At 8:00 am on Thursday, March 6th, 2025, Bryan Roberson and I set out from Talimena State Park in Oklahoma to run the Ouachita National Recreational Trail in hopes of breaking the supported FKT. Sam Pruitt and Jennifer Payne were our crew and pacers for the entirety of the run, with others joining in support starting at mile 116. Bryan would unfortunately have to drop at mile 85 but, graciously, would crew and pace me after getting some rest and calories in. I finished the 223 mile trail on Sunday, March 9th at 8:30 AM at the eastern terminus of the trail near Pinnacle Mountain, close to the old visitor’s center. The total elapsed time was 71 hours, 30 minutes, 9 seconds. (The time discrepancy is due to the time change which occurred a few hours prior to the finish for daylight saving time.)
I ate a lot of “real” food, candy, gels, and a high-carb hydration mix. My food included quesadillas, a cheeseburger, lots of peanut butter tortilla wraps, candy corn, Nerds, Peanut Butter M&Ms, a cinnamon roll, coffee cake, and blueberry muffins. I did get tired of eating so much but never had any nausea. The only GI distress I experienced was frequent bathroom breaks on day one when I was taking in a lot of calories via a high-carb hydration mix. I stopped this and my problem was resolved. I was very consistent about eating every 30 minutes at a minimum. At around mile 160, I told Jennifer that I felt like I was only getting 20 minutes of energy after eating, then I would crash for 10 minutes. She got me started on supplementing with some candy halfway between each 30 minute feeding. This would continue the remainder of the run and it really helped. At this point in the run, I would totally depend on the pacers watching the clock for this.
I carried my own pack and water with the exception of about 42 miles, mostly at the end. My crew decided to have the pacers start muling for me as I had become woefully inefficient at finding things in my pack and opening bags, etc. I filtered a fair amount of water as streams were flowing in most sections. I only had to carry 1L of water the majority of the time. There were two or three longer, dry sections where I carried 2.5L in my pack.
The weather was close to perfect. I got a little hot for a few hours on the second afternoon. I did have rain to contend with on the 3rd night for quite some time. This was unfortunately during a section with a lot of creeks so my shoes were wet much of that night.
The biggest challenges for me were the pain of blisters and lack of sleep. The aforementioned rain, along with sand from the creeks really tore at my already-blistered feet on the third night. Sam did a lot of great blister care and prevention but the miles, water, and friction added up.
I stopped on two occasions for 45 minutes of attempted sleep (total 90 minutes,) but I believe I only got about 30 minutes total sleep on the entire run. By the third night, I begged my crew to let me sleep at about 5AM with just 11 miles to go. However, since the 72 hour mark had naturally emerged as a target, they would not allow me to stop. I argued with them about this, thinking there was no way I could break 72 with the way I was moving. My wife, Sam, gave me a pep-talk that would put any D1 football coach to shame and I hobbled back onto the trail, just following my pacers. Greg Eason, who held the record along with Steve Kirk, had advised me to put people in the crew that I trust and then allow them to manage me. This was the time to do that.
The crew was right. I was very slow at first but once day broke, I came back to life and was able to run much of the last 3-4 miles and break the 3 day mark. Bryan somehow had legs and was kind enough to join me in the final stretch.
A group of old friends and new friends had gathered at the finish to celebrate the accomplishment. I enjoyed a few minutes of smiles and laughs before the pain set in.
Given this was a supported style run, I depended heavily on my crew and pacers. They kept me eating, hydrating, and moving. The crew organized the pacers on a continually changing timeline. They made decisions when I could not. They solved problems as they arose. They joined me in sleep deprivation to accomplish this goal. My wife, Sam, in particular, kept me believing when the distance seemed insurmountable. Bryan, Jennifer, and Sam did so much in preparation for, in support of, and in the aftermath of this run and I am forever grateful.
As a note of appreciation, I would like to list the names of my pacers and to list, as witnesses, those who showed up in the middle of the run to offer support and encouragement. Forgive me for not listing all those at the finish, but your presence was appreciated as well.
Thank you to the Friends of the Ouachita Trail (FoOT) who maintain this beautiful piece of singletrack. Thank you to Breakaway Running in Memphis, TN. They got me into trail running, they support the running community, and they continue to support me.
Animal report: one skunk, several deer, and a few armadillo.
Favorite sections: Winding stairs to Big Cedar Creek, Hwy 270 to Foran Gap, Ouachita Pinnacle to Flatside Pinnacle.
Pacers:
Sam Pruitt: miles 24-31
Jennifer Payne: miles 46-57
Sam Pruitt: miles 57-68
Jennifer Payne: miles 68-8
Sam Pruitt: miles 85-94
Paul Turner: miles 114-121
Randall Bright: miles 121-137
Kevin Griffin: miles 137-139
Sam Pruitt:miles 139-148
Paul Turner: miles 148-157
Jennifer Payne: miles 157-169
Bryan Roberson: miles 169-173
Paul Turner: miles 173-179
Kevin Griffin: miles 179-187
Mitchell Day: miles 187-192
Blake Smith: miles 192-202
Mather Chaney: miles 192-221
Mason Lewis: miles 192-221
Bryan Roberson: miles 220-223
Witnesses:
Greg and Amy Eason
Podog Vogler
Stan Ferguson
Jeremy Swearingen