The Ozark trail has always been a special place for me, I’ve thru hiked it and ran the OT 100 and I always knew that I wanted to set an FKT on it. I watched as several people before me attempted it with some success and failure, I was one of those failures last year when I stopped 47 miles shy of my goal. It was a hard thing to swallow but I just didn’t feel I had it in me to keep moving. I knew I would be back though and decided to bring a team with me and set a supported FKT. My team includes my wife Heather as Crew Chief and Pacer. Shawn Goertz for his math and ultra wisdom. Karen Hodges as ultimate problem solver and Chef, along with crew dog Penny. I also had Caleb McMurry, Ryan King, Andy Emerson, and Matt Landis as pacers. Heather, Caleb, and I drove down Wednesday evening to camp at the western trailhead of the Eleven Point section, I was nervous and excited to start the next day. Heather and Caleb made me breakfast before we made the short walk down the forest service road to the start.
Eleven Point
I started at 5:58am. I quickly missed my turn off the Blue Ridge trail, I know the trail well so I didn’t really let this phase me. I quickly reorient myself and am off. The night time miles seem slow but I was moving well and after about an hour it was getting light out and I was able to pick up the pace. When I reached Bockman Spring I stopped to filter some water. The trail through here was over grown and had several blow downs slowing me down, I passed 7 or 8 backpackers, almost double the people I saw using the trail last year. I arrived at HWY 19 at 10:34 am. Shawn had joined the crew and they quickly swapped out my vest and sent me on my way. I took in too many fluids causing stomach issues running the downhills, this didn’t last long but soon after I noticed pain in my left knee. I kept moving to get to the next crew point and arrived at 3152 TH at 1:07 pm. The crew greeted me with breakfast burritos along with a shoe and sock change.
Between the Rivers
From this point on I would have someone running with me. Caleb was the first one up and we had a 28.8 mile stretch ahead until we’d meet back up with the crew. Shortly into this section Caleb mentioned the conditions of the trail, to which I replied, “that the worst was behind us”. With 10 miles left in the section it got dark but the motivation of warm grilled cheese at the next stop kept us moving. We reached HWY 60 TH at 9:21 pm, Ryan had join the crew. They got my shoes and batteries changed while I ate two grilled cheese sandwiches.
Current River
This is my favorite section of the trail. Caleb and I headed out to our stopping point being a spot noted as Hunters Camp. I was worried about this spot, I had no clue how to get to that spot by road or if there would be people using it. We climbed up to a road crossing and was surprised our was there but we were still two miles shy of Hunters Camp, we put them on the right track then continued until we reached the next road. There was some confusion here, we called our crew and they told us they were on the road and by the trail, so we keep running until Caleb didn’t feel like it was right. We back track about a quarter mile until we found the road that leads up to hunters camp and our crew. We arrived at camp for the night at 12:37 am. I was so happy to have the day be over. I ate food and got changed before climbing in the back of the car for some rest. After about four hours of rest it was time to get back at it. Ryan and I headed back out at 5:05 am. We quickly got into a groove and soon found ourselves at Peck Ranch, the open fields were covered in frost. We alternated between walking and running, my left knee was still bothering me and I took my mind off of it by sharing several stories from all the trips that I have taken on this section. Ryan really enjoyed Stegall Mountain, I wanted to stop up there but I knew I need to keep pushing. When we got close to Klepzig Mill we passed 3 thru hikers and saw the herd of wild horse in one of the fields. With only a few miles left before meeting up with the crew I mentioned to Ryan that something needs to be done with my knee, the pain was becoming intense. We arrived at the Blue Springs TH at 11:34 am. I take a second while the crew jumps into action to attempt to fix my knee they massage them tape it up and I left with Andy. Not long after leaving the crew the tape started falling off my knee and by the time we reached the bridge over the Current River I decided to just rip it off.
Blair Creek
The first two miles are nice with views over looking the Current River. I stopped talking once the trail headed away from the river and started to climb. The miles and my knee started to take it’s toll on my motivation. I want to get to the crew before it go dark, but that didn’t happen. We did the last 4 miles with our lights on. We reached CR 235 TH at 7:34 pm. Karen is here now and we got amazing burger, she also happened to have a knee sleeve that she let me borrow which helped tremendously as Andy and I crushed the last 6 miles of the Blair Creeks section. We arrived at HWY P TH at 9:44 pm. Now at HWY P we have everyone besides Ryan who had to leave after his pacing.
Karkaghne
Heather and I left HWY P TH at 3:08 am. It was so nice to have her with me. We were moving well and the miles just seemed to fly by. We passed what looked to be a whole scout troop camping right before first light. The trail got rough at that point but it didn’t bother me too much since I have my favorite person with me. We soon made our way down to Sutton’s Bluff TH and I sat down for a minute while I ate some burritos and the crew changed my socks and shoes. I took Matt with me for the next 26 miles, those miles seemed to fly by. Matt and I talked the whole time, mainly about the OT100, a race he has coming up. Right before we made our descent down to Brushy Creek we saw 3 horseback riders. We finished Karkaghne section at 12:11 pm.
Middle Fork
Matt and I made good time through the first few miles of this section. I once again ran out of steam. The miles started to drag and Matt tried his best to keep me focused. At one point he told me only 10k to go and my tired brain told me he was lying and that there was to much terrain to cover in 3 miles. We finally arrived at the CR where the OT100 has Brooks Creek Aid Station, I was pretty tired by this point. I ate a burger and some potato’s while the crew took care of my feet. I headed out with Caleb at 5:28 pm. He gave me some ibuprofen on our climb out of brooks and it seemed to help my knee and everything else that was starting to ache. Not long after leaving we had a runner come up behind us, he introduced himself as Kyle Gibbs and I recognized his name as an OT100 miler champion and 10 time finisher. We walked and chatted with him which was super nice, he eventually got back to running and I couldn’t keep up with his pace. We soon turn our lights on and I notice immediately that in the night miles I always seem to slow down.
Trace Creek
I was getting super tired and just over the day. Caleb put on some music as motivation which was distracted me slightly away from my my pain but the miles dragged on and all I wanted was to go to sleep. We reached Martin Rd at 10:30 pm. I got 4 hours of sleep and then it was back on the trail. Caleb was still pacing me and we quickly moved through this section on our way to Hazel Creek. I offered up my advice about strategies for running the OT100. We got to Hazel Creek Campground at 6:18 am.
Courtois
I was greeted here with vest, pop tart and told to keep moving. I didn’t like that I was rushed off but Caleb and I continue to move as it started to get light out. I felt like I was moving greet. Caleb started to recognize parts of the trail as we had ran this section to Berryman back in 2018. He soon took the lead and set the pace and I just tried to hold on. It was a great strategy. We hit HWY 8 at 9:36 am and the crew was trying to pull the same thing they did at Hazel Creek Campground and get me out of there but I needed a moment and sat down in a chair and told them I needed fresh shoes and socks. Shawn lent me a pair of his that didn’t match but I really couldn’t of cared less, I just needed my feet dry. I ate a breakfast biscuit and then started back for the trail. Shawn walked with me so I could hand off my empty shaker bottles. I had Andy back with me, we didn’t talk too much but he did tell me that Abby was on her way down. She was to be my pacer for the next two segments but had torn her calf the week before. Andy ran in front and I just kept pushing. I had no clue what our mile split were since my watch was on the charger in the back of my vest. I just kept telling myself we are banking time. We saw several bikers and backpackers on this segment. When we arrived at Henpeck Hollow the crew wasn’t there. I told Andy I guess your running to Bass with me. He got his phone out when I rounded a corner and saw the crew just not in the spot I expected them to be. I yelled out ”Thanks for scaring me” they weren’t expecting me for another 40 minutes. They handed me a quesadilla while swapping out the vest and I continued down the trail as Heather scrambled to get ready to go with me, she quickly caught up to me and was excited about getting to do the last 19 miles with me. We moved quickly and made our way over the Three Sisters on to Bass River Resort property. The crew greeted us at the front of the property at 3:24 pm and tried to feed us but both of us were uninterested. We swapped the vest and headed for the last check point before the finish. I was hitting a low point, I was in pain and just plain tried. Heather tried cheering me on and get me going but I was not motivated. We started down this road we ran into our friend and photographer Avery who surprised me out on the trail. He took several great pictures the last 7ish miles to the finish while he traversed the trail on his bike. When we got to Little St. Louis Campground I had my last shoe change, Took some ibuprofen and downed some caffeine. Abby had to pull me out of the chair because I was refusing to go right at that time. Heather and I put our headlamps on and prepared for the dark to creep in as we closed this thing out. Heather just kept running and encouraging me as we came to the last mile. It was over. I knew that I had set a new FKT. We just needed to make it to the sign. As I saw the light of my friends and family I sprinted around Heather and slapped the sign at 7:07 pm.
I walked across the road and shared hugs with my crew that stuck around and sacrificed their time to help me achieve this goal. This would not have been possible with out their help.