STATES

Karl left for Cali and the Western States this morning. Three days to go until the race and he’s feeling good. I stopped by his house last night to deliver Where's Karl? car door magnets for his support Subie. (The RV isn't making this trip.) We sat for a minute on his back deck and talked about the WS, the upcoming Appalachian Assault, the Wasatch Speed Goat race, and the athletes he coaches. He's got a lot going on in the next few weeks — a lot to think about while he's out there running. Physically, though, Karl is totally honed. He's nothing but muscles on wire. And he's rested.

T minus 7 weeks: Snow for the speedy, golf for the Goat

Karl logged 50 miles this week. He's ten days out from Western States and he's well into The Zone. What's The Zone? For 14-21 days before a big race, Karl makes sure never to run with tired legs. Lactic acid burn, like wiping your bum with poison ivy or eating my grandma's lutefisk, is something to be avoided at all costs. Not feeling the burn, like NOT wiping your ass with a viciously blistering plant and NOT eating cod soaked in lye, keeps Karl fresh and ready to race.

The Where's Karl? RV

Consider this the official unveiling!

The Where's Karl? RV is wrapped, tuned and ready to go. Keep an eye out for it at Utah area races between now and July 29, when Karl hits the road on his cross country drive to Maine.

T minus 8 weeks: a mixed bag.

Bad news. The artsy folks at Backcountry unveiled the RV wrap design yesterday and the "Monkey Spank" sticker is out. They're covering it up! It's probably best, but I'm sorely disappointed. (Sorry, Grae Van Hooser, I have a feeling you might be as sad about this as I am.) I don't think it's gone forever, though. Just a hunch...