314-mile run an adventure for Parkside Y’s Weston

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 8/13/20

The adventure began with a ferry ride across the Mississippi River.

It was the last time in more than a week that Scott Weston was able to relax.

If relaxation was possible even at that point. …

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314-mile run an adventure for Parkside Y’s Weston

Posted

The adventure began with a ferry ride across the Mississippi River.

It was the last time in more than a week that Scott Weston was able to relax.

If relaxation was possible even at that point. The adrenaline was already pumping.

Weston, who is branch manager of the Wellman Parkside YMCA, was about to embark on the most grueling athletic challenge of his life. The Last Annual Vol State Road Race stretched for 314 miles, an ultra marathon that took runners from the bank of the Mississippi River, in Hickman, Kentucky, across Tennessee and up a brutal climb to its finish at Castle Rock, Georgia.

This is not a challenging marathon with hills and water stations that takes three hours to finish.

It is a running journey that takes days without the benefit of any aid stations. Many of the participants drop out.

Weston, who turned 48 years old during the race, finished it in eight days.

“You are extremely tired, body just aches, feel hurt nonstop,” Weston said. “However, you control those negative voices inside and choose to fight your way through to the finish.”

And then the voices really start talking.

“When you finally do reach the finish, it’s a whole range of emotions,” he said. “You are happy, sad, literally everything.”

Weston, who is highly trained in distance running and is sponsored by HOKA footwear, was among 50 runners to finish the race. Francesca Muccini won the race in 3 days, 10 hours, an incredible performance in itself, but for most, this event was not about winning. It was about finishing. Weston finished 35th with a time of 8 days, 4 hours, 48 minutes, 40 seconds. He was one of 10 to finish on the eighth day. Five more would finish on the ninth day.

Heat indexes hit 118 degrees during the race, Weston said. The event was held in July, when weather conditions in Tennessee consist of hot, humid and more hot.

“It is truly about perseverance,” he said.

And also about birthdays, it turns out.

So how did Weston celebrate his 48th?

“I just kept on running,” he said.

Weston said he has competed in many 100-mile, multi-day events, but nothing like this.

The runners assemble in Hickman, Kentucky, which is just seven miles north of the Tennessee state line. They hopped aboard the Dorena-Hickman ferry to Missouri, where the race was officially started by the race director lighting a cigarette. Then, it was back on the ferry across the Mississippi to Hickman, where the runners hit the pavement.

The course took runners through Lexington and Columbia, south of Nashville, then on to Jasper and going through a small northeastern piece of Alabama before finishing in Georgia southwest of Chattanooga, less than 30 miles from Lookout Mountain. The finish was at an elevation of 1700 feet.

The race took runners along roads and country back roads, across rivers, and up mountain climbs. Runners must arrange for their own food and lodging along the way. They were required to check in with race organizers twice every day.

Runners are not allowed to ride in a vehicle, unless they are abandoning the race. And if they lost their way off the course, they had to go back to the original point to pick up the correct course again. There was on bizarre case a few years ago when a runner was bitten by a dog, went to an ER to get stitches, and then was allowed to resume the race at the point that he left the course.

“Battling the conditions, the road, your body and fighting the mental demons that come up are some of the challenges,” Weston said.

Once the race was completed and Weston returned to Iowa, he took a week off but then was back training for (guess what?) his next race.

“After a short amount of time, you reflect on all the training, all the miles, all the anticipation and the race is over and it’s now like, ‘Well, what do I do now?’ “ Weston said.

The answer to that is plenty.

Weston has been selected to run in the Vol State again next year. And he is also planning to run in the Last Annual Heart of the South, a 326-mile race that is held in June and finishes up in north Georgia, just as Vol State does.

The races are held within a month of each other, presenting an even bigger challenge for Weston.