LU Professor Shatters Record

By Kim Davis

Dr. David Horton is living a dream..

"For years, Ihad dreamed of runningthe Appalachian Trail (AT),"Horton said. "Thesummer of 1991 allowed me theopportunity to fulfill that dream."

On May 9, at 6:54 a.m., he startedon a journeythat would takehimbeyond the imaginable -conqueringthe longestcontinuously marked footpath in the world in a record-breaking 52 days.

Horton'sgoalwasto makethis tripon the AT in56 days, four days faster than the previous record, but 24-year-old Scott "Maineak" Grierson of Bass Harbor, Maine, had the same goal. "Maineak"was an experiencedhikerandstartedhis quest two daysbefore Horton.

"Thisgave me a tremendous amount of incentive," Horton said "I am not competitive -1 am highly competitive. If I finished a day behind him, I still would have broken therecord, butIdidn't wantto justbeat his record, I wanted to beathim to thetopof Mt. Katahdin."

The AT officially opened in 1937 and extends 2,144 miles from SpringerMountain, Georgia, to Mount Katahdin, Maine Eighthundredpeoplebeginhikingit eachyear, butonlyabout 100actuallyfinishit.

Horton,chairmanof the physicaleducation,recreation and sports management department, had thoughtabout running theAT for years, buthe did notdecideto do it until July1990 He is from Marshall, Arkansas, and has been at LU for 13 years.

Althoughhehas runoff and onall his life, Hortondid notbeginrunning consistentlyuntil March 1977. Since then, Horton has gone on to win 29 out of 67 ultramarathons and has averaged seven-minute miles for 50 miles.

He runs anaverageof 70 -75 miles per weekregularly and 90-100 milesperweek during hard training. This scheduledidnotchangemuch when Hortonbeganpreparingfor the AT

"Ipracticed carrying a back pack, but Ionly had to carryit forone day," Horton said. "I was ableto enlist various people who graciously gave of their time and resourcesto crew me through the AT. Thisallowed me to do the AT as Iwould atypical ultra.Becauseof this, all I had tocarrywas afannypack and awater bottle."

Horton consumed an average of 6000 caloriesdaily whileon thetrail. His dietconsisted of five orsix Skor candybars and anoccasional Power Barthroughout the day, agood breakfast(if available),aturkeyandcheese sandwicharound 12:30-1 p.m., and pasta and dessert for dinner, usually at afood bar or buffet

He also drank 80 gallons of Conquest energy replacement drink,wore out four pairs of shoes, and onlylost six pounds whiledoing it.

"I triedto consume as many caloriesas Icould," Hortonsaid. "Duringthe lastfew daysIcould 0£k M hardlyeat Iwas sotired, and it © J| tooksomuch of my energy."

Horton'stypicaldaybegana littleafter 6 a.m. duringthe early stagesofhis run He averaged sevenhoursofsleepand 10hours and 54minuteson the trail duringthe first 43 days.

Thefirstfewdayswererainy and foggy Horton's feet remained wet, and they soon developed blisters.He also developedtendinitisinhis rightankle.

But this wasn't the endof Horton's injuries

He planned towalk the uphill climbs and runthe downhill and level stretches, unlike "Maineak" who put in more hoursandwalkedthe entireway. During Horton'slast day outof the SmokeyMountains, however, he ran thedownhills toofastand developed shinsplintsin his rightleg. Theyprogressivelyworsened and began in his left legafew days later.

"One ofthe big problemswas gettingadjusted,"Horton said. "Adaptabilityis veryimportant. Bothshins were swollen, red and very painfultothetouch, which produced excruciating pains while running and walking downhills."

Horton'schances of finishing the trail seemedslim. "I didn'tknow if my body would physically allowme to continue,"hesaid. "To me, it would behumiliatingifI didn'tdo what I saidIwould do."

The 41-year-old Horton would notgive up.

He began taking anti-inflammatory medication He alsostartedicinghis shinsfortwo orthree hours every night. This lessened the pain and allowed Horton to continueon the trail.

He stayed on schedule, averaging 38.3 miles per day. After recoveringfrom his injuries, Hortonincreased his mileage From days 26 - 43 he averaged 44.4 miles per day