8 day update

vole stare toad race
8 day update
.
everything can be stated in numbers.
day 7.5 update did not happen.
during that time period we were hit by rain events 6 and 7 since we came up here monday at 0200 for the first finisher.
3 of those were full blown storms
and the day 7.5 storm was a doozy.
incredibly the mortally wounded big tent still stands.
but everything is wet.
there was not enough of a dry place to get out the laptop until this morning.
.
as i sit here wearing a damp shirt, a damp jacket, and damp levis
(fully wet shoes and socks) had to add my last item of dry clothing to make it thru the night,
a flannel shirt.
the temperature plunged to 71 degrees
and this place felt like an icebox.
happy minute is not far off.
when the first rays of sunlight pierce this dense fog it will be warm for a minute before this place turns into an inferno again.
.
the runners have had to do some difficult math last night.
once the rain was done the temperatures were cool
(humidity still nearly total, but temperatures livable)
it was the time to run,
before todays devastating heat cooks up.
only a fool would waste the few hours of livable temperatures.
the problem is,
everyone in a position to strike out into the home stretch had been thru an extended stretch of debilitating effort to get there.
the choice was brutal:
attack no hope road and sand mountain utterly exhausted and unable to focus their eyes from lack of sleep
(outcome potentially catastrophic)
or get a few hours of sleep
and attack no hope road and sand mountain with a physical possibility of finishing
but in a blast furnace with a heat index in the 110 to 120 degree range.
(outcome potentially catastrophic)
it is a math problem with a circular calculation for an answer.
both answers are wrong.
the only people facing a grimmer day today are the ones who have to cross the highland rim plateau on a totally exposed road with the same kind of heat
(outcome definitely catastrophic)
and climb a mountain just to face the same decision tomorrow night.