Let me tell you the one about the first man who ever ran a marathon.
The story goes something like this: The messenger Pheidippides ran 40 kilometers from a battlefield near the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens. He made it, announced a Greek victory and dropped dead. Not a great start.
Since then, runners have been worked to conquer the 26.2 miles in the story’s namesake marathon. But some need more. Ultramarathons, an umbrella term for races beyond a typical marathon, have been organized in Arkansas since the ’80s, and participants say they’re increasing in popularity. Runners are lining up to test their limits with 50-km, 100-km, 50-mile and 100-mile races.
“To say that the human body is made to run that distance ... well, the mere fact that it can is why people go out there and try it,” says Brendon McDermott, assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Arkansas. McDermott, who has run six marathons, says that distance is about his breaking point. Every runner, he says, tends to hit a wall between 19 and 22 miles.
“A lot of it is mental,” McDermott says. “People are fixed on times for a marathon, but for 50 or 100 miles, it’s more the goal of finishing.”
Andi Stracner of Mayflower hopes to complete her first 100-mile race during the Arkansas Traveller in October. The race, held in the Ouachita National Forest near Lake Sylvia, is one that many ultra runners in Arkansas train for each year. Stracner is 40 and says that the majority of runners in the longer races are in their 30s and 40s.
“There’s not as many really young people out there,” Stracner says. “Young people have a harder time wrapping their mind around the idea of going that far. Maybe they don’t know how to slow down as much.”
Little Rock runner Tyler Wilkerson, 25, says he is typically one of the youngest runners he sees training for ultras. After completing a 50-mile race last year, Wilkerson plans to run the Traveller.
“I’ve heard it takes up to 10 years just to get your tendons used to it,” Wilkerson says. “I just know that I like it because it’s different.” One of the few ultra competitors even younger than Wilkerson is Little Rock runner Brock Hime, 21, who is training with Wilkerson for the Traveller. Hime ran competitively in high school and for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Although he’s never run a marathon, Hime is hoping to do well at the October race. He’s aiming to win.
“As younger people are getting involved, it’s starting to get more competitive,” Hime says. “Times are starting to drop and people are starting to go out there to do more than just finish.”
Wilkerson and Hime regularly run on weekends with a group of extreme distance runners including Stan Ferguson, president of the Arkansas Ultra Running Association, and Robert “PoDog” Vogler, who has won the Traveller race twice in six years. Since most ultramarathons are conducted on trails, the group trains on trails across the state.
“In my training, I don’t really keep mileage so much as I keep hours,” Vogler, 47, of Russelville, says of prepping for the Traveller. “I try to make my average run a two-hour run, and I try to do a big run of four to six hours two to three times a week.”
The thought that participants run for 100 miles straight is a misconception of the sport, with most runners mixing in a few minutes of walking and even breaks between running stretches. But being on your feet for so long means Vogler and other runners have to plan ahead when it comes to water and nutrition while they’re exercising, and especially after.
“The average-sized person is burning about 100 calories a mile,” McDermott says. “So, if you’re running 80-100 miles a week, that’s 8,000 calories just to maintain.”
Stracner keeps an eye on her nutrition in an unconventional way for someone trying not to burn too many calories she uses Weight Watchers points.
“I’m going to the meetings and everything,” Stracner says. “I don’t know if some of the other women in there love it when I come in.”
A typical person at Stracner’s weight and age would get 26 points per day on the plan, but with the training Stracner is doing, she gets an extra 78 points a day.
“I’m a vegetarian, so that makes me focus even more on protein,” Stracner says. “Especially after a long run.”
Eating during a race is vital for ultramarathoners as well. Aid stations along the route often include food such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or soups in colder months. Some runners, such as Wilkerson, prefer carbohydrate gels and electrolyte tablets to keep their energy up. For Vogler, it’s nutritional shakes like Boost or Ensure.
In addition to aid stations, ultra runners typically use a crew that helps them along the way, bringing new socks, shoes or food and water. They also use pacers, or fresh runners who come in and help them keep time. During the Traveller, runners 60 and under can be joined by a pacer around mile 48, and those pacers can be a welcome sight. Vogler has run 100-mile races in anywhere from 17 1/2 hours to 40 hours, depending on the terrain. And running that long, often through the night, can leave you a little crazy.
“When you’re out there, it’s like a graph,” Vogler says. “You’re going to feel better, then you’re going to feel worse. But people have to know that it’s going to get better, not worse. You can recover while you’re running and feel great.”
Once a marathon distance is comfortably conquered through training, runners say that hitting the next distance is more mental than physical. And the idea of moving up to a bigger challenge is what is drawing new participants to the sport.
“With a 5K or 10K there’s only so much you can talk about … ‘What was your time, was it hot,’” says Stan Ferguson, 49, of Maumelle. “With 100 miles, you had an adventure.”
With the adventure comes a sense of major accomplishment at the finish line. Ferguson says that many runners train together and are more willing to help each other out than at often crowded marathons.
While training and race plans vary, one thing seems universal among the group of runners looking to push the limits of their legs.
“It helps to be a little bit crazy,” Ferguson says.