I'll respond to Bob, TravisRex, and Violent Green all in one post.
I don't know anything about Structural Elements and it's nice to hear that Road ID is a local company to Cincy. I just think there's a way to do things AFTER the fact to minimize the visual and social impact on the trail. The term "hike your own hike" gets used a lot in the trail community and I'm a staunch defender of it because of course my wife hiked the AT in a VERY unique way. I just think if your hike encroaches on the experience of others, it's detrimental to the trail and some of the positive vibe that's being generated on social media and back in Cincy is being negated by a thru hiker or day hiker rolling their eyes and thinking "good grief." As for the documentary stuff, the AT has a "no drone" policy and commercial use permits are required and someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think that has been universally ignored by all of these film crews and sponsors making promotional videos. I'm not saying it's done intentionally but ignorance isn't an excuse. For the record, I LOVE Harvey's personal morning videos. And I certainly get focusing on the NOBO splits more than the SOBO and appreciate what y'all are saying about wishing you would have done more recon. Violent Green, I don't really agree with your statement. One because it's sort of dismissive of hikers when the reality is Jen "hiked" 3-3.5 miles consistently when Harvey and Scott "ran" 2.5 or less at times, especially Scott through the Whites. I'm not really sure how String Bean would define himself but I'd call him a hybrid and I think that's the category best suited for these particular FKTs. Certainly the young, elite runners (I'd but String Bean in that category) have fresh legs and are hungry. But most of them are not used to being uncomfortable for more than a hundred miler. I'd love to see Kilian or Jim Walmsley go after the A.T. next year (I'd beg Jen to let me support either one of them) and I think they have the TALENT to shave significant time off. But I'm not sure how they'd handle the grind and logistics are huge, too. 20-30 mile stretches between roads necessitate your being comfortable sleeping on the trial. How would those guys do with that? I don't think Harvey, Karl, or Scott liked it very much, whereas thru hikers embrace it. I think somebody like Jared Campbell or some of the other Barkley finishers are better suited for the long distance FKTs than guys and gals used to showering after they crush a hundred in 15 hours.