The Mirage follows Timothy Olson as he fights to claim the Pacific Crest Trail speed record. To do so, he has to run 4,270km in less than 52 days, 8 hours, and 25 minutes. This means about 14 marathons a week and about 17 Mt. Everests’ worth of elevation gain.
He’ll also be accompanied by his pregnant wife, Krista, their two young sons, and Krista’s parents, Debbie and Bob Loomis. Trailing Tim in an RV, their family must take care of Tim as well as themselves, always racing against the clock.
Timothy Olson on the Pacific Coast Trail. Photo: Screenshot
Things get off to a rocky start. By day two, husband and wife both recall hitting a wall.
“It’s going to bring out the worst of me,” Tim admits.
His family provides logistical support, mapping and scouting the trail ahead. Olson is entirely reliant on them to feed and supply him with water. But stretches of the trail he has to backpack alone — not one of his strengths. But that’s sort of the point.
A coyote runs across the trail in front of Timothy Olson during his Pacific Coast Trail record attempt. Photo: Screenshot
Heat, cold, bears, and snakes
You want ideal conditions, Olson explains, when you’re attempting a record. Olson did not have ideal conditions. He hadn’t planned for his wife to be heavily pregnant, and he certainly hadn’t planned for a record-breaking heat wave.
In addition to the heat, Olson’s path is strewn with venomous serpents that rattle and hiss, sometimes from the underbrush and sometimes from the path itself.
A rattlesnake curled across the trail ignores Olson’s suggestion that it move.
Abruptly, the battle with the desert ends, as he crosses the Mojave and enters the Sierra Nevada. Now, Olson faces a different battle. Snowy, rocky slopes cut down on his time.
As the attempt goes on, fate seems to be conspiring against them in a dozen petty ways, all caught on camera. The RV is stuck in a ditch and needs towing, Olson gets injured and lost, and equipment breaks. Because of the then-recent COVID pandemic, trail maintenance is more neglected than usual, leaving downed trees all over the trail.
Climate change affects the run in more ways than the heat. Wildfires rage around the trail, closing aid stations and filling the air with smoke.
Around the halfway mark, a shin injury begins to worsen, slowing his time and causing “excruciating pain” with every step.
“I miss the whole reason I’m out here…to heal,” Tim admits. But he keeps pushing, and his team “throw the kitchen sink” at his injury, trying everything they can think of (other than rest) to keep his leg working. Slowly but surely, the pain starts lessening. His speed picks back up. It still hurts, though.
Olson running in the Mojave, where it regularly reached temperatures of 44˚C (110˚F). Photo: Screenshot
A family affair
His wife’s father explains that running the PCT would, technically speaking, be far easier on Olson without having his family along. “But that wasn’t the project.”
Bringing his family along wasn’t about logistical help. Knowing his wife and kids were waiting in the RV at the end of the day pulled him forward, “like a magnet,” during his time on the trail.
Despite everything, Olson triumphs in the end. After 51 days, 16 hours, and 55 minutes, he reaches Canada and the end of the trail. The film ends with a selection of baby photos, and a phone recording Olson made during the run, addressed to his then-unborn daughter.
“Dad is out running…having a hard moment, but it’s really beautiful to think of you.”
