late update this morning.
we were up at the rock at check-in time
as the flori arrived just before the 4 day mark,
and bev came in just after.
.
it was entertaining with bob also on hand for the finish
the interaction of screwed and crewed runners
and the contrasts between the experiences
provided a lot of laughs.
.
one thing that is coming out from just the few debriefings so far
is how different this year has been.
the sheer heat has not been the primary issue
but rather the rain.
.
with several lines of powerful storms hitting the field
and the endless pop-up storms,
the poor screwed runners are really struggling to keep from having continuously wet feet.
.
of course wet feet means blisters
but it isnt like the vol state is customarily blister free anyway.
.
looking ahead to the next finisher,
andy pearson seems to have a solid grip on 5th,
with a 9 mile lead over henry lupton heading to the start of the monteagle mountain climb.
but he had a 19 mile lead only 12 hours ago.
given the different trajectories pearson and lupton give us another chance to see runners having to fight it out on the climb up sand mountain.
this is a very fun prospect for us spectators,
but not nearly as desirable to the runners involved.
(smiley face)
.
of course the runners will soon be getting their revenge.
we have a pretty good break before andy and (hopefully) henry come in close together.
then a couple more who are currently spaced out nicely…
.
then we have 71 runners strung out over 88 miles.
.
yeah.
do the math.
sometime tuesday evening it looks like we will be making a trip to the rock to record a finisher,
and we might not be able to come back down until sunday morning.
.
argh. that is not going to be easy or fun!
.
so we lost the mchenri this morning.
oprah was cackling with delight.
now she has her sights set on my old friend terrie wurzbacher.
.
terrie came in as a long-shot.
she eked out a narrow victory over the high heeled juggernaut a few years ago.
but oprah was favored to get revenge this year.
.
however, terre showed up fit
and early on she was able to build a lead.
the last couple of days that lead has dwindled away.
126 miles in,
she finds herself with oprah breathing down her neck
and whispering trash talk in her ear.
and 16 mile hill is right in front of her,
terrie is up against the wall today.
.
if she can hold on up 16 mile hill and get to hohenwald,
there will be a downhill section to make her job easier…
.
at least for a little while.
then she has to face the steep climbs out of hampshire.
.
oprah has been having a big year so far,
and there are more runners after terrie that are right on the bubble.
right now it is terrie that she is after.
