The July sun was scorching in Manchester, Tennessee, radiating up from the open road. But Brad Boucher was 200 miles into a race he was determined to finish.
After climbing up Monteagle near Sewanee, he felt the hardest part of the race was behind him. His feet had developed blisters and he was feeling sleep-deprived, but the verse from 1 Corinthians 10:31 was on his heart.
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“Everything we do we’re supposed to do for the Lord,” said Boucher, 53, who was competing in the Last Annual Vol State Road Race with 139 other participants. The race began on a ferry in Dorena, Mo., and ended in Castle Rock, Georgia.
‘Calm voice’
This race had a deeper purpose for Boucher.
A pastor of students and young adults at Second Baptist Church of Union City since 2013, he has served on the board of the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes for three years.
“Just being able to see the inner workings of everything that the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes does — I love what they do for students,” he explained.
“Some kids have difficult situations to walk through, so just being a calm voice and a voice of reason in difficult situations for them.”
TBCH has provided Christ-centered homes for children in hard places across Tennessee through compassionate on-campus homes and foster families since 1891.
Boucher is no stranger to physical endurance. He’s run six marathons and competed in more than a dozen half marathons, but walking 314 miles in this race from Dorena, Mo., to Castle Rock, Ga., was a bucket-list item.
“I love to run. And so this is just something that intrigued me and captivated me to want to try it,” he said. “My pastor — my boss — said if you’ll make it missional, I’ll just give you the time off to go do it.”
The choice was easy for him; he knew he wanted to raise money for the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes.
He packed light, carrying only essentials strapped to his back: a little food, 60 ounces of water, an extra shirt, three extra pairs of socks, three extra pairs of undergarments, a blister kit, a battery pack, a rain poncho, a silk sleeping bag liner, a headlamp and flashlight.
On day one, Boucher walked 50 miles and reached Gleason, where he slept on a cot at the local fire station. In the first three days, Boucher admits it was a lonely and exhausting time.
Conversations
“I can honestly say I don’t think I ever had that thought of quitting. And I think that was because of who I was with. Had I been by myself, it might’ve been completely different,” he said.
On the fourth day, he met up with a couple of people from Florida who were doing the race. The conversations and company helped keep him going.
“We were together, I think, over 200-plus miles,” he said.
“The miles go by a lot quicker when you’re with people,” he added.
But mostly, Boucher prayed without ceasing. This was crucial since, for Boucher, the race was 80% mental, 20% physical, he said.
“I tried to represent Christ well, not only through supporting the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes, but through my conversations that I had with people, whether I was walking with them every single day or just whether I crossed their paths,” Boucher said.
Walking on the shoulders of roads that ranged from spacious to a narrow 12 inches, his motivation for doing the race remained at the forefront.
By pledging an amount for every mile he trekked, followers helped Boucher raise close to $25,000 for the organization.
“These kids just want to fit in and TBCH helps them,” he said.
Every day, with the help of his supportive wife, Tracy, Boucher updated posts on social media featuring videos of where he was and what he was doing. People could also follow him on a website that tracked his location.
The response was overwhelming.
“I was really surprised by the following.”
But people are always fascinated by ordinary people doing extraordinary things — the motto of the Last Annual Vol State 500K race.
“Those updates that I reluctantly started doing [on social media] really allowed all of that attention to be put on what I was doing, but more importantly why I was doing it, what I was doing it for,” Boucher recalled.
Boucher said he was also surprised by the number of kind people who helped him and other competitors along the route. “Our world is full of kind people,” he added.
Angel stations
Anyone who has completed this race before knows about the “Angel Stations” — impromptu aid stops set up by locals who live along the route. These generous residents know exactly when and where to place stations stocked with everything racers could need: food, first aid, water and conversation.
It’s what kept Boucher going physically.
“I never worried about when I was going to eat or drink.”
Sure, there were a few times hotels were booked up or racers didn’t reach their planned overnight stops as expected, but overall, it all worked out.
Boucher finished the race July 17. He said his body has recovered well — though he admitted the first few nights he slept at home, he still felt his mind in “race mode.”
But the journey was worth it.
Boucher finished walking 314 miles in seven days, 13 hours and 18 minutes.
“We can represent Christ well in every single thing we do, even walking across the state of Tennessee,” Boucher said.
“If you have a cause, put that out in front of what you’re doing and let people support that cause. Yes, it was about me finishing a race, but it was so much more than that. I just wanted to draw attention to a great organization in that of the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Zoë Watkins and originally published by the Baptist and Reflector.
