Boost the Boosters
On this journey, the pair had a similar quest. Eldredge said, "This past spring, early summer, I started to have that itch to do something kind of big again, and I wanted to help those people that help us out, again if I could. The personal goal was always going to be there, but if I can link it to something else, besides me (that would be another great goal). So I talked to our booster club president and I spoke with Toby about it and about putting something together (to benefit the booster club) and so we started training in the fall for this day."
Eldredge expanded on motivation for wanting to run and complete a 100-mile journey on foot: "I think for everybody, it's a little bit different. The race is sort of the icing on the cake for me...I don't race very often. I love to train. I like getting out there and doing things that other people don't do. So that's what's in it for me. Of course, a 100-mile race is something people don't do very often, or not very many people do. But the commitment to prepare for it, I think is what maybe excites me the most. I like to do hard things."
Glavin talked about motivation and the takeaways from the run and the months of training leading up to it. He said "I think the two things; just the accomplishment of doing it. I've always said I just want to do it. I don't know if I want to do it again, but I just want to do it, to have done it, for the accomplishment, and the other part's just the running, with friends. We've got a pretty good, and I think kind of a big group of friends that we all run together and that's my favorite part is just getting out on the weekends (with them and running)."
Eldredge added about the support crew in Arkansas, "It's a mixture of old and new friends. 'How many of your high school buddies?'", he asked Glavin. Then continued, "I think this weekend speaks to the power of high school sports and the school community and what it can be." Eldredge went on to name the friends who were there for the race as support crew and the high school and college connections between them. Glavin expanded on that saying, "Yeah, it's high school to college to career friends to new running friends."
Cary Eldredge (left) and Toby Glavin try to determine where the LOViT trail path is the day before the race.
Preparation and Goals
Eldredge and Glavin started training last fall for the 2023 Lake Ouachita Vista Trail Run. The pair had not only put in many miles, but also worked at hiking hills, not at a running pace, but walking to preserve their bodies for the full 100-mile journey.
Eldredge had already completed multiple ultramarathons. He made the trip to Arkansas to run his second-ever 100-mile-plus run, with the goal of finishing in 24-27 hours. Glavin, who'd completed one marathon and multiple half-marathons, had goals of running until at least sunrise Saturday (13 hours) if his body broke down on him, followed by finishing, with the highest goal of finishing in 27-30 hours. Their other goal, of course, was to shine a light on the booster club and move others to donate to it.
The Training
Fifteen-minute mile pace would cover 100 miles in 24 hours without any stops. When you're capable of running at an 8-minute mile pace for 10-straight miles with no trouble, slowing down to 12 to 15-minute miles is quite drastic and simply hard to do. Jogging the same pace as a quick walk was hard to adjust to for the pair.
Eldredge said "We've run time-wise for some really long efforts. But one of the things we've done in this training (build-up) is to try to simulate what our actual pace and effort will be in the race. So, we've run time on our feet, maybe longer than we did some other times, but without getting quite as many miles due to mainly the terrain and a focus on trying to stay at literally all-day effort."
For the last few months, the pair have been training six days a week for the most part, averaging about 60 miles a week, with a high of 70 miles a week and a low in the 50-mile range. But less important were the miles more recently, than the time on their feet moving, running, and hiking hills, to simulate what the body would go thru during the 100-mile trail race.
The pair has had the recent routine of a 90-minute, 10-mile or more run before school one morning per week, a few shorter "standard routes" that were about an hour, and one very long run and one longer run per week.
Eldredge added of the two longer runs per week, "One is typically long, maybe four hours, and the other one would be medium long, like two hours." The pace of all these miles varied, with Glavin saying "It really kind of depended on where we were, if we had a chance to get on trails... It'd be slower sometimes (on those paths)." Whereas on the roads, they usually ran at around 8 minutes/mile pace, with Glavin saying "We never usually run slower if we're out running on the roads."
Race Facts and Rules
The LOViT 100-mile race was broken up into 23 legs. There were 11 different aid stations along the trail, most used twice, for a total of 21 spots on the 100-mile course. Aid stations offered food, and drink, often a place out of the conditions to recover and prepare mentally and physically for the rest of the extreme challenge. Legs between aid stations measured between 3 miles and 7.5 miles with athletes choosing to stop when and where they wanted.
Athletes who had support crews could get help from them at 10 of the 21 aid stations. Crew members could help change clothes, shoes, socks, and gear, restock race vests with food and drink, and much more. Athletes could eat their self-supplied food or that provided by the event at aid stops.
Those without support crew had the help of the many volunteers with any needs that arose, along with the others' crew members, a part of the friendly running, ultra-running community. At six of the aid stations, ones where crew members weren't allowed, athletes had the option to provide drop bags of their own supplies that would be placed at those stations for use. There were cut off times. If athletes didn't make it to certain aid stations by a certain point, they weren't allowed to continue.
Cary Eldredge and Toby Glavin search for the LOViT trail path the day before the race. Unfortunately, none of it was as easy as this trail by Ouachita Lake.