It is six hours before Kilian Jornet starts his incredible run around the Tahoe Rim Trail, heading out from Tahoe City at 5am Pacific Time, in a clockwise direction.  We had a meeting this evening with the seven pacers who will accompany the speedster and all seven of us have conceded that we fear being dropped as we try to help Kilian over the next two days.  

Even though he will be running 165 miles and we'll only have a small portion, we never know when he'll want to b bust loose and put down some fast miles and there is no escaping from the fact that he is the fastest runner in the world for this sort of mountainous ultradistance trail running.  He is undeniably the king.

It was reassuring to see Kilian looking so comforable, jovial, and relaxed this evening.  He has a respectful confidence and shows great maturity for someone who is only 22 years old.  He knows his limits.  He knows his abilities.  And he knows he is trained and prepared for tomorrow's (and the next day's) task.  We -- Bryon, Jean-Michelle, Sean, Josh, Ross, Kevin, and I -- are not so sure, however.  But we are hopeful that Kilian's spirit, enthusiasm, and dedication to the "Quest" of completing what is now his third of three amazing trail running feats in one season, the others being the crossing of Corsica in 32 hours, shaving four from the old record, and winning the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc for the second year in a row, will inspire us to keep pace with him.

I'll be back with more as we progress tomorrow and we'll be posting plenty of updates on the Salomon Running Facebook page too.

Good luck tomorrow, Kilian!

--Adam (a.k.a. Proton)