This is the first in a series about two Missourians running the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail Endurance Run.
A pair of St. Louis area runners and Liberty High School (Wentzville School District) staffers went to the extreme to raise some funds for the school's booster club while trying to complete a remarkable challenge.
The Wentzville School District in St. Charles County has been the fastest-growing district in Missouri annually for about the last two decades. The district opened a 3rd high school, Liberty in 2013, near the Lake St. Louis and O' Fallon border, just west of Highway 64/40 and south of Interstate 70. Along with Wentzville-Holt, Timberland, and Liberty, the district opened a 4th high school, North Point in Wentzville, north of I-70 for the 2021-22 school year.
Eldredge was hired as Liberty-Wentzville's athletics and activities director before the school opened in 2013. Eldredge hired Toby Glavin as head cross country and track and field coach. The pair made a trip to southeast-central Arkansas last weekend for a great physical test, trying to complete the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail 100-mile Endurance Run, aka "LOViT100". The event offers 100-mile and 100-kilometer (62.1 miles) run options.
Eldredge
Eldredge ran cross country and track at Francis Howell High School in the Weldon Spring area and at Lindenwood University in St. Charles before getting into coaching. Eldredge ran for Hall of Fame coach Steve Miller, helping Francis Howell to a state cross country team trophy as a prep. While at Lindenwood, Eldredge competed for Hall of Famers Clark Wille and Vince Bingham. He and the Lions earned multiple national team trophies.
Eldredge coached back at his alma mater Francis Howell while finishing college. After graduation, he began coaching and teaching. He started at Northwest (Cedar Hill) then later in the Wentzville School District at Frontier Middle School and Timberland High School. Eldredge also had a successful run as head cross country and distance coach at his alma mater Lindenwood.
Eldredge left with his son Cale, right, when Liberty hosted a Class 5 District meet in 2021.
Glavin
Toby Glavin ran cross country and track at Jefferson City High School for Hall of Fame coaches Jim Marshall and Dennis and Roberta Licklider, where he and the Jays won a handful of cross country and track and field state trophies. Glavin went on to compete in college at Missouri S&T (University of Missouri-Rolla) for coach Sarah Preston/Moore and at Missouri State University (SMS/Southwest Missouri State) for coaches Houston Franks and Ron Boyce.
Glavin eventually got his start in coaching while at Missouri State, coaching at Greenwood Laboratory School for head coach Gerald Masterson, on the Missouri State University campus. Glavin later moved to his hometown district, coaching at Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Jefferson City High School.
The duo has plenty of post-collegiate training experience and some racing experience in half-marathons and marathons. Though, more recently they have moved past the 26.2-mile marathon distance and into the ultramarathon realm.
Glavin, middle, when the Eagles hosted a Class 5 district track and field meet in 2021.
Covid Cancelled
They were trained and ready to run the Praire Spirit 100k in Kansas in March of 2020. However, the coronavirus hit the U.S. just a week or two before the event, which forced its cancellation.
Glavin said about the cancellation, "It really didn't bother me that much because I enjoyed more of the training and the (people I was) running with, so I wasn't disappointed...". In training for that 100k, Glavin and Eldredge had a longest training run of 35 miles.
Ozark Trail
Eldredge found a new goal a few months after the 100k cancellation. He and three others and their pacers/safety runners and race crews, including Glavin, staged their own event. They challenged themselves to run 107 miles of the Ozark Trail in Missouri in October 2020.
Eldredge was the only of the four who finished the Ozark Trail run, while Glavin ran an eight hours leg to help him get to the finish. Eldredge finished in 31 hours and 19 minutes. After helping as a safety runner and crew member, that experience for Glavin was a fun one that made an impact. Regarding the LOViT 100-miler, Glavin said he and Eldredge had discussed training and running an official ultramarathon since the Ozark Trail experience, because "That was just too much fun not to give it a go."
After the Prarie Trail 100k cancellation, Eldredge's Ozark Trail run had multiple goals. "...part of (the) focus for me was to draw attention to our booster club and raise some funds, in addition to going after this personal goal of running 100 miles." Eldredge's journey was shared online urging viewers to give a boost to the boosters by considering a donation to the booster club.