Local runner prepped for 1st ultra event

Local runner Tim Woodring will don his running shoes this weekend to face his longest challenge yet.

Woodring is one of more than 100 runners from around the United States and the world scheduled to participate in the 20th Annual Arkansas Traveller 100, a 100-mile "ultra-marathon" on Saturday and Sunday through the Ouachita National Forest near Little Rock. Woodring said this will be the first time he has participated in this event.

Woodring, who has run "ultra-marathons" of 40 and 50 miles but has never attempted a 100-mile race, said he has had to train a lot more this summer with runs of various distances and types in order to prepare himself for this next level of difficulty in marathon running.

"I've had to run a lot more, a lot more hill work in the park," he said. "It's not fun but it's good prep work. It's just a lot of running. It's been a long summer."

An "ultra-marathon" is considered to be any marathon covering a distance greater than 26.2 miles. The Arkansas Traveller will require competitors to run on trails and dirt roads through mountains and forestland. Runners will have 30 hours to complete the race, which begins and ends at Camp Ouachita.

Woodring said his summer training schedule for the upcoming marathon involved him waking at an early hour and spending most of the day and night running, and often long distances to nearby towns in Bourbon County.

"I needed to condition my body to run without a lot of sleep," he said.

While Woodring started running about 7-8 years ago, he only began running long distances a few years ago.

"I just started," he said. "I wanted to run a marathon a few years ago. I started with a half marathon and did pretty well with that. Then a full marathon and did pretty well with that. It was cool to see how far I could run. It was only about three years ago that I started serious running. Before it was just small runs."

Woodring said finishing his first marathon, a 40-mile race, is the accomplishment that has meant the most to him during his years as a runner.

"Completing my first marathon was big for me," he said. "I was more excited about finishing that than anything else I've done."

Woodring said he is not only running in the marathon to achieve a personal goal; he is using the

event as a platform to promote and raise awareness for Active:Water, a nonprofit organization that works to bring clean water and sanitation projects to needed communities throughout the globe. Woodring's goal is to raise $1,500 toward a well for the people of Zambia, a country in Africa.

"If I want a drink of water, I can go to the faucet," he said. "There are people who have to travel six miles for polluted water."

For more information, visit the organization's website, www.activewater.org. Woodring's personal fundraising page can be found under the "Current Participants" link on the site.