Vol State 314: How to Run This Ultra Even If You're 'Screwed'

Ever heard of the Last Annual Vol State Road Race? It's a 314-mile ultra from Missouri to Georgia, and you can run it "crewed" or "screwed" like runner Tim Hardy.
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😲Yes. That's 314 road miles. 
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If that sounds a little wild, here's a fun fact: 

• Vol State 314 is the mastermind of Gary Cantrell (aka Lazarus Lake), the same guy who created the infamous 100-mile Barkely Marathon that only 20 people have ever finished in 38 years.

🏃‍♂️So how does Vol State 314 work?

• Hop on a ferry in Dorena Landing, Mo., and cross the Missouri River
• Start in Kentucky. Run across Tennessee. And keep going until you get to Sand Mountain, Ga.
• Run, eat, sleep, and rest when you can. There are no official aid stations.
• You have 10 days to finish
• And you can run it "crewed" or "screwed." Translation: Bring your own crew to help you along the way or run it solo.

🎖️Five-time Vol State 314 finisher Tim Hardy ran the race "screwed" this year. 
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Here's how he did it...

Tim: I started running with two other lieutenant buddies in the Army around 1998 when I was stationed overseas. We we're used to running and rucking a lot with our packs. We started training for a marathon, but kind of treated it like a business.

• In the Army, you have to run.
• You get graded on your ability to run
• And you get promoted, and everything else if you're good at it

Long before Vol State 314 was on his radar, Tim checked off his first three marathons in 1998 at the:

• Frankfurt Marathon in Germany
• Berlin Marathon in Germany
• Prague Marathon in Czech Republic

But he was just getting started...

Tim: When I first got into ultras, training for Badwater in 2012 ate up all my mental focus.
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I really didn't start thinking about Vol State until 2009. At the time, I spent a whole year deployed in Afghanistan in the Army. I had a couple friends who did it. And I kept wondering if I could do it.
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I finally got to that point where I had to find out if I could run Vol State. As soon as registration opened in 2017, I signed up and got in to run it in 2018.

Tim: Lazarus Lake (that's not his real name), created the Vol State race in 1985.
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He called it the 'Last Annual," because he figured no one would ever come back to run it. 
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But now, it's hard to get into the race. It typically sells out within the first 20 minutes of opening up. 

Tim: I really struggled to finish this race for the first time in 2018. I had to learn stuff the hard way.
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It's kind of like that old John Wayne quote:

• "Life is tough. But it's tougher if you're stupid."

Based on my whole career in the Army, I never put anything on my feet. So at my first Vol State, I didn't do anything to my feet for the first two days.
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By the time I passed 100 miles, the bottoms of my feet were totally macerated.

Tim: The first year, I called the race officials to come and pick me up after about 114 miles. But they said it would be a day or two before they could come and get me.

• I sat at this convenience store thinking about this, feeling really sorry for myself.
• And decided I didn't feel like waiting around that long.
• I called back and said I changed my mind. 

I was way ahead of the cutoff, so I decided I might still have a chance. Every step was burning pain. But I kept going, and finished the race in about six days.

Tim: The cutoff drops every 12 hours. You basically need to move 50K a day, or you could get picked up off the course.
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Here's what's interesting, more people who quit are usually "crewed." 

• You know, they're out there with their own crew and vehicle. Maybe their crew isn't made up of experienced ultra runners.
• And when you're worn out, and they're worn out, it's easy to jump in the van and give up.

I think more people who run Vol State "screwed" finish, because you're out there on your own. You have to figure things out. There isn't an easy or convenient way to quit. 
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But the solo runners who do quit, often call the race when they're in a hotel room.

Tim: I carried some food and water in my pack, but I ate at convenience stores, restaurants and places like that along the way.

• One of my favorite places to grab a bite to eat on the course is called The Pit Stop. I try to hit it around 5 a.m. when it opens for a hot breakfast.
• There's another stop that serves Mexican food for breakfast or fajitas.
• In Linden, Tenn., there's a place I like to stop for some really good steak fries.
• And there's a diner where I'll eat ham and eggs, drink a ton of juice and have some hash browns.

When you're out moving 18 to 20 hours a day, you burn up all the calories in your body. And you've really got to replenish them. I try to eat one full meal a day during Vol State.

Tim: This year I didn't hit a hotel. I just ran straight through and slept feral on the side of the road.
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But it's not as hard as it used to be. Vol State doesn't have aid stations, but there are Angel Stations along the course that random people set up in their yard.

• The first 3-4 nights, I slept in a chair for 1 to 2 hours at an Angel Station.
• When I finally hit about 200 miles, there was a closed up convenient store with a bench out front, and guy sleeping there.
• I thought it was another runner, but then I realized it was a homeless guy.
• I went out back and slept there, instead.

Tim: Vol State crosses a stretch of Kentucky and Tennessee. And even though there aren't aid stations, so many people along the course support this race with pop-up Angel Stations.

• The first 190 miles, Angel Stations all over the course. Lots of places you can pull off and grab a cold bottle of water.
• These people support the race every year out of their own pocket. 
• There's cold drink sites, pop-up tents for sleeping.
• There's a retired couple that sets up an Angel Station in their carport.
• There's so many, it's hard to name them all.

And then there's the Angel Station at the Gleason Fire Department in Gleason, Tenn.

• Honestly, this is one of the best aid stations in the entire ultrarunning community.

Tim: I just love the point-to-point, multi-day format. But it's a lot more than that.

• There's something about this race that really hits you to the core, trying to grind it out every day just to see what you can do.
• You'll find people on the course who you'd never pick to be an endurance athlete.
• A lot of people run Vol State to test their resilience and do everything they can to get to The Rock no matter what. They want to see what they're capable of, even if that means going home with a DNF.
• When you finish Vol State, everything in life seems a little easier.
• It's so powerful, that if I could only run one race a year for the rest of my life, it would be Vol State.

Tim Hardy finished the 2024 Vol State 314 in:

• 7 days + 17hrs 55min 19sec

Advice: Vol State 314 strategy

• Register, even if you get on the wait list. You might still get an invite.
• Start training for Vol State about six months out.
• Load up your pack, and train with it as often as possible: Short runs, long runs, or even wearing your pack around for the whole day
• When you get to the race, do everything you can to stay ahead of the cutoffs
• And bank as many miles as you can on the first day of the race.

Favorite pack configuration

• Nathan Hydration VaporKrar + REI Flash 15
• Based on what I'm carrying, my pack weighs about 8.5 pounds
• I usually only carry about 2 liters of water and a few snacks.

Favorite lighting

• Black Diamond 200 headlamp
• Souyos handheld. It's a small blue flashlight. I like these, because when I’m traveling at night in high traffic areas, the traffic slows down when they see a blue light in the distance. And you can make this thing flash, so it really makes me look like a cop on the side of the road at a distance, especially when I active the red light on the Black Diamond.

Favorite snacks

• I don’t typically carry a lot of food, but I do like Slim Jim’s and Nutra-grain breakfast bars. I did this at LAVS this year. Stuff you can typically pick up at Dollar General or convenience stores.

# of steps to finish Vol State 314

• About 640,000

Vol State 314 finisher swag

• An oval bumper sticker that says: 314
• A T-shirt
• A wooden Vol State medallion
• Vol State finisher's patch

Favorite shoe

• Hoka Bondi 8 (4E extra wide). If you're not from the south and used to the heat and humidity, your feet are going to swell at Vol State. 

If you feel like quitting...

• Vol State is a race that will wear you out mentally, long before you're physically exhausted. And you have to be prepared for that. You might be three days in with 150K left, feeling totally worn out. Don't think about the race like that. Just focus on your next turn and what's ahead. Your mind is way too small to focus on the finish line.

Vol State 314 recovery

• You're probably going to be hurting for a couple days. And it takes while for your feet to recover. You might shed a whole layer of skin. And your body is going to be sore. As I've gotten older, it's taking a little longer for the fatigue to go away.