while you slept the survivors fought on.
two days in they are facing their bitterest challenge….
.
not the heat, not the distance,
not blisters, not chafing,
not the sun, not sleep deprivation…
.
the toughest opponent is their own mind.
.
at this point in the race
your relationship with your own mind is your only hope.
you have passed all the parameters where your physical systems tell you that it is time to stop.
you have done more than your body was built to withstand.
dogs and horses would be ready to lie down and die,
systems are in place to protect us from ourselves.
fatigue is supposed to stop us from burning more energy than we can replace
(we evolved to deal with limited food sources)
quitting is supposed to stop us from exhausting all our resources pursuing a hopeless task.
and pain is supposed to make us stop doing the thing that caused it!…
.
dogs and horses would be ready to lie down and die.
only the human mind can override the systems meant to protect us from ourselves.
only we can keep going when the limits have been met
and surpassed.
the legs keep moving
when even we dont understand what keeps us going…
.
the vol staters are now running on only the sheer force of will.
the only thing that keeps them moving is the memory
that they came to reach the rock.
.
but this is when the sleep deprived brain
the only thing that keeps us going
is also trying to make us stop.
.
every runner out there
even the masters of multiday
is locked in an internal struggle.
.their mind is searching for reasons to quit.
it focuses on the pain
it paints glorious scenarios
of rest and coolness
of plentiful food
and iced down drinks.
until it becomes difficult to remember why
why am i here?
.
you can sometimes read the struggle
when the desire to quit finally overwhelms the need to go on.
the mind defines quitting as a physical necessity
and even a moral imperative.
.
the vol staters who are running into the third day
are each and every one
engaged in a war inside themselves
the part that remembers why they are here
against the part that only wants it to end.
this is the part of the race that no one can help them with.
to reach the rock they have to look deep inside
for that something that no one knows they have
until they are forced to call on it.
.
this terrible struggle
is what they have come for.
this nightmare is what makes every runner who reaches the rock
a champion.
.
but there is still a race.
there are those who have come for a race within the war.
they have come to win.
.
and right now chris varnadoe has the race within a war
in his hands to win or lose.
he lost a little of his lead during the night
but is still 27 miles ahead.
.
he did slip back over the 3-day pace.
three days has been a magic number in the vol state for some time.
each time the record is lowered it comes a little closer.
some day
some runner
is going to finish this monster in under three days.
that runner will become a legend
even among all the great kings that have come before.
chris has been driving himself for more than two days
at that pace.
now he only needs 114 miles in under a day to get there.
something he could easily have done…
.
two days ago.
what is left in the tank for today?
no one knows.
.
addison hendricks is the one who actually cut into chris’ lead during the night.
addison is still a young guy,
but the brash youngster who first showed up a couple of years ago
has been learning his craft.
fresh off his first multi-day win at the 380 mile HOTS race,
addison is following it up with a solid performance here.
his development and maturation has been a pleasure to watch.
.
greeting the searing sun on the third morning in third place
shawna wendtlandt has fallen 12 miles behind addison,
but extended her lead on the next runner to 17.
we didnt know who she was on the ferry…
.
but she has made her mark on the way to the rock.
.
it would seem like the top spots have been decided,
but this is the vol state.
the heat indexes will be well over 100 again today.
every survivor is hanging by a thread.
things can change in an instant….
.
altho actually overtaking a downed runner might take half a day.
matthew bird and will briggs have emerged from the melee at the head of the chase pack.
they are ready to gobble up any of the leaders who might falter.
.
and so day three begins.
Categories: Vols2024