[pct-l] Ok, i give...this is my take on speedhiking

[mark v]

I haven't wanted to alienate the whole PCT community,
and i tend to skip over any PCT-L posts related to the
topic, but i'm crumbling to the internal pressure and
re-posting something i wrote once on trailforums:

I don't have any problem with the records...i just
find them silly. I'm glad people speed-hiking have a
great time, and i hope they keep doing it. HYOH. (At
least until i can find someone to hike my hike for me
while i stay up late drinking instead. That would be
HMHFMWISULDI.) 
But, i think this is why speed-hikers get a negative
response from many non-speed thru-hikers: by saying
that completing a trail in a record time is a great
achievement, there's a SLIGHT implication that going
less fast is less of an achievement. (Otherwise, if
not to achieve a faster time, why would the person try
to break the record?)  Then for those of us for whom
going fast isn't an objective, we may feel that our
own achievement has been lessened. I think it's the
same rationale that has straight-thru-hikers at odds
sometimes with flip-thrus and skip-thrus. Each side
can feel that their achievement is lessened when
somebody else makes the achievement about some other
set of parameters. It's like comparing apples and
oranges, but of all sudden being the most citrus is a
great achievement. The apple doesn't stack up anymore.





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