Henry Hobbs and I went up to Arkansas to remove the monkey from his back. Or maybe we went up because this race fit into our schedule nicely. Or maybe we could afford this one and worked the other one. Anyway, we showed up.

We ran within the crowd from the start to the turn on paved road. Even after the turn, we remained within a tight group. I introduced Henry to one and all as I seemed to know quite a few. A full moon was up, making our flashlights irrelevant. Never needed them even once. We dropped them at the first station where we picked up a hot pancake wedge. We arrived at the next station just behind RD Chrissy Ferguson who was quite upset to learn they had no water. This is where the Ouachita Trail starts, so we went without water on to the best part of this whole course. We flew! It is so much fun to run this trail that we boogied up and down the trail, blowing past quite a few very good runners who just weren’t as excited about this trail as we were. I must have been a few miles but we found the next station way too soon. I took some grapes and started up the next big climb. Still on the trail, but with a big nasty uphill start. I fell behind for a little but eventually reeled in Henry. Coming close to the trail’s end, Henry went down hard. Scared him pretty good too. But then we went in to finish the 17mile loop much faster than either of us had anticipated. Now the real work begins. Mostly road from here til done.

We swap out our gear from hand bottles to long haul and walk up the hill leading out with food in our hands. We both seem to be doing amazingly well for such a rapid start. All systems are go! It’s a long hill, hard packed, and we do eventually run some of it. On top, we roll off the main road onto a rutted jeep road that descends down to a flat. Henry falls behind on the descent but once on the flat, he decides to run a 10/2. Well, it’s a bit much for me right now, so he slowly pulls away. I end up with a women who plans on a 20 hour time, and we start telling about Henry coming back to complete his non-finish from last year. We're on a sub 20 pace right now though, and she questions the aggressive start. Heck, I can’t keep up with him. The jeep road T’s into a main hard pack just before the Pumpkin Pie Station. Henry is just ahead of the Chrissy Ferguson Parade while I am just behind it. The mess of us stop for pie and then back to the road all mixed up. Eventually, we sort out into our correct groups soon after. Henry even backs off and waits for me. He has realized his haste and decided to back off. I’m glad he did, as I was just about to back way off and let him go. I was trying to hard to catch him and it was killing me.

We go off the hard pack again at Electric Tower. This used to be a road, but is now worn down to a rough single track. This is kind of fun as we roll along just fine for miles. For miles we go through a few more stations while switching from this sort of jeep road become trail to a very hard packed dirt road. Coming into Winona, the sun is up and beating down. I head off trail near the dam and douse my head and face with cold water from the stream. Henry follows suit, then on into the Winona Station. We sit and refuel, cold drinks and fresh legs. We leave out of there on a series of hills. Things are going well for us being baked by the sun. Still, we prefer the soft rutted jeep roads to the hard packed county highways. I’m starting to flag a bit by the time we reach Flamingo. We stop for a planned long break. Another major refuel. Diane goes by while we lollygag.

Eventually we escape onto some of the biggest rolling hills out here, and all hard packed road. My stomach starts to roil and I must flee to the woods for relief. Henry goes on alone and running very well. After emptying my guts from both ends, I feel much better. I start it up to go after Henry. I skim past the Smith Mountain station with no plans to stop, but Henry has already gone on. I get a good rhythm going up but Henry must be hard charging as I never do see him. I also skim past Chicken Gap and on down into the big main station at PowerLine. And Henry is sitting there in a chair. I sure hope you aint waiting on me I tell him. Nope, just taking care of business! I also get down to business, which begins with a chair and some food.

Eventually we get booted out and begin easy enough. But a lot of this next section is down hill, so we really get to rolling fast. Letha is coming up from behind us, but every time she gets close, we find another long downhill and create an enormous gap. The turnaround station is well beyond the half way point, because of the initial 17mile start loop. Even Chili Pepper is past 50 miles. We planned to stop for some food but the choices are thin this year, so we keep going. To the T at roads end, we turn left as the sun starts to dive. Seems like a long way from the T to the station and the sun does eventually go down on us just before we reach the Turnaround.

Joyce is an old friend and takes very good care of us: cold beer and hot food. Letha finally catches us here and leaves in front of us. With her walking skills, no way will we see her again. We start out in the dark with lights on. Henry reconsiders for a moment and goes back for his jacket, which is a very wise move. Having just eaten again, we go out slow and easy. BY the time we’re ready to run, the road has turned uphill and this leads us to continue walking. And thus we remain for a long time. As the dark deepens so does Henry’s drowsiness. He can’t stay awake. We try all kinds of stuff but nothing seems to work. He needs some mental stimulation so I talk him into singing. He’s really into music and figure he can shake the cobwebs in this manner. He starts to roll out a few tunes just fine but when he attempts a high note, this gets the dogs howling off in the woods. It’s pretty funny and all this seems to be helping a little, or at least better than anything else. He plans to nap at Chili Pepper but when we arrive and sit down, we both get the shakes pretty quick.

There aint no stopping now or we’re done. There’s enough chill to set the bones to shaking should we sit very long anywhere. Up and on we go with more adventures to keep Henry awake. The moon is up again, so we roll along for miles without our lights. There is no need for a while. But coming into Powerline, the road gets a bit choppy so we have to light up to stay afloat.

PowerLine is a major point, especially on the return trip. Its the 68mile point, which means only 32 miles til done. It’s also where pacers start. We refuel while we change into better night clothes to keep us warm. Also, Mer has a chocolate milkshake for me. It is so good! Mer is pacing Henry, so we’ll leave here with another companion. I’m hoping she can help keep Henry awake too. Anyway, I am now the odd man out as Mer is there to help Henry. I’m sure she’ll help me too, but mostly she’s signed on to get Henry to the finish.

We start out well, with me lagging a little behind the other two. I need some room to find my way over Smith Mountain’s rough terrain. Everything’s fine until I kick a rock very hard. Stops me cold. It hurts so bad that my stomach starts to turn over. I feel like I’m gonna toss for a moment but then it settles down while I just stand there to recover my senses. I won’t find out til later that I’ve just hammered my big toenail back into the skin of my toe. Anyway, I hurt so bad that I can barely move. They stop for a moment but I tell them to not wait. My toe screams while my stomach rolls and I can barely manage to stumble forward. They get a good long ways ahead quickly as I’m going very slow. I manage but it is very sluggish and after some 20 minutes it all starts to subside enough for me to move. I roll down to Smith Mountain station just as they leave. I need nothing here but some advil, pop 4 of them and pull out right after Henry and Mer. I make better time now and seem to hang with them in an odd sort of way. My steady pace is faster that Henry, but his surges, pee breaks, and drowsiness keeps him bouncing around like a yo-yo.

They pull ahead again but I catch them up just as we come into Flamingo. We take a long break and as we leave another joins us. He hangs with us as best he can but keeps falling off the back. Then he sprints past us into the next station. We’re such a dysfunctional parade of zombies. Single syllable conversations, stiff legged walking and running, stopping to piss in the road, occasional outbursts from Henry as he attempts to sing along with his headphones on, and all of us at different paces, speeds, and spontaneous bursts. I’ll bet the hunters are scared now.

Our next major stop, Winona is reached, leaving but 15 miles to done. We find Letha there under the blankets. I can’t set for long and must rush out to stay warm, leaving Henry and Mer behind. I get past the dam and a little up the road at a higher point so that I am no longer cold. I sit down to wait there. Then I lay down. The moon is big in the sky and I’m studying it closely when Henry arrives. He wants to lie down also but Mer won’t let him. So I get up and head on down the road with both of them. And then Letha goes past us again. The conversation between Henry and Mer has heated up. The music thing was starting to fail but she’s found his hot button: politics. And that’s where thats start to pull away from me. No way can I match Henry’s politically powered energy. They leave me far behind but I can still hear them arguing for miles. I have finally lost them and travel alone. Put I hear of them whenever I come into the next station and the topic of their debate.

The sun comes up quickly or I did not realize the subtle change until it was light. It’s just after Electric Tower than I find Mer standing alone in the road and Henry soon stumbling out of the brush. So we are again together. After so many miles, it is nice to finish together. We reach Pumpkin Pie with the Finkles and then walk out for the final 7miles. There is no longer any doubt about the conclusion but for the actual finish time. We have decided to walk it in. we have outvoted Mer so she walks along with us as we bounce down the road. Henry still swims on the edge of sleep and seems ok until the final hard pack road down to the finish. I have to hold him upright to keep him from falling over. We make the paved road and then the final climb. Then we run together down across the finish line.