vol stare toad race
4 days update part 1
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i told you it was going to be a wild night
and i told you timing on sleep breaks would be important
if not decisive…
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at the time of the last check in john had a 6 mile lead.
and he was starting a short sleep break.
that short sleep break was all johan needed
to cut that 6 mile lead down to 10 minutes…
.
for the next 16 miles john fought like a wild tiger
with the lead fluctuating between 4 and 10 minutes.
all the way across the cumberland plateau
and down the punishing descent into jasper he held on
through jasper
and down the sequatchie valley to kimball
he would not let go.
.
i saw him go past me at the 300 mile mark
head down
totally focused.
pushing as hard as he could go
(after three hundred punishing miles)
.
4 minutes and 20 seconds later
johan came gliding thru.
like a wolf following the scent of a wounded deer.
.
i can tell you
in that situation there is no one i would less like to have behind me
than johan steene.
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we saw them again at the blue bridge (303 miles)
johan was 300 yards behind.,
the lead that john had worked so hard for
was all but gone.
.
at 307 miles it happened.
johan caught john,
passed him
and powered away with a burst of speed.
.
after 2 days of being pursued like an animal
propelled by the hunger for victory
having it ripped from his grasp was the last straw.
the fire that had kept john going
long past his limits
was gone.
.
john stopped and called his crew back.
then he lay down for a long denied sleep.
.
johan went on to win in 3 days 20 hours 22 minutes and 00 seconds.
john is still asleep
right where he was passed.
.
and now i am going to sleep as well.
at least until i get the call to go and get johns time at the rock.
i better sleep every chance i get right now.
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even with 4 more runners succumbing to their inner demons
there are still 93 runners trying to reach the rock.
sleep may be hard to come by the next few days!
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when i get that call i will check to see what the women did last night.