Arkansas Traveller 100 Race Report (2024)

This past week I had the opportunity to fulfill two goals of mine: visit my Uncle Fulvio and his family who moved to the States a couple of years back and run the Arkansas Traveller 100. It lined up perfectly with my ending work at a dairy farm in Freedom, NY just a week prior. I had yet to meet my cousins, a pair of twins aged 13 and their 15-year-old brother.

I drove down to Fayateville, Arkansas from my house in Steubenville, Ohio on Monday and Tuesday, stopping to sleep and break up the drive in Effingham, IL Monday night. This gave me Tuesday night through Friday morning to hang out with my extended family and get adjusted to the Arkansas heat.

I went for a shakeout run Wednesday morning at Kessler Mountain Regional Park and learned two things: these are NOT your buttery California single track trails with all the jagged rocks and it is freaking hot in Arkansas in October. My cousin Emilio jokingly told me later that evening that here in Arkansas all they grow are rocks. I would not know how true that was until I ran the race a few days later and kicked a few more rocks than my right index toe would have preferred. I also later learned that this was the second hottest Arkansas Traveller (in its 33-year history).

After saying my goodbyes, I left Fayateville Friday morning to head to Ouachita National Forest where the race is held. It is about 45 minutes east of Little Rock, the capital of the state and the only city I had heard of before driving down there. 

On the way there, I hit a quick workout at the gym, went to a church, took a nap, and gathered some extra supplies at Walmart. All this to say, I let the day get ahead of me a little and ended up only getting to packet pickup at 5:55pm at Lake Sylvia Campground, five minutes before they shut down for the day.

I got my packet excluding my bib (for some reason they only had out bibs race morning) and went to work preparing my drop bags in the parking lot. I decided to run with only a handheld and my naked belt (for phone, keys, airpods, etc.) and so packing the drop bags correctly was a higher priority for me this race. It was definitely the right call in retrospect because the aid stations were so close and well-stocked. The longest gap between aid stations was only 6.6 miles and came right at the end of the race when one wouldn't need any aid anyway.

As I was finishing up my drop bags, I ran into Stacey Shaver, the Race Director. She was such a sweetheart and answered all my questions regarding the race. It was really cool to meet her before and then see her along the course the next day. 

After I finished up my drop bags, I went into the town of Perryville and snuck some Mexican food in, before driving back to the camp to sleep in my car for the night.

I set my alarm for 5AM. With the race start being at 6AM, I knew I would have enough time to get dressed and eat something before the start. But honestly, it didn't even matter because I woke up to the volunteers helping with parking cheerily shouting out orders around 4:20AM.

I finally dragged my sleep-deprived body out of my sleeping bag around 5:00AM. I got dressed, had a breakfast of banana, peanut butter and the cheapest bread roll I could find from Walmart. I then headed over to the campground to pick up my bib and fill up on some coffee and pastries.

The nervous energy was certainly afoot as all the runners fidgeted about collecting their bibs and making last minute adjustments to their pack and drop bags.

Around 5:50 AM, we all gathered on the road for last minute instructions from Stacey and to 'call the hogs.' Right on the dot, at 6AM, a shotgun blast ricocheted into the air and all of us took off like the true pack of razorbacks that we were.

The first few miles were on the road and downhill. It was the first 100-mile start I had been at that felt like the start to a road marathon. Looking back at gps data, my first mile actually clocked in at 9:28, which is a little ridiculous for the start of a 100.

After a couple miles flying down the road, we took a sharp left and began climbing into the hills of the Ouchita National Forest. I tried to slow myself down by taking some walking breaks, especially when the hills were steep enough to virtually require it.

In this section, I also met and first ran with Jeff Richardson, an Arkansas native who had the accent and stories to boot. Here, about five miles into the race, I learned that the Arkansas Traveller was not primarily a singletrack trail race. In fact, there were only eight miles of single track trail which we would hit from about miles 8 to 16. The rest would be on gravel road and old jeep trials. So much for race reconaissance.

The race is designed as an 17-mile loop, followed by a 41.5 mile out-and-back. Jeff graciously informed me of this and of all the wonderful varieties of rocks I would encounter during my time out on the trail which including all sizes from crushed gravel to boulders, but I could rest assured knowing that all of them would be jagged.

Those first 8 miles to the singletrack flew by as I chatted with Jeff and others. We both were happy with the fast pace up front as we were both seeking a sub-24 hour finish. 

Flatside Pinnacle A/S (mm 8.6)

After we passed Flatside Pinnacle, the second aid station at mile 8.6, we hopped onto the Ouchita National Trail for an absolutely gorgeous eight miles of trail. It was truly stunning in the early morning light and I stopped many times to soak it all in and take pictures.

During this section, I met and ran with a 100-mile newbie Jared Wood. It was a real pleasure sharing some miles with him and hearing about his journey to the starting line.

Before we knew it, we hit Lake Sylvia A/S at mile 16.4 and we were done with the single track trail for the day.

Lake Sylvia A/S (mm 16.4)

All the aid stations were manned with incredible volunteers, but Lake Sylvia stands out in my mind with the energy pulsating from the station and all the crews waiting to see their runners for the first time. It was a great boost before we turned up a steep gravel road and starting climbing.

The miles from Lake Sylvia up to Pumpkin Patch A/S (mm 22.1) and then to the Electronic Tower A/S  (mm 24.6) were a mix of wide gravel road and rocky jeep trails, but consisted of a lot of climbing. 

Pumpkin Patch A/S (mm 22.1)

What also made this section tough was the temperature began to climb and depending on where you were, there were a number of sections of the course that were quite exposed. I did appreciate the little mile marker stickers on the trees, though many of them were off by up to a mile at times.

From Electronic Tower, we cruised down to Lake Winona (mm 31.0), the first place I had a drop bag. These miles passed by nice and fast, but I struggled as I began to experience quite a lot of nipple chafing. I had forgotten to put duct tape on those puppies the morning of the race and it was beginning to be qutie painful.

At Lake Winona, I filled up on sweet tea from my drop bag and cookies from the aid station. I realized here I probably was not consuming as much sugar as I should be. Here, one of the kind aid station volunteers helped me to tape over my nipples with off-brand KT tape. Off-brand is key here as it would come off about five miles down the trail but for the time being, it was a life saver.

From Lake Winona, we meandered the wide gravel roads on our journey to Club Flamingo A/S at mile 39.4. For me, I mentally broke up the race into the segments between my drop bags and this helped tremendously. I knew that I had another sweet tea waiting for me at Club Flamingo and that kept my legs moving.

On the way there, I met Alexandra Curatolo, another 100-mile rookie who had recently moved to Arkansas. One of our conversations that most stuck out was one regarding pain. She was commenting that the last 10 miles of her 50-miler had hurt so much and she was wondering if it would ever go away deeper into a 100m. 

I responded that that deep kind of pain is always present in a long ultra (50+ miles) and there is really only two ways of working through it. On one hand, you can embrace it and build that pain cave out in your mind or on the other hand, you can try and ignore it and not give a voice to the pain. In my own experience, I oscillate pretty dramatically between the two but lean more to the latter perspective.

The Club Flamingo crew was a total vibe and filled me up on pizza, potato soup, and tons of fruit before sending me on my way.

Club Flamingo (mm 39.4)

From Club Flamingo (mm 39.4) up to Powerline (mm 48.0) laid the biggest climb of the race. It started off on a steep gravel road and then transistioned to gnarly jeep trails with rocks everywhere and no flat and stable group to really get into a rhythm on.

In this section, I hung out more with Alexandra and also listened to a ton of podcasts to try and drown out the pain I was feeling. Going out fast and kicking my feet on all the rocks was catching up to me. It got to the point where if I hit the front of my right foot on a rock every so slightly, my index toe on my right foot would ring out in pain for about the next 15 minutes.This ended up in me changing my gait to avoid hitting my right foot on any rocks. I would later pay for this in extra knee and hip flexor pain on my right side.

During this section, I also took off my shirt to get some relief from the chafing nipples which I knew would soon turn into bloody nipples. With the heat wave that we experienced, it was warm enough to keep my shirt off through the whole night and I didn't put on back on until after the race. The true oasis in this section was Bahama Mama A/S at mile 43.2. These volunteers were super energized each time I came through and gave me the motivation to keep going.

Sign leaving Bahama Mama (mm 43.2)

If I thought Lake Sylvia A/S was overflowing with energy, it pailed in comparison to the zoo that was Powerline A/S at mile 48.0. Luckily, race personnel had partitioned off a section for the runners by the aid station and crew had to remain behind there.

Leaving Powerline A/S (mm 48.0)

I spent quite a bit of time at Powerline A/S the first time through, gatheringmy wits about me, drinking sweet tea and eating quesidillas. I had also correctly planned for this to be the last drop bag before I would be heading out into the dark and so I had placed my extra headlamp and batteries here.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to speak with the RD Stacy here and she commented that I was running a 'smart' race. Little did she know I was simply slowly falling apart and that accounted for more of my pace than smartly running the race. Alexandra headed out before me looking strong and I wouldn't see for the next 10 miles.

I headed out to the Turnaround at mm 57.9 with nothing to inspire me but the Copperhead A/S which I would hit at mm 52.1. 

The miles going to Copperhead were slow going. The 90+ degree heat during the day had zapped my energy and I truly slowed down in this section. I eventually hit the 50-mile mark at 11:30 and here I had a decision to make.

I was technically still on sub-24 hr pace if I truly pushed it through the night. But I was feeling the miles and knowing that I had Indiana Trail 100 six days later, I took the smarter though less valiant tack of not destroying my body and shooting just to finish.

Commensurate with that, I meandered along till I hit Copperhead. The volunteers here had the great energy that all volunteers seemed to exude at the race. They also had pumpkin bread with chocolate chips which was probably my favorite aid station food of the whole race.

Leaving Copperhead (mm 52.1)

The sun was in beginning its final descent as I left Copperhead and headed to the Turnaround A/S. I knew that it would be a huge motivational boost to hit the Turnaround and come back for a couple reasons. Each mile on the way back would be bringing me closer to the finish as opposed to farther away (in a metaphorical sense) on the way out and I would get to see all the runners behind me and feel a lot more confident about my place in the race.

I passed the time listening to Adam Sandler on Joe Rogan's podcast. But boy, did this section feel like it took forever. 

I really wanted to make it to Turnaround without me turning on my headlamp and I barely made it, running the last mile to the aid station in near total darkness. 

In the last couple hundred yards to the station, I came across Alexandra who looked completely out of it. She was dealing with serious nausea and seriously considering dropping. I tried to give her a pep talk, but it didn't seem like it would make a difference. She ended up dropping after I left the aid station, but she truly crushed it for a first-time 100 miler runner in a tough race.

At the aid station, nothing looked appetizing but I forced down some bean soup and hit the road, knowing it was going to be a long night.

The miles back to Copperhead (mm 63.7) flew by as I finally hit a rhythm by counting out steps to run and walk. It helped that this section is exclusively gravel road and that gave me some relief from the rocks and pesky toe pain.

My friends at Copperhead still had a few pieces of pumpkin bread left and tons of motivational juices to give me. One of the teens working the aid station wanted a picture with me and so we took one flexing as hard as we could into the camera. I don't think I will ever get the picture, but I sincerely hope I do.

Mile markers were a welcome sight!

Eventually, I had to leave and climb back up to Powerline (mm 67.9). I knew I had a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee waiting for me, but this section too seemed like the dark night of the soul. It was mostly uphill and there were no more runners coming out so I only was pretty lonely. I'm fairly positive I only saw two runners who both passed me which was not great for the spirit.

Back at Powerline (mm 67.9), I filled up on a ton of caffeine in the form of coffee and soda and loads of potato soup and quesadillas. The crew here was super helpful and cool and dealt with me in probably my worst mood of the race.

The miles back to Bahama Mama (mm 72.6) were even more slow-going than the way out to Powerline because of how rocky it was and the fact that my quads were pretty blown from racing the first half of the 100 pretty quick.

Blow-up UFO at Bahama Mama (mm 72.6)

Eventually, I made it back to Bahama Mama and had some of my favorite interactions of the race. I made fun of the Arkansas accent of a couple of the workers, claiming I couldn't understand them and boy, did I get a lot of flack for that! 

Right when I was gathering my things to leave the aid station, Jeff Richardson strolled in. I hadn't seen him in over 50 miles! We must have ran past each other in the dark somwhere around the Turnaround A/S.

We left the aid station together and Jeff told story after story to pass the time. Everything from a fella he knew who was one of only four in the people in the state who could keep poisonous reptiles in his home to the trials and tribulations of his first time running the Arkansas Traveller a number of years back.

With him dragging me along like an unwilling puppy on a hot summer day, we made it back to Club Flamingo at mm 76.4. 

Club Flamingo (mm 76.4) decorations on the return

Soon, we were on our way back to Lake Winona (mm 84.9) with the smallet aid station on the course (Pigtrail at mile 79.7). Somewhere during this section before Pigtrail, I left Jeff go as he clearly had more gas than me. I was practically walking with some slight jogs here and there.

Jeff later told me after the race that he got super dizzy and had to lay down and take a 20-minute nap along side the course and assumed I had passed him during this time. But I hadn't. I guess its just a testament to how slow I was going.

The Pigtrail volunteers saw me in one of my worst mental states and were super helpful, filling me up on Potato soup.

The miles back to Lake Winona could not have gone slower. I trudged along without company and was beginning to hallucinate pretty bad and get some sleepy that if I wasn't moving, I was falling asleep.

I don't remember much but I do remember getting back to Lake Winona because it was just as energy-packed as the first time we went through. The volunteers were super helpful and gave me some butternut squash soup, my second favorite aid station food of the race.

The miles from Lake Winona (mm 84.9) back to Electronic Tower (mm 91.2) felt like the slowest of the race. I was pulling the graveyard shift alone on the jeep trails of death. Looking back at watch data, I actually clocked a 28:17 mile in this section. I'm not even sure how that is possible.

About a mile out from the aid station, the sun had cracked through the trees just enough for me to turn off my headlamp. For the first time in a long time, I truly enjoyed the experience of the second sunrise of a 100 miler and felt that energy boost.

I got into Electronic Tower A/S and knew I would soon be at the finish. My legs were shot, but my mind was rejuvenated. The volunteers were having a big 'ole party and you could tell they had been going for 24+ hours. They tried on multiple occasions to get me to have a beer or shot of Fireball. I politely informed that I did not drink, but I did stuff my pockets with Crunch and Kit-Kat bars. It was an unusual occurence for me to find candy appealing that late in a race, but it was a godsend.

I walked the miles from Electronic Tower to Pumpkin Patch (93.7). Even though the sun was up, I was still hallucinating and genuinely confused about the course. I had no memory of coming through Pumpkin Patch or what that section was like. The volunteers helped jog my memory and gave me a kind kick in the ass to get down the trail.

I walked the three miles to the Crossroads radio checkpoint where we went from the jeep trails to that steep gravel road that we had climbed out of Lake Sylvia A/S a day earlier. When I hit that gravel road, I was ready to be down and booked it down and then practically ran the whole last mile on the road.

Coming into Camp Ouchita after leaving 28 hours earlier was a bit of a surreal experience. There were tons of crew, runners, and volunteers cheering me in and I soaked it all in. I performed my classic finish line stunt, hugged Stacy, destroyed a breakfast prepared by the Williams Junction Fire Department, held it together for the awards ceremony an hour later, and then proceeded to pass out in my car for the next five hours.

My official finish time was 28:32:17. Could not have been more happy to finish this brutal edition of the Traveller. Now its off to Albioin, IN next week for the IT100!