As of June 1, it took Woltering 21 days, 13 hours and 35 minutes to cover the 1,147 miles, breaking the previous record by some five hours.
Such an endurance feat was naturally not without difficulties, but when things got difficult, Woltering got back to basics.
"I can do everything for 10 seconds," he told CNN Sport. "So you break it down into 10-second intervals. You take 10 steps forward, then you start again and you start again.
"If it doesn't work, then you just say left, right, left, right and that's what you keep repeating over and over.
"It sounds intense ... but it really is what it is. This trail is nearly 1,200 miles and you just have to break it down into 10-second intervals."
A "goal to run"
The race had been a long-term ambition for Woltering, but the attempt only became reality due to unforeseen circumstances in the United States.
Although he has relatively little preparation time, he left with just a small support team - including her husband Tom.
Whether it was due to the lack of regular sports on television or simply the sheer scale of the adventure, his run began to attract worldwide attention.
"I told myself that if I gave myself a bigger goal, then when things got really tough it would make it easier to continue the race," he said.
Injuries and mother nature
If running the unfathomable distance in just over three weeks was not enough, Woltering had to face a number of obstacles.
During the first few days, he was in a constant battle with Mother Nature and remembers having to remove more than 40 ticks from his skin after going through a particular section.
He was also hampered by a frustrating ankle injury that forced him to walk for a few days, threatening any realistic hope of breaking the record.
But giving up was never an option.
"I understood that if I walked another 22 hours a day and slept for an hour, and I do it for the next few weeks, I could still break the record," he said, remembering the puzzled look on the face of his crew as they scrambled to a chiropractor to help get the race back on track.
"We had a few days when I walked from 12 to 4 pm. I didn't cover the mileage I needed, but still managed to keep my ankle moving.
"Finally, it got to the point where I could actually run again. It's the really cool thing about something three weeks old, where you can actually work on something."
Hamburgers and lasagna
With the challenges came moments that he will not quickly forget.
Members of the local community would join him on sections of the road that crosses some of the most beautiful places in the country.
The meeting with a three-year-old boy who gave him advice for the road ahead remains a highlight in a race fueled by "service station food" and the surprising heavy metal soundtrack.
A meal of cupcakes and lasagna in red velvet, cooked for him by a supporter, still lives on in his memory.
"I ate and drank condensed chicken soup, spaghetti and I ate all this cold stuff, not even heating it, just eating it cold on the side of the trail," he laughed, saying. that he was consuming between 6,000 and 8,000 calories a day. .
"It's kind of funny when you start thinking about it because everyone thinks running is such a super healthy sport and, in general, it is.
"But when you do something of this magnitude, you just use whatever you can to keep going."
George Floyd
The Woltering race not only coincided with the pandemic, but also the widespread protests against racial injustice and police brutality.
Staying focused on the task ahead had become difficult with so much swirling around him, but he felt it was the right thing to do.
"One of my goals is just to bring more people of color into sport, and also from the LGBTQ community. I think it is really important to have representation," he said.
"Hopefully when people see me in a magazine or in an ad for The North Face, a child will see it and say, 'Cool, there are people who look like me while doing this sport' and who may want to to be try. "
The first years
Despite his obvious talent for long distance running, Woltering started more as a sprinter when he was a child.
He also played soccer and baseball at school, but his love for running quickly took center stage - he would show up late for baseball training late so his trainer could run him as a punishment.
"Honestly, I didn't know I was going to run on trails or even for The North Face," he said. "I thought running a marathon was crazy until a few years ago.
"It was always something I did to stay in shape for other sports when I was a kid, and then it became what I really enjoyed."
He now has a scary catalog of ultramarathons and blister times, which testify to his physical and mental strength.
Mindset, he says, is the key to endurance trials and it trains our mind as much as our body.
"Covering the mileage is not that difficult, but it's the way you mentally manage the ups and downs that go with it," he said.
"If it's raining, and I know I'm going to run somewhere where it could rain, then I'll go out and run in the middle of a rainstorm. Things like that prepare you for what you're going to" face. "
Although nothing is in the journal for the next few weeks, Woltering is keen to restart once it has fully recovered.
He also did not rule out a return to Wisconsin.
"I would love to go back and start again and go faster. I honestly think it can be done in probably 18 days, maybe even a little faster than that. So I would do it all over again," he said. declared.
