vole stare toad race
5.5 day update
.
i cant believe it is night again.
the parade has started.
i am loving these new trackers
having some idea where the runners are between here and the valley inn is incredible,
the 10 miles from the blue bridge to the rock
can take anything from 2 hours
t0 12 hours.
.
with runners picking up trackers and starting the home stretch at a an average rate of one an hour
we need to know whenever there is a long enough gap to do anything.
.
up here on the rock it was a wonderful day.
no fewer than 4 rainstorms hit the camp.
2 of them were just heavy rains.
the last two were like mini hurricanes.
gale force winds driving sheets of sideways rain
and beating my canopy tent into pieces.
.
the tent deserves its own post.
it has loyally continued to protect me from the worst of the rain,
even tho it has suffered mortal wounds.
sure,
water pours thru several large rips
and comes thru a number of smaller tears.
it has a sag in the top due to a broken rib
and one leg is held together with a tent peg.
but it (incredibly) held on thru ferocious winds.
while i hunkered under the patch of canopy with the most integrity
with an umbrella over my head to divert the leaks.
.
with a pile of race supplies protecting my side i stayed almost dry
but i was expecting the tent to either rip from the ground and fly away
or the remainder of the skeleton to collapse.
if either had happened i would have been instantly soaked to the bone.
incredibly it held.
.
i feel bad about it,
but the poor thing is going to have to be put down when the race is over.
.
i dont think any of the runners saw as much rain as we did.
the ones coming in to the finish reported experiencing:
no rain
light rain
heavy rain
everybody heard thunder
some saw lightning..
.
but only two got the full hurricane experience.
.
back at the back diane durden’s journey is on life support.
she started this morning 3 miles behind oprah.
she entered tonight down by 5….
.
she has to make a significant dent in the deficit by morning
or the meat wagon will come for her.
.
the sound of clicking heels will haunt her all night.
Categories: Vols2022