HOTS UPDATE 72 HOURS: the tools we have today!
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the sun rose on a bedraggled field of hotties.
but for the first time since the race began it was not raining on anyone!
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the tattered remnants of the system that has been tormenting them is drifting off to the northeast.
another major rain event has formed out in oklahoma,
but it seems to be dropping down into texas instead of barreling across arkansas to slam into the hotties….
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lets hope it continues that way.
texas deserves it and we dont!
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the ability to monitor the weather
before it even happens
is just one of the incredible changes we have seen in the last annuals
since the first vol state back in 1980.
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electronic maps have replaced the sheaf of county maps
that runners used to discard one by one
every time they left a county behind.
the more technically skilled runners even have their phone or watch beep at them if they stray off course…
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quite a difference from the days when you recognized something had gone wrong when you came to a city that was not on the course!
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the 12 hour updates tell you where everyone is,
and how they are doing.
rather than relying on asking store clerks if they saw someone else that
“looks like me”
over the past couple of days.;
or relying on the rumours that somehow circulated up and down the road.
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but nowhere is the change easier to see than in that nomadic camp that is moving down the road with the hotties
picking up the discards and shuttling them back to their vehicles.
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i stay near the front,
eventually settling in at the rock when the finishes begin.
jan hovers around the back,
where most of the drop action takes place.
she has a van to transport batches of runners up to be stored in motels until we have a load to carry back to the rock.
and carl generally takes the middle.
he has the passenger van
which can carry large loads when necessary…
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for us in the staff,
the race is planned through the first night.
we know where we are going
(and when)
and where we will stay.
we can even plan our meals!
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when we wake up the second morning,
it all has to be planned on the fly.
and for this we have a text group;
co-ordinating the collection, storage, and transport of fallen runners.
over the years we have developed a good team.
sharing information about the situations that dont show up on the tracker report.
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in making plans on the fly it is as important to anticipate what is coming
as it is to know what has already happened.
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accumulating the runners into groups works far better than running up and down the road picking them up one at a time!
already after three days the field has strung out over 130 miles of road.
that distance will extend to over 200 miles over the next few days,
(maybe even further given the length of the race.)
not starting to shrink until the first one reaches the rock.
i dont think we could pull off this complex,
evolving on the fly,
dance
without the cell phones.
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sometimes we oldtimers might decry the changes in the last annual races over the past 45 years…
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but i dont think the races we have today would be possible
without all the technological advances.
.
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we had a lead change overnight.
james only covered another 5 miles and stopped somewhere past cunningham.
(we are racking our brains trying to figure out where he holed up)
james is one of those runners we are keeping an eye on.
you can tell from the way he is moving that his feet are a mess.
after three days of constant wet,
there are a lot of runners struggling with bad feet.
only the seasoned pros can keep their feet out of trouble in conditions like this.
and even the best foot care artists find these conditions challenging…
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suffocating heat is easier to deal with.
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wheatley and zemach went thru the night together
and are approaching dickson and the end of the rollercoaster from hell.
hendricks closed by a couple of miles during the night,
but he is just past charlotte,
with another 6 miles of of stomach churning climbs and descents still to go.
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behind the leaders the body of the field is fast closing on the hell section.
i anticipate that there are going to be a lot of choice words about the course design today.
and we have a room in dickson already for tonight….
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the drive to retrieve the ones who surrender between here and clarksville will be shorter
(and there is a shortcut to return them to the rock from here)
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the back of the pack is still days away from here.
shenoa has bailed,
and derek was the only one to ride the first ferry this morning.
for him the clock is ticking.
we have to watch the runners at the back closely.
as slow as they seem to be moving,
the distances covered increase quickly.
it doesnt take any time for a runner who stops to be 50 miles or more behind the back of the pack.
before you know it, it can be a 100 mile round trip to retrieve someone.
and the staff is already going to be driving thousands of miles this week.
every part of the hots is a feat of endurance!
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i have been stashed in dickson to make more room in the van for bringing a load up to meet carl for the return trip.
after i post this i think i will walk back up the course a ways
and maybe i will see some of the runners passing through…
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it would be fun to hear their thoughts about the last section.
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the halfway mark is just short of where i am stationed.
just in case anyone thinks they have been put through the wringer already,
there are so many surprises ahead.
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the best is yet to come!