Katie Brown, RN, recorded the fastest time ever in the self-supported category for hiking the Arizona Trail.
Congrats to Katie Brown, RN, who completed a grueling 817-mile hike through Arizona in record time. A website called the “Free Roaming Hiker” writes, “The Arizona Trail (AZT) is a rugged, challenging 800 + thru-hike that stretches from the border of Mexico to the border of Utah, and is riddled with challenges such as extreme heat, freezing temperatures, snow, blowing sand, lack of water, consistent elevation change, and many stinging and poisonous critters.”
Katie who works in the respiratory ICU at Intermountain Medical Center, says that’s an accurate description of the trail. She should know, she walked and ran the trail and did it in 17 days, 19 hours, and 52 minutes. That time is the fastest ever in the self-supported category, according to a website called “The Fastest Known Time,” that tracked her progress in real time with a GPS tracking device. For a self-supported run or hike, you can mail items to various places along the route that support Arizona Trail hikers. That meant Katie didn’t have to carry a 17-day supply of food with her. She beat the previous record in this category, set in 2016, by about two days.
Katie has hiked the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail and the 3,028-mile Continental Divide Trail and after she ran in several ultra-marathons recently, she wondered how fast she could cover ground hiking the Arizona Trail.
Katie Brown, RN, celebrates the completion of her hike that went from Mexico to Utah.
“I’ve always wanted to hike the Arizona Trail,” she says. “It’s always interested me because my mother’s family from Arizona. So I’ve spent a good amount of time over there. This idea of walking from Mexico to Utah just sounded like some fun to see if I could do it. So I tried to hike it and I did.”
That “fun” included encounters with more than a dozen rattlesnakes, about five of which she nearly stepped on. Once she came across two bobcats on a remote section of the trail but they must have sensed she was an Intermountain caregiver because they didn’t bother her at all. It required her to summit mountains in the San Francisco Peaks and to deal with inconsiderate rodents that came upon her backpack as she slept under the stars.
She says on a daily, even hourly basis, she questioned herself about the task ahead and considered how easy it would be to end the quest. Instead of giving up, she averaged 44 miles a day.
“You have to keep yourself convinced that what you’re doing is what you want to be doing,” she says, “And you have to keep yourself convinced to keep your feet moving because your brain just loves to conjure up a lot of self-doubt. And it loves to tell you things that aren’t true about yourself, especially when you’re physically, mentally, and emotionally vulnerable—like when you’re spending all day by yourself. The biggest feat here for me was not a physical feat of walking 800 miles in 17 days, but it was being able to convince myself mentally and emotionally that I could do it. That was my biggest victory.”
What did Katie learn that might help some caregivers who are facing their own extreme challenges?
“I feel like one of the biggest things you can do is just to feel “I feel like one of the biggest things you can do is just to feel what you’re feeling,” she says. “Stay in the moment and know it will pass.”
CEO Marc Harrison, MD, was named to Modern Healthcare's 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives for 2022.
Three cheers for Intermountain CEO Marc Harrison, MD, who has been named to Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives list for 2022. The annual recognition acknowledges clinicians working in the healthcare industry who are deemed by their peers and an expert panel to be the most influential in terms of leadership and impact.
Modern Healthcare writes:
“The healthcare industry continues to grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including caregiver burnout, staff shortages and financial challenges. But even during the worst of the crisis, clinical leaders found ways to adapt, innovate and focus on the true bottom line: the patient.
“Honorees on this year’s list of the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives are perfect examples of such resilience. They represent a diverse group focused on strengthening their organizations and transforming healthcare, whether it’s by implementing virtual services, using artificial intelligence to improve clinical processes, or expanding hospitals’ reach through collaboration with local partners.
“They’re using their roles to boost caregiver well-being, find new approaches to address the social determinants of health, and make care in their communities more accessible and equitable.”