Welcome back or welcome to the Single Track podcast. I'm your host, Finn Melanson, and in this episode,

we are taking an in-depth look at the behind-the-scenes efforts of Tara Dower's crew during her

FKT attempt and ultimate record achievement on the Appalachian Trail. Terra's crew chief, whose trail name

is Rascal, shares insights into the challenges faced the mental strategies employed and the importance of community support along the way.

The discussion also highlights the logistics of crew dynamics, the physical and mental toll on both Tara and her crew,

and reflections on the overall experience, among many other questions I throw out to her.

We close down the conversation with Rascal offering advice to future

crews that might want to attempt something of this stature one day in the near future. She also

shares some of her personal takeaways from this monumental adventure and what is next on the docket

for her. Without further ado, let's get this conversation started. All right, this episode is special because it is a behind the scenes look into the nitty-gritty of Tara Dower's team,

which was called Chump Change, FKT, on the Appalachian Trail earlier this month and through August.

This is the crew conversation.

I'm really stoked that we're doing it.

We have her crew chief here, Rascal, to just comment on, I guess aftermath is not the

right word, but just like everything that has happened since, what happened during, et cetera.

And I mean, the demand for a conversation with Tara was high, but we put out this request on social for like any questions, comments,

et cetera that you want Rascal and the team to answer. And I actually miscounted. So I think

we had, I said previously 260, we had 317 responses and they fit into kind of a fair number

of common categories, but a lot of demand for this conversation,

Rascal, it's great to have you here. Give the audience just a quick intro on who you are and

what it means to be a crew chief for these types of efforts. Yeah, absolutely. My name's Rascal,

and I've been friends with Tara Dower since 2019.

...