News-Leader

Dora --On one side of the clearing, situated among the rolling hills of rural Ozark County, sits a cluster of tents. Sweat- and water-logged clothing hangs from lines, above rows of running shoes laid out to dry. Across the way is a mess tent. There, come meal time, campers pack, elbow to elbow, around wooden picnic tables to dine. The North Fork River winds along one edge of the campsite. Some campers bathe all week in its waters.

To describe the accommodations here as spartan might be sugarcoating things. But campers don't come to Joe Bill Dixon's Wilderness Running Camp to be pampered.

"You know, we want it to be fun," said Dixon, who started the camp in 1990. "But at times we've had to look back and remember our mission statement -- that we're not here just to make them happy.

"We're here to teach them about distance (running). We're here to teach them about life."

Founded and still run by Dixon, the architect of West Plains' powerhouse high school cross country program, the camp lets runners eliminate distractions and immerse themselves in running for five days each summer.

Campers run upwards of 10 miles per day between morning and evening runs and midday team-building exercises. And they do it all while sleeping in tents and spending every waking hour outdoors, without the creature comforts of home.

But something about this camp keeps the runners coming back in droves. What started in 1990 with 42 runners has grown into a camp that spans three sessions in two locations and takes a small army of about 50 --Dixon's family, camp counselors, coaches and other support staff --to put on. This year, 200 runners plopped down $190 to attend Session 1.

"It's just worth it," Parkview High School senior Will Lawson said. "I've been to many camps across the nation, and this is the most intense one.

"Thank goodness, it's just a couple hours away."

The Zizzer way

Every morning, campers break into small groups for classroom sessions.

In the mess tent, Dixon sets up shop. And when he talks, runners listen. A cross country coach tends to command attention when he has guided teams to 25 state championships --the Zizzers have won 13 boys' titles and 12 girls' titles, including a sweep of last year's Class 3 championships.

Jason Sandfort won an individual state championship at West Plains before going on to an All-American career at the University of Arkansas. He has been a camper and counselor at the Wilderness Running Camp and is now assistant coach of a team --Lutheran High in St. Peters --that attends the camp.

After all these years, Sandfort still marvels at Dixon's ability to share his philosophy with, yet continue to get the best of, the competition.

"It's no secret," Sandfort said. "And I think that's the coolest part about it ... it's all simple. It's just not easy to do."

Once upon a time, Dixon says, he may have used "a little bit of smoke and mirrors" when he spoke at camps or coaches' clinics. But that, along with Dixon's faith, changed after his wife Judy survived cancer in the late '80s.

"One of the things I vowed," Dixon said, "is if there was a chance to help someone else get better, I wouldn't hold anything back."

So Dixon offers campers the same guidance each summer that he shares with West Plains runners the rest of the year.

He says the camp "isn't a bible camp," but he doesn't hesitate to discuss his Christian faith.

He borrows heavily from legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, espousing two sets of cardinal rules --"don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal" and "don't whine, don't complain, don't make excuses."

He uses the image of a pyramid to stress training, teaching that just as a pyramid must have a wide base to reach great heights, so must a runner have a big mileage base to do well.

"There's no secrets in any sport, especially distance running," Dixon said. "But it's how you apply it, when you apply it."

Former Zizzers say Dixon is a master in the application of those theories. Brittani Johnson, who won two individual state titles at West Plains and now runs at Central Arkansas, credits Dixon with helping make her the runner she is.

"If I wouldn't have run for him, I wouldn't be as good as I am," Johnson said. "He's an amazing coach --one of a kind, definitely."

Sharing the wealth

A quick survey of the stickers adorning car windows and the T-shirts drying on clotheslines gives an inkling of the distance-running pedigree present here: Lebanon, Liberty, Kickapoo, Potosi.

The camp draws top teams from across the state and region. Last year, Session 1 featured nine Missouri teams that went on to finish in the top four of their respective state cross country races.

"Obviously," Kickapoo coach Jeremy Goddard said, "the people that come here are doing it right."

Dixon says he's "not very big on stats." But he comes to consider camp regulars family, and he celebrates their achievements.

"I'm always happy to hear that one of our Wilderness Camp teams did well," he said. "It reinforces my belief that we're doing the right thing."

Sandfort sees it that way.

"If you look at the teams that are here, these are all the teams that are the top four in every class," Sandfort said. "You wonder why it happens; this is why it happens."

Coaches say the camp is a valuable annual meeting of the minds, a chance for them to talk shop and exchange ideas with peers. Dixon himself often heads home with a few new insights.

"Some of the very best coaches in the Midwest are here," Dixon said. "There's better coaches than me at this camp, and I pick up from them, too. It's just a sharing of ideas."

Runners say the camp offers motivation in the form of exposure to top talent from across the state. If runners come in wanting for motivation in the midst of summer training, they aren't likely to leave that way.

"We work so hard here, it's kind of hard to just go back to school and slip into the old routine," Kickapoo senior Lauren Collette said. "You want to keep up the new stuff you learned ... and just keep up the intensity."

No frills

Indoor showers are available to campers. But, as Collette explained, they've become taboo for Kickapoo, whose runners eschew warm showers for the chilly waters of the North Fork.

"You get made fun of if you use the showers," Collette said, laughing.

Maybe it's just a strange team tradition. But it also seems to illustrate a no-frills mentality prevalent among the runners who come to camp --well, among most of them, anyway.

"There's always one with hair dryer, straightener, make-up," Johnson said, chuckling. "It's, like, 'You'll learn, by tomorrow.'

"Who cares what you look like? We're here to train and learn."

Asked about the prevailing mind-set, Goddard nodded toward a runner sporting a camp-issued T-shirt.

"The shirts are 'guts,' " he said. "The theme is 'guts.' Coach Dixon talks about guts and character, and it's hard to reveal your character until you get put into a stressful situation.

"And it is stressful (at camp). ... You know, you have to deal with being wet, and you have to deal with being hot, and you have to deal with being crammed next to a lot of other people."

It can be a lot for a first-time camper to handle, Kickapoo senior Danny Thater said. Thinking back to his first year at camp, Thater said he "had never really been that uncomfortable."

But this year, in his third trip back, Thater has come to anticipate and even embrace the spartan conditions.

"I mean, I almost kind of look forward to it," he said, "because all the other time I get to take a warm shower and I'm in air conditioning.

"I love being outdoors, so this is awesome. I love it."

Left wanting more

Each camp session in Dora culminates with the Dawt Mill Run. In what has become the camp's signature event, runners rise early on the final morning to traverse a 13-mile course across rugged, hilly terrain.

"Just completing it is a huge accomplishment," Thater said. "You can look back and say, 'I've done that.'"

Then, drained, campers pack up and head home. There, they are free to enjoy the comforts of climate-controlled living, to check e-mail, to take warm showers. But they're not all especially eager to return to that.

"Take a shower, take a nap, I don't know," Collette said of her post-camp plans. "It's going to be weird, actually getting back into normalcy, having to go back to work. I wish I could just stay here."

"Who cares what you look like? We're here to train and learn."

-- Brittani Johnson, former West Plains High School cross country runner, now running at Central Arkansas