Jason Hardrath is a runner and mountaineer based in southern Oregon. In 2021, he broke the record for the fastest known time (FTK) to summit the 100 tallest peaks in Washington State known as the Bulger List— and he did it in only 50 days.
Jason Hardrath is a runner and mountaineer based in southern Oregon. He holds over a hundred records for being the fastest person to complete trails and climb mountains around the country. In 2021, he broke the record for the fastest known time to summit the 100 tallest peaks in Washington State known as the Bulger List— and he did it in only 50 days.
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Jason Hardrath:
One thing that athletics and physical pursuits give us is a medium to face these sorts of painful, suffer fest experiences and go, "Oh, how do I want to manage this? What is it I'm learning here? Who do I want to be in moments where I feel sleep-deprived and fatigued and I haven't eaten for 14 hours and ran out of water four hours ago?" It's like we get to sort of face the music of who we want to be and how we want to walk through the hard moments in life.
Shelby Stanger:
Jason Hardrath is a runner and mountaineer based in southern Oregon. He currently holds over a hundred records for being the fastest person to complete trails and climb mountains around the country. In fact, in 2021, he broke the record for the fastest known time to summit the 100 tallest peaks in Washington State known as the Bulger List. Here's the wildest part, it took Jason only 50 days to climb all hundred peaks.
I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living an REI Co-op Studios production. From September through June, Jason works as a middle school teacher. When summer rolls around pretty much as soon as the bell rings, he heads outside to pursue some ambitious adventures. Setting records for running and climbing is the perfect outlet for Jason. He's always been an outdoorsy guy and he needs to be moving pretty much constantly.
Jason Hardrath, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living.
Jason Hardrath:
I'm really excited to be here, Shelby. Yeah, I've been looking forward to this.
Shelby Stanger:
Why were the outdoors such a good outlet for you as a kid?
Jason Hardrath:
Oh, man. I was the little kid that couldn't sit still. The ADHD, little kid. Probably if you're imagining that kid that you had in class when you were a kid, that was kind of annoying and couldn't sit still and wouldn't listen. That was me. So yeah, the outlet for that that I discovered at a very young age was moving my body, and that came in the form of skating as a kid, that came in the form of running around in the woods and riding bikes and disappearing all day until it was dinnertime, and eventually sports and pursuing increasing levels of accomplishment and difficulty in the medium of both high school sports and making it on a college team. Big part of my journey for sure.
Shelby Stanger:
What teams did you play on?
Jason Hardrath:
So I grew up in a football town, so started off playing football in middle school and then about halfway through high school realized... I'd been running track already and kind of discovered running in middle school. And about halfway through high school kind of had this reckoning where I just felt like I should be running cross country and not playing football. I should be dedicating myself to this thing that I really love. And the idea had kind of materialized of trying to make it onto a college team, which felt like a really aspirational goal for me.
Shelby Stanger:
So for you, what is it about running, that running provided that team sports like football, didn't?
Jason Hardrath:
And I think this is what skating before that it held for me too. It's like it was purely you show up and you take your falls to earn your tricks, and it's you and nobody else. And that was really good for me, just to go iteration after iteration after iteration. It was just me and the challenge in front of me and running quickly became that way where it's like, okay... The goal that animated me in middle school was I was running a 6:20 mile in just the PE mile, and I was like, maybe I can run under six. Because the previous year, someone, an eighth grader had run sub six, and I'm like, maybe I can be the guy, maybe I can break six. And just mile after PE mile just worked, just to the point of almost vomiting, trying to break through this mark and the last PE mile of the year just went out hard.
And I just remember my head was spinning and I don't think I'd felt worse pain than that through my whole body at that point in my life as a little middle schooler. And I just remember coming across the line and hearing just that the first number that the teacher read was five and none of the rest mattered. It was like I flopped into the grass and I was in so much pain and heaving and head spinning, but it was worth it. And that solidified this, "Okay, if I'm willing to work really, really hard and aim at something that seems difficult, it's worth it."
Shelby Stanger:
I love also that PE in school inspired you. I always get really sad when people tell me that they don't have a PE program at their schools because I think physical education is so important for young kids. That's how you found it.
Jason Hardrath:
Yeah, no, it's a big reason, I am... It's the reason I am a PE teacher today, is to hand those experiences to kids that set them on fire for a lifetime. It's like that's how I orient everything I do in the classroom is to provide those initial experiences in different sports and skills. I have a rock wall in my gym, I have skateboards, I have bikes. I take them out and I'll model. They get to walk the corners on the track and jog the straight stretches and I'll run the whole time.
But every single year, about halfway through as the weather's getting warmer, there will be kids that ask, "Can I just run with you the whole time?" And then they get to have this experience of going around the track with me and I'll have a conversation with them. "Yeah, this is what did it for me, all the successes I've had, the adventures I'm able to go on that I tell you guys and show you pictures of, it's because I made the choice to do the extra that wasn't required of me." And that to me is a powerful moment to be able to share that with a young mind and a young spirit.
Shelby Stanger:
That's so cool. I didn't realize you were a PE teacher, but now this all makes so much sense. Okay, so you ran in college, but how did you become a school teacher?
Jason Hardrath:
So yeah, ran for Corban University, track and cross country for four years and studied education. And actually looking even further into my past, it was in my wiring to instead of being a person that points and laughs when someone can't do something, to instead walk up and be like, "Let me show you." And so I kind of knew even by high school that it's probably teaching is just in my wiring.
Shelby Stanger:
Jason became a teacher right out of college and he's always thinking about how his adventures can inspire his students. In addition to coaching track at school, Jason stayed active by running ultra marathons and he even qualified for the Ironman World Championships. But when Jason was 25, his entire outlook on life shifted in an instant. He was on his way to a meeting when he got in a terrible car accident.
Jason Hardrath:
It's something I actually... I still taught K through 12 at that time because it's a small school, and they needed me to teach across the grade levels. And so when I finally went back, I talked with my students. It's like, "It's exactly what I've told you about. People don't tend to have really bad things happen just because one bad thing happens all at once. It's because they're a little too tired that day and they're a little stressed out and then this one thing goes wrong with a coworker and then they forget to do this thing and then the bad thing happens."
And sure enough, it was a day where the students had been particularly moody and had to deescalate quite a few conflicts. And so that was a bit draining. And then the other track coach didn't show up, so I had to solo coach the entire team.
And then I had volunteered to also be a spokesperson for my school at the district office meeting with the superintendent. And so I wrap up practice and I realize I'm going to be late to this meeting. So I'm kind of fatigued, I'm tired, but it's like, let's go get in the car, let's get there and try not to be late. And so I'm rushing driving too fast, forgot to put the seatbelt on, I realize I'm frazzled. So some amount of self-awareness, I'm like, "I need to chill out before this meeting so I can actually be composed while I'm there."
So I go to plug my phone in to play music, and as I did, caught the shoulder and rolled the vehicle and out I went. So yeah, it was a multitude of little factors that if any one of them had been adjusted, it wouldn't have happened. But because all those little factors were lined up, it was a major and traumatic kind of life-changing experience.
Shelby Stanger:
Jason was thrown from the car and sustained multiple severe injuries. He broke his shoulder in two places, shattered nine ribs, his lung collapsed, and there was serious damage to his right knee. It's truly incredible that he even survived. The recovery was brutal, but it gave Jason the opportunity to show up as the resilient person he wanted to be in the world.
Jason Hardrath:
It was kind of one of those people call them pivots. I can still remember one of the first doctors I had. The only version of myself I'd known was this person who expressed themselves through physical endeavor, through physical accomplishments. And I brought that up like, "Oh, I love running." And the doctor's just like, "Oh yeah, you're probably going to let that part of your life go." And then walks out to go see his next patient.
Needless to say, didn't stay my doctor very long, but in the moment there was this sinking feeling, because I'm this 25 year old who's in horrible pain, it's the first time my body's ever been dysfunctionally broken, which there's this relationship that you have with your body as an athlete, especially if you've never had a debilitating injury where you just sort of believe you can do anything like, "Oh yeah, I can land on this knee a thousand times and it will always work." Until you finally have the time that it doesn't.
And so this was the first time where it's like, "I'm clearly broken. I can't do the things I want to do." And then this guy in a white coat who looks really official and has this degree says, "Yeah, you're probably done." And my spirits just sank in that moment. And then, I don't know, it was part defiance and part just my own track record with myself. The agreement I made with myself in that moment was that I would not stop, I was not going to relent, until I got back to some version of what I loved.
Shelby Stanger:
After that accident, you had to get through some mental barriers. What did you do to get through them and what were the mental barriers that you had to get through?
Jason Hardrath:
I mean, I talked about the first one just kind of facing that initial low and that loss of faith, just accepting like, "Oh, it's done. Time to phone it into the finish line or the gravestone, I guess in this case." And I didn't accept that fate. And then another really big one for me navigating it was I still refer to even to this day, and I established it at that time, every PR, every record or accomplishment or race that I won prior to the car accident, my former life.
That guy did some cool stuff. He was pretty strong, but he died in that accident. And now this new guy that's alive needs to make himself into something. And that was the clean break I made. And I did that on purpose because like I said, with the kindergartners and handing them the new exciting thing to do, and they just love it, even though they'll fail a million times, it was like I knew I needed to be in a head space where I could celebrate every small win. And even down to things we take for granted like, "Oh, that's the furthest I've bent my knee."
Instead of being in this framework of like, "Oh, I'm not running a 2:50 marathon anymore. That's pathetic." The self-judgment versus the novelty and celebration of growth, it's like that's just cutting your legs out from under you every single time. And I knew I would not succeed if every time I was thinking about myself, I was doing that.
And another one was a rearrangement of identity, right? Because I think I got into running at a young enough age that it was like, "Oh, I am a runner." It's like, no, that's what you do. That's not who you are. And being able to instead think of myself as I'm a passionate, driven person, a person who loves a challenge, and the way I express that is through running.
Shelby Stanger:
For Jason, the car accident was a starting line. As soon as he could walk again, he was walking uphill. From there, Jason started climbing mountains, slowly increasing his endurance and eventually making a full recovery. The accident happened in the spring of 2015 and that November Jason climbed Mount Shasta. When we come back, Jason tells us about the world of Fastest Known Times or FKTs, and he also talks about his own journey to complete the Bulger List.
As a guy who is focused on doing hard things fast, it's no surprise that Jason Hardrath has a few Fastest Known Times or FKTs under his belt. An FKT is exactly what it sounds like. The fastest known recorded time to complete an established route, usually by running or hiking. FKTs gained a lot of popularity during the height of the COVID Pandemic. Races and events were canceled, but athletes were still looking for ways to compete and push themselves.
Jason was into FKTs before they became popular. In 2018, he intentionally started setting as many records as possible. He'd venture around the country, timing his routes as he scaled mountains and ran trails. When he was approaching his hundredth fastest known time, he came up with a wild idea to mark the milestone. For his 100th FKT, he decided to climb the 100 tallest peaks in Washington State, known as the Bulger List.
Okay. So how did you decide to start doing FKTs? When did this moment happen?
Jason Hardrath:
Yeah, like I said, it was this kind of perfect alignment of, I've acquired these new skill sets and interests and the love of nature. And for me, it's always twofold. A lot of people just love to be in the nature for the nature that's outside of them. For me, there's this aspect that to have a full experience, the richest experience I can have, I need to be bringing all of my own nature to whatever nature has to offer.
So if I'm climbing a rock route or I'm traversing a glacier, it's like I want to do it the very best my body and mind can possibly do it. Being an ADHD person, my head is all over the place. And when I'm out there pushing hard in technical terrain, it's peaceful.
Shelby Stanger:
Your focused.
Jason Hardrath:
And it's quiet. It's a sanctuary more than any church I've ever stepped in. And so to get to go have multiple hours in beautiful spaces with a perfectly quiet mind, to me, that's the real love, is to be able to be in a state like that with surroundings like that. And so FKTs were just sort of a medium, an excuse to constantly put myself into new iterations of that experience. And that's why instead of just being like, "Oh, I'm going to do one really big FKT." It was like, "I'm going to do a hundred of these."
Shelby Stanger:
You messaged me maybe last year or the year before, and basically you had this idea to do a hundred of Washington's tallest peaks. When did you have this idea?
Jason Hardrath:
So jump into the FKT journey. I'm rattling through these experiences and some people are starting to pay attention, which originally I just did it for me, and it started to have meaning to others. And they started to ask as I'm getting to FKT 75 and 85 and 90, especially at that point, they're like, "What are you doing for a hundred?" And I was like, "I'm just playing. I hadn't thought there's going to be something special at the end. I was just going to keep doing the things that I love doing." Because that was the whole mindset that started it. But that got me thinking, "Oh, maybe I should do something big and epic for number 100 to sort of capstone this journey to a hundred FKTs." And that's when I bump into the Bulger List, which is the name for the hundred tallest peaks in the State of Washington.
And it's like, wait a hundred peaks for my hundredth FKT. And the thing that just really brought it home is Washington Peaks aren't like Colorado's peaks where most of them have trails to the top, and most of them are, you can just throw on your trail runners and boom, you get to the top. It's like two of them have trails to the top, and every other one of them, you're either orienteering, bushwhacking, traveling across glaciers that have crevasses or rock climbing your way to the top, or a mixture of all of the above.
And so it's this full on adventure test of everything I'd done in the previous 99 FKTs. And I'm a school teacher, and I tend to think and frame things in, "Okay, what would be the apt final examination of a given learning unit?" And it's like, "Okay, sure. This learning unit in my life took four years, but a hundred peaks of nonstop movement through terrain like that sounds like a pretty perfect final exam to put a close on the journey to 100 FKTs."
Shelby Stanger:
So when did you actually decide to go, and then what was the preparation like?
Jason Hardrath:
So that would've happened the fall of 2020, and then I spent about six months of very serious logistical planning. So from fall 2020 until I went for it in 2021 in the summer starting in June. It was all pretty serious, full on calls and talking through everything. So basically I had to build out the entire idea so that it was just push button, where it's like I show up and I know where I'm driving and how many miles I'm doing and how to fit the pieces together so to speak, so that if something happens, I know how to change things around like, "Oh, I'm super blown up from a route that ended up being way harder. Okay, I need an easier day. What peak would be easier to shift in after that?" So I had to have this deep understanding of a place I really hadn't spent a lot of time.
I'd only ever climbed two of these peaks before. And the other big thing, the most compelling question about it for me, actually, no one had climbed these peaks in a single season. The fastest time anybody had done it was 410 days. So over a year, it had taken them over a year, and that person was five years faster than the second-fastest time. These were just considered a lifetime achievement type peak list. And the thing that made it compelling, I'm a school teacher, the number had to add up to be at least some amount less than the full school summer in order for me to be like, "I can pull the trigger on this and go for it."
And after a lot of logistical work in these phone calls, it was like, I think the number 50 is possible. I think if nearly everything goes right and I don't make any mistakes, and obviously no fires happen and no routes melt out so that they're, all these different factors could happen, I think 50 days is possible. And so that I set that as my mark to aim for from the very beginning was I'm going to go try to do Washington's a hundred tallest peaks in 50 days.
Shelby Stanger:
If you do some simple math, you'll realize that Jason had to double up on peaks, but sometimes he also took a rest day, meaning that occasionally he had to climb five or six mountains in 24 hours. Even though the days were grueling, to Jason, it was always worth it.
So at the top of the final peak, what did that feel like? Or the bottom of the final peak when you finally finished? Where was the moment you were like, "This is so awesome, we did it?"
Jason Hardrath:
So the final, I mean, I was looking forward to the final moment through the whole, I call it the volcanic victory lap because I put all the volcanoes... And that's what I originally started mountaineering on was volcanoes. So it felt like this coming home, I know how to climb on volcanoes. Okay, let's go. And so pushing through all those, I was looking forward to this final day where it's like, I can push as hard as I want and I don't have to worry about tomorrow finally. There's no risk the next day.
So it's just pour it all out there. And it was Mount St. Helens. I kind of left this, the furthest south volcano of the whole state for the final one. And making it to the top, that felt pretty good because it was kind of like, "Okay, the project is kind of done." But FKTs, it's from when you leave the first trail head until you get back to the final trail head.
So the clock was still running, so it's like I can't stay up here and celebrate. And what I realized was I was actually racing for the record to read the 50 days that I'd predicted. And so I get up there, I enjoy some moments on the summit, and then I just absolutely gas pedal to the floor, running down the volcanic scree, hopping over rocks just as fast as I can to get back down this mountain.
And the moment when I come running in, I just throw my gear and I let out this scream and stop the watch. And sure enough, it was... What was the exact time? It was 50 days, 23 hours, 43 minutes, I believe. So right on the edge of it reading 51 days instead of 50 days on the front of the record. For some reason it's silly. What does that mean? But to me it meant something. And so to be able to have that experience where I got to truly race the clock to finish out this a hundred mountain push, it just made the experience so perfect.
Shelby Stanger:
It sounds so awesome. I mean, congratulations. That's like a huge, huge accomplishment. So you had a couple more days and then you had to start school.
Jason Hardrath:
I actually had a little bit of extra time because like I said, the school summer about 70 days long and I finished in 50 and I basically like getting off to start, it was principal says, "You can go." Get in the car, drive to Washington, start the next day. It was that kind of efficiency to get out the door. And so it left me with a little bit of window to sleep for a few days and eat a ton of food and kind of reflect on what I'd done.
And it was nice to have a handful of days to just feel no rush to be anywhere. But the fun part was when I came rolling through the doors to the first PE class, first day of school, a bunch of my students, "Did you do it?" And that made it all worth it. "Yeah, I did it."
Shelby Stanger:
Jason's focus on the positive and his resolve to show his students what's possible is just heartwarming. He's not just thinking about his own accomplishments, he's also setting an example for the next generation of adventurers.
Jason made a film with Athletic Brewing about completing his hundredth FKT called Journey to 100. There's a link to watch it in our show notes, and you can also find the film on YouTube. You can see all of Jason's FKTs at fastestknowntime.com. He has 119 of them. Jason Hardrath is currently climbing 121 peaks in the Rocky Mountains, like right now. Follow him on Instagram. I've been following along. It's absolutely incredible. You can get updates at Jason Hardrath. That's J-A-S-O-N H-A-R-D-R-A-T-H. I've been following along and it's absolutely inspiring.
Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI Podcast Network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, produced by Annie Fassler, Sylvia Thomas, and Sam Peers Nitzberg of Puddle Creative and our senior producer is Jenny Barber. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby.
As always, we love it when you follow the show, rate it and write a review wherever you listen. And remember, some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.