THE LAST ANNUAL VOL STATE ROAD RACE 2026

 THE LAST ANNUAL VOL STATE ROAD RACE 2026

This was my second go at the Last Annual Vol State 500k.  In 2024, I managed a finish with a time of 8 ¼ days.  I had a hope of doing better this year….but that remained to be seen.  For good luck, I attached a Buc-ees dog chew toy armadillo to my back….because I think armadillos are cool (we have them in our neighborhood and sometimes on our front lawn) and in recognition for all the poor armadillo road kill we see on the LAVS route (I was hopeful my armadillo – and me – would fare better).  

The ferry ride across the Mississippi was nice.  Unlike two years ago, no eagle grabbed a turtle this time. There was to be a slight change…..two years ago, the race mileage officially started in Missouri on the other side of the river and the ferry ride back was part of the 314 miles.  This year (and last year I believe), the race started in the same spot, but the ferry ride was no longer included in the distance (that was made up further down the course) so the distance officially commenced when our feet hit the ground in Kentucky.  

Two years ago, I decided to recognize the Vol State by carrying two mini bottles of Jack Daniels Tennessee sour mash from the start to the finish (for my post-race display).  With the Kentucky mileage start, I decided this year to bring two JD minis, but also two Jim Beam Kentucky bourbon minis.  I had considered minis representing each of the 5 LAVS states…thankfully, I passed as my back was getting sore enough from being rubbed with just the KY and TN minis. But, there is a company called Original Grain (added plus – veteran owned company) that makes watches, sunglasses and rings from reclaimed materials.   I own one of their watches and sunglasses that are made from reclaimed Jack Daniels whisky barrels and a ring made from reclaimed Kentucky bourbon barrels….so with the Kentucky start and Tennessee course, these Original Grain pieces were required elements in my race garb 😊

On the ferry, I met spoke with some familiar faces (such as RD Laz) and met some new people.  This including a couple from, Australia….I would spend much of LAVS leapfrogging back-and-forth with my new friends from down-under.  Once we hit Kentucky and started running, my legs felt nice.  I was keeping a pleasant pace.  We reach a turn to run up some stairs and RD Carl was stating “Turn right at the courthouse”.  I actually (like an idiot) didn’t know where the courthouse was (and I’m a lawyer) so I just followed the crowd…..that didn’t turn out too well.    After a while of running, our group’s lead runner slowed and stopped.  We didn’t know where we were to go.  A crowd started to form.  Finally, a race staff car drove up and told us the error of our ways.  So, we all had to backtrack to the proper location.  That did take a bit of wind out of the sails, but adding an extra mile or two over 314 miles wasn’t a fatal flaw, so we continued.

 Around the half marathon, I noticed that my legs were feeling heavy.  Overall, I was feeling as if I had just run a heavy marathon the day before - I hadn’t, my closest prior race was the Hatfield & McCoy Marathon about 3 weeks prior.   The heavy/tired legs feeling continued most of my race (plus my feet felt sore).  In hindsight, I think I just had not broken in my race shoes enough – no major long runs or distance before, just a few weeks of some 5k and 10k training runs.   I eventually started to feel even a bit light-headed and pulled into a gas station mini-mart and grabbed some ice cold water.  This helped and I continued on. 

The miles passed and I switched pretty early to using my trekking poles. I had used trekking poles during my 2024 LAVS and found they helped.  So, I decided to try again this year.  I hadn’t used the poles almost at all since 2024….only at the Hatfield & McCoy Marathon (I was nursing a calf injury from the Little Rick Marathon the prior month) and the Sasquatch Shuffle 50k in May.  These poles were a recent purchase from Costco….carbon-fiber internal tubes.  Overall they worked….for about half the race then the hand grips on the left pole slipped and wouldn’t stay in place (I simply used the bare pole from then on).

As usual, the people on the course were great – very friendly.  The spontaneous aid stations were nice and welcome.  The angel stations very much appreciated.  As we approached the evening, storm clouds were filling the sky.  I got to the aid station (farmers market?) and rested a short time.  The aid station worker was pulling costs and chairs under the center cover due to the impending storm.  I helped move a couple chairs and then I head off….towards the fire station.   That is when the skies opened up….I mean, ripped wide open, dumping gallons and gallons of water down, with non-stop lightning and thunder.  Fun times. 

Finally, I entered Gleason and a man in a truck said “You’re almost there – a half-mile to go.”.  I said “Straight ahead?” pointing ahead and he replied “Yes” and point there too.  I went straight and ended up in kind of a residential area.  I looked and looked but couldn’t find the fire house.  I backtracked and another runner Helmut (from a nearby town in Texas) came up and, he knew the way, I followed him to the station (he did say he had missed the turn in the past before).  Like my Aussie friends, Helmut and I would trade back-and-forth for the race often.  Anyway, got to the fire station.   In 2024 I stopped at the Gleason Fire department and tried to nap….failed.  This time, I laid down and I was out.  I don’t know how long I slept, but think maybe an hour.  The volunteers there were, like in 2024, wonderful.  I saw Kim and Liam heading back out (they must have come in while I was snoring and made a quick turn-around).

Off I went and was doing a decent pace through McKenzie.  At one point a runner with whom I was speaking asked me if I had a rain poncho.  I said no (I had a plastic trash bag) so he handed me a new one (an extra from an aid station).  That came in real handy as the skies opened up again.   With all the rain, my feet were getting soaked and other body parts were staring to get chafed (areas that I really prefer not to be chafed).  My BodyGlide, normally just fine for me, just wasn’t doing the job.

Soon we entered another small town (there were actually arrows painted on the road).  I saw a small office/school and stopped to charge my phone.  A man, I believe owner, happened to drive up and he opened the doors for the school and let me in to charge my phone and use the facilities. He told me he normally had an angel station set up but was a bit behind this year.  I took advantage of the stop to apply some anti-chafe….diaper rash lotion called something like Butt Balm or Baby Butter or something from a local Dollar store.  The chafing had gotten bad enough that my fingers came back pink from some blood.  However, that balm helped a lot….and I used it quite a bit the rest of the race.

On I went and eventually my Aussie friends passed me again…..but soon they stepped off the road to rest/eat at a small church.   I recall he saying earlier in the race that he had grabbed a beer at a gas station mini-mart….and was regretting it at that moment 😊 Shortly after passing them I was greeted by my first “friendly” canine spectator.   I had to waive my trekking poles at the dog and yell at it before it finally went away. Somewhere along this route, I came to a Walmart and went inside – I bought some dry socks (my Injinjis were soaked) and a t-shirt.  They only sold socks in a pack of around 8, but for $6, I bought it and sat in the parking lot and changed my shirt and socks.  Later down the road, there was a church set up as an aid station.  I placed my other new 5 or so pairs of dry Champion socks in a basket they had on a table for runners’ supplies.  Then I was off again.

I eventually came across an aid station and the woman who managed it was super nice.  She was offering fresh produce she grew herself (not the only such road angel….earlier, an aid station was run by a woman who also supplied fresh produce and told me she and her husband grow a lot of okra).  At this aid station, the lady offered me a couple small plastic Jesus figures.   I mentioned that our daughter gets similar ones from geocaches.  Her face lit up and she said she was also a geocacher.  We discussed geocaching and she made sure I took another Jesus to put into a geocache.  I had a specific geocache in mind.

I continued down country roads.  The rain showers would come and go….complimented with heat and humidity.  While I know my order of events is probably all jumbled, I believe it was about then that I entered Linden.  I know some runners like to stop at the hotel there.,  I kept going until I found a Dollar store.  There, I purchased a bath towel and a t-shirt to dry off and swap with my soaking wet shirt. I asked if I could charge my phone and she pointed me to an outlet by the shopping carts.  I charged my phone to about 80% and left…..leaving my charging cable and plug on a shopping cart.   Again, my recollection of locations and timing is off, but somewhere (before or after here) I came across a care facility for elderly folks who had opened up their front as an aid station for runners.  I tried to grab some shut-eye there but ended up becoming engaged in a conversation with two gentlemen residents.  Then, I was off again.

Somewhere, can’t recall exactly where but I know it was before Hampshire and the fire station,  I stopped at a rest/angel station and managed to snooze for a little bit (an hour or so).  When I woke, I was dusting off my legs and a piece of dirt didn’t come off.  I tried again and it moved….in a weird way.  It appears a tick had attached itself to my leg.  I know you’re supposed to use alcohol or a match to remove them, but I just ripped it off (we’ll see if there are any Lyme disease issues later…I just wanted it off).

After hitting the road again, I found myself eventually headed towards Columbia.  There was the Bench of Despair!  I had a couple of Sharpies with me to leave my mark(s) on the bench.  But, since I had hid a geocache under the bench in 2024, I checked on it.  I hid a second back-up geocache there and placed the small plastic Jesus in the cache container.  I believe three or four runners and race staff member told me they signed that geocache’s log book 😊

I also found two quarters in the street at the intersection at the Bench of Despair.  In 2024, early on I picked up a penny at a crosswalk I believe in Martin, as it is just something my wife and I do when we spoke coins on the ground.  I continued that and ended 2024 with a pretty good collection of coins.  I tried that again this year.  Success….but revenue was way down compared to 2024  (maybe the discontinuation of pennies impacted the collection)😊

I had since discovered that I had left my charging kit behind.  I happened to have another block and small cable with me.  I would charge my phone when I could, but it would only hit about 12% and then stop. Eventually at another fire house (Lewisburg? Shelbyville?) I came across a handful of runners and decided I better latch onto one of them.  It turned out it was the same runner that had previously given me my rain poncho (I am HORRIBLE with names….but think his name was John?  I know he shared a name with one of the apostles….and I believe he was a minister, a traveling minister).  I followed him a bit and when he stopped at a restaurant to re-fuel, I ran over to a nearby Walgreens and bought a new cable and charging plug (phew!)

John and I continued on.  I learned there was supposed to be a real nice angel station approaching so was looking forward to it.  Unfortunately, John just wasn’t feeling great and decided he best take advantage of a nearby hotel.   He and separated ways and I continued. I was so exhausted when I got to the angel station.  I was told I needed a combo to enter the door (and even remember the simple 1:1:1:1 now).  But, I forgot.   Off I went in a daze.  I was really tired and was stepping to my left away from cars on the road and when I put my foot down  there was a hole.  Tweaked my ankle pretty good – but I was able to continue albeit still in a sleep daze.

I have experienced hallucinations before.  In my first 100 miler, I thought I saw people (they were trees) and a house (boulders).  But here, it was simply the worst for me.  The white line on the road….I thought it was a wall.  For some reason, the croaking of bullfrogs made me think I was in Miami (don’t aske me…I don’t know).  I was just dragging…a real zombie.  Finally, I turn to my wife Cori and said “We need to stop and sleep here” pointing to a Dollar General.  She agreed……..remember, my wife was not with me.

After I woke up, I told her (yes, I still thought she was there), “Let’s go this way” and off we went.  I kept getting tired and finally saw an antique shop “Old Grapevine Antiques” and there was a chair at the door.  I sat on the chair and fell asleep again. 

This time, it helped quite a bit (or so I thought) and I was jogging again.  Soon I came across a laundromat and decided to toss my shoes and socks in a dryer.  WOW!!!  The blisters on my feet were brutal. 

The laundry manager came over and we spoke a bit about the race.  He even tossed a couple quarters in my machine to be sure the shoes and socks were dry.  I exited the laundromat and started running towards a Circle K.  But the mile markers on my map were getting smaller.  What the?  I went back and forth and finally called Carl trying to see if somehow the app would reverse and count down the miles.  Nope!  Man!  I had retraced my steps from the Dollar General!  I believe I have identified the exact store and that back-track to the laundry and then back again to the Dollar General added about 8 miles to my LAVS.

Anyway……I continued on.  I believe around this time I made it to the Strolling Jim route and Wartrace.  There was a nice aid station there (I got our daughter a few plastic Strolling Jim horses, and a few for my post-race display).   Then, I continued on and made it to the Mounteagle climb.  I have to admit, I was very pleasantly pleased how I managed to ascend that one.  I never stopped, rested, or even opened my mouth to breath.  Using the trekking poles, I went up.  At the top there was a Walgreens or CVS and I decided to grab a Dr. Pepper soda – my standard selection.  Through LAVS my fueling stops consisted almost exclusively of Diet Dr. Pepper and a bag of Cheese-Its……same “meals” I used in 2024.  I must have gone through at least a dozen of each.  At the Bailey House aid station this year, Vincent heard about my diet Dr. Pepper addiction….and somehow he “found” one on his car seat and brought me one while I was there! Anyway, at the door to the Mounteagle store, a young woman asked how far I had run that day.  I explained LAVS to her and I think she knew about it.  She asked if there were rules where we could sleep because she had a spare bed for me (nothing like that!  She was about 1/3 my age, I was a ragged unshaved zombie, and she had approached close enough that she had to have smelled my stench).  I passed, saying I wanted to try to run until midnight….nice young lady.

I put on my reflective vest and headlamp and then ran through Monteagle (nice town) and got to a bike path where it entered a wooden area.  I entered and ran in the dark.   Once I got to a street crossing, again, the path entered into a dark forested area.  I am normally stupid and just go wherever….but for some reason, I just didn’t want to go back onto that path (I don’t know why).  I decided to backtrack to a service station I had seen earlier to rest,  but then changed my mind about adding even more distance.  I went back to the trailhead and, just can’t explain it, didn’t want to enter.  I saw about four new homes being built about a quarter mile away.  I decided to sleep on the front steps of one of the empty buildings.  While trying to sleep I heard someone yelling and singing….yes, singing.  He had to have come out of that path.  He was literally singing about how his was anatomically “gifted” in the reproductive organ area and that he and his girlfriend had to get back together!  NO, this time I was not hallucinating.  I stayed under my rain poncho that I had used as a blanket (I was wet and cold).  After a while, it finally got quiet.   I soon left the front porch and returned to the path head and, this time, just started jogging down the path.  That was weird!

Anyway, after running a bit I came across another aid station  (I think around Tracy City).  It was empty but I stopped and refilled my waters.  I was thinking of taking a nap.  I met up with another runner.  His name was David. He said he was heading on out to Jasper.  I mentioned that I wanted to finish that day as it was my birthday.  He said he wanted to finish that day as well but wasn’t sure if it was in the cards.  He kept going.  I sat there thinking I wanted to finish and his questioning about ending that day made me doubt it, so I decided to get going.  I was eventually able to catch David and we walked and talked.  Turns out he is also from Texas and had tried LAVS once before. We chatted about quite a lot…..mostly how much we each hated the camber and rumble strips  of the roads (and the occasional a-hole driver).  We stopped at a small roadside café/store.  He grabbed a BLT and I got two bottles of water, a bag (of course) of Cheese-Its and a bag of pretzels.  David insisted on paying….my birthday dinner!  😊

We kept going (I can’t comprehend how someone can eat a BLT sandwich and keep moving….I’d be puking, not from the food…when I ate meat, I loved bacon, but from the heaviness of the meal in my stomach).    We were both pretty thirsty and somewhere between Jasper and Kimball (or in one of the two) stopped at a fitness gym/academy and purchased some waters (this time I treated).  Then off to the Clarion.

We both checked in.  David decided to grab a room and get some sleep (I believe he still finished right on my heels later that day).   I decided to keep on going.  I was pushing hard as I wanted to still try and get a finish on my birthday.   After exiting Kimball, I turned up a road past an antique/gist store (had a water feature in front….think maybe allowed for panning-for-gold?) that had a mini aid station set-up.  Then shortly after that (like one house) two dogs came charging out.  I couldn’t tell if they were mad or friendly.  They went back and forth between barks and growls.  Finally, after following me maybe a mile, they turned around and went back.    A short time later, a young woman drove up with a few dogs in her car and asked if I wanted to take a break.  I wasn’t sure what she meant, so she said her dad had an ice chest of water at the gate to their home and she’s drive me there.  I told her that would DQ me and I passed.   I eventually made it to that ice chest and wow….what a house!  Beautiful piece of property.  The ice chest had a message on it that was something like “Ice Water Help Yourself. You Are Blessed.  Jesus Loves You”.  It was really faded, so I used my “Bench of Despair” Sharpie and re-wrote the message so it was, hopefully, clearer.  Then I moved on.

I was concentrating on checking off the miles.  Soon, it became dark and I was still moving forward. I can’t recall where, but I’ll say around Mile 300, a runner came up behind me.  He chatted and he was going real strong.   I decided that if I had any chance of finishing on my B-day, I better stay with this guy.  His name was Ryan and we started chatting.  I probably talked his ears off as I tried to ignore my exhaustion and aches.   He would occasionally look at the GPX and I’d follow.  Soon, we were on a road and I recall him saying “I bet this is a real long road”….he was right.  It was also a real crappy road full of holes and patchwork.  Ryan said “This road had more patches than an Eagle Scout”.  I laughed out loud.

Soon, we were at the bus pick-up parking lot and saw the sign “One mile to finish” with the arrow….well, that was the first of about 3 times that we saw that sign.   The final mile(s) was muddy and had some nice deep ruts but we eventually saw lights in the distance and soon saw Carl and Laz.   Ryan was kind enough to let me stand on the rock first (I insisted he do it as he got me those last dozen miles or so) but he insisted.

I thought we finished on Day 8, so was pleased to learn we logged a 7 day finish.  I made a finish on my 62^nd birthday…..by 3 minutes and 3 seconds!!!!  

To illustrate how exhausted I was, the next morning I was sitting in the lobby of the Clarion hotel and Ryan sat across from me.  I asked him when did he finish?!  He looked at me and said "Uh....with you."  I was still so out of it, I didn't recognize him!

 

What an event!