Success in ultra-marathons in the King family is no longer limited to Ryan King of Piqua.

His wife Amanda recently completed a 314-mile race, the last annual Vol State Run.

The race began with a ferry ride across the Mississippi River to Kentucky and finished at “The Rock”, atop Sand Mountain in Northeast Georgia.

“Originally, when Ryan (King) started doing this, I didn’t think it was something I would be interested in,” Amanda King said. “This year, I started thinking that might be something I would be interested in. Just to show that I could do something like that.”

King was the 12th women and 36th finished overall in seven days, seven hours, five minutes and 20 seconds.

And while watching her husband do it the last two years prepared her for what she was about to experience, there were also plenty of surprises along the way.

“It did give me an idea of what to expect,” she said. “But, it was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be.”

King took a different approach to the race.

She has never been a fan of hot weather,

“I did most of my miles at night,” King said. “My typical (race) day would start at 5 or 6 p.m.,” King said. “I would run all night until about 10 a.m. Then, I would get something to eat and get a motel room and get some sleep. Because of that, I was doing the race by myself most days. It was peaceful and quiet running at night.”

She found the race to be very difficult throughout.

“There are so many different things that made it difficult,” she said. While, I enjoyed running at night, it meant I was running by myself. One of things that was difficult was the times running where there was just nothing. You would leave one town and not run into another town for 20 miles.”

She passed the “Bench of Despair” around mile 185.

“If you get there, you are likely to finish,” King said. “The people of Tennessee were amazing. So kind and generous to help out.”

Over the last couple days, she did buddy up with several other runners.

“Those last couple days were really tough and that helped (having the others support),” she said. “The last day, you are running up a mountain which was tough. As I approached the finish line, it all (the race) kind of flooded back and I did get a little emotional at the end.”

Her husband asked her after the race if she would consider doing it again.

“I immediately said, ‘No, not a chance’,” King said. “Ryan (King) told me to just give it a week. I said absolutely not.”

But, he proved to be correct.

“I am not going to lie,” she said. “The registration for next year’s Vol State run came out last week and I am seriously thinking about doing it again.”

And continuing the family tradition.

You can reach Sports Editor Rob Kiser at [email protected]