Last updated: 02-Nov-16
Pete Kostelnick became the fastest man ever to cross the United States on foot on October 24, when he set a new record for crossing the United States on foot. He ran the 3,100 miles between San Francisco and New York in 42 days 6 hours 30 minutes, which comes out as an average of around 73 miles a day.
Pete smashed the previous record by around four days – a record that had stood for 36 years. It belonged to Frank Giannino Jr. who ran across the country in 46 days 8 hours 36 minutes, via the same 3,100-mile, San Francisco-to-New York route.
Just after the race, Pete said, “It was more mentally and emotionally draining than physical. I think if you can get past the mental part of it and train your body… I think training for this, mentally training for it, putting in the miles, was as important as training my body.”
He was joined by a host of other runners as he crossed in New York to run the last few miles with him and celebrate his amazing achievement. Charlie Engle was one of them, “It was a very gratifying day for me, getting to run the last 40 miles with Pete Kostelnick, the new world record holder for the fastest US Trans Con run in history. He didn’t just break the record, he smashed it by 4 full days. Best of all, Pete is a nice guy and he will be a great caretaker of this record until the next person comes along, which could be a long time.”
Pete’s regime during the race was extremely tough. He would start running at 4am, cover 40 miles before lunch and then another 30+after with an early bed of 6.30. He also ate around 13,000 calories a day.
There were many times when the demons came, “Lady America has made me wince in pain with each step when I was 2,600 miles from NYC in Nevada, wish I had never started this run somewhere around Utah, scream in anger at drivers nearly hitting me every day, and made me cry probably over a hundred times when alone on the road thinking about making it to tomorrow,” Pete wrote on Facebook.
But, he carried on and has made history. Congratulations!
