For many, running a mile or two in a given day is doable. For some heartier souls, running five or 10 miles in a 24-hour period is not out of the question. Some of the chosen few even go for an all-out marathon, 26.2 miles.
Local resident Jason McVey ran a lot of miles in one 24-hour period last weekend – 72 of them to be precise. That is the equivalent of 2.74 marathons.
Seventy-two miles is the distance you would cover if you started in McMinnville and ran all the way to Murfreesboro, then turned back around and ran to Centertown. McVey did this running in the Smoky Mountains on the Appalachian Trail, battling rain, winds up to 40 mph, fog, steep inclines, uneven surfaces, and chilly weather.
The race that McVey, a music teacher in the Warren County School System, ran is called the Smokies Challenge Adventure Run (SCAR). He ran this 72-mile leg of the Appalachian Trail from 4 a.m. on Saturday, April 10, until 4 a.m. on Sunday, April 11.
McVey says one of the most difficult aspects of the SCAR run was the solitariness of it. “One of the reasons this was really tough was because I was on my own, you know. Most races that you would sign up for, they’re crewed. There’ll be aid stations every so often. But obviously in the Smokies there’s no aid stations. It’s just you,” McVey said.
McVey was prepared for SCAR. As an ultra-runner, he has run myriad races over the last 12 or so years, from 50-kilometer races to 50-mile runs to even a 100-mile trek in Illinois a couple years back.
It also helped that he had hiked the Smoky Mountains portion of the Appalachian Trail back in 2016 and that he had attempted and failed the SCAR back in September 2020, if one considers running 41 miles in one day failing. This time around, McVey knew the lay of the land and knew what to expect. “After quitting the first time, I didn’t want to quit the second time,” McVey says.
He started his day early Saturday morning at Davenport Gap, at the north end of the national park. McVey picked his way across some knife-edge ridges before entering Newfound Gap, about 31 miles from where he started.
His wife Sarah was waiting for him at Newfound Gap and she provided him with extra supplies and some sugar of the non-dietary variety. Afterwards, McVey trudged ahead and took on the bear that is Clingmans Dome, which he says was “a butt of a climb.” After scaling it, McVey proceeded to the Double Spring Gap shelter, where he grabbed some water, and then to the Derrick Knob shelter, where he also got some fluids but then got lost trying to find his way back onto the Appalachian Trail.
After stopping and asking for directions, McVey got going again and took on two of the last biggest climbs of the day, Rocky Top and Thunderhead Mountain.
His wife was waiting for him at the end and even called out directions to the sign that marked the end of the trail. It was dark, after all.
McVey admits there were times in the race when he wanted to stop, lie down, and go to sleep. However, he says, “I just ignored the voice and kept going.”
McVey relates that he was not scared of getting hurt and subsequently stranded on the trail. “I figured if I hurt myself I’d eventually make it out, even if I was crawling.”
McVey started running about 12 years ago in order to get into better shape. When he first started running, he says had no idea what he was doing and was even out there in his boots. Gradually, though, he worked his way up from 5K runs to 10K runs to marathons and beyond.
He says, “I feel very grateful that I’m able to do this. That feeling usually comes toward the end of a run, when I know it’s starting to wrap up and it’s almost home free. I feel very blessed and very grateful that I’m able to do those things, because I know that there are a lot of people who would want to, but some people aren’t able to. So I’m grateful and I am blessed.”
