ASHEVILLE, N.C., Aug. 2 (DPI) — Jennifer Pharr Davis, author, personal trainer and speedy veteran of the Appalachian Trail, this week completed another trek of the 2,180-mile trail, setting a new speed record of 46 days 11 hours 20 minutes.

And in her regular blog while on the fast hike, during which she averaged 47 miles per day (with no backpack), Pharr Davis offered one of those jarring confessions health-conscious athletes rarely make: McDonald’s breakfasts may not be especially healthy, but they’re good.

On her blog, posted last week, Pharr Davis reported that members of her “pit crew” brought her two McDonald’s sausage-and-egg biscuits on a remote part of the trail in Tennessee.  “I have to say,” she wrote, “I’ve really grown fond of McDonald’s these last six weeks. The sausage burritos and sweet tea on the $1 menu. The frappes that cost half as much as Starbucks. The free wifi. ”

McDonald’s, which grossed $24 billion last year and earned nearly $9.7 billion, thanks in part to items such as 1000-calorie McSkillet Burritos, may not hire Pharr Davis as a celebrity endorser anytime soon: “Of course,” Pharr Davis wrote, “we’ll detox when we get home and start eating real fruits and vegetables again, but McDonald’s has really come through for us since the hike began.”

Pharr Davis, of Asheville, N.C., broke the the record of 47 days 13 hours 31 minutes held by Andrew Thompson, who set the unofficial record in 2005. Pharr Davis started at Mount Katahdin in Maine June 15 and reached Springer Mountain in Georgia Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/sports/speed-hiker-pharr-davis-thrives-on-rhythms-of-appalachian-trail.html

http://jenniferpharrdavis.tumblr.com/post/8240913596/halfway-through-the-smokies