what a relief it had to be when we finally set the hotsers out beside the road,
and they could begin the long trek to the rock.
.
the excitement of the 400 crowd was palpable
as they clambered up the grassy knoll and started across the bill emerson bridge over the miss’ippi.
and it was a pretty grand sight,
as they began stringing out even as we drove past them to ferry the 350 runners to the tunnel hill trail parking to start their own journey.
.
it looked like the 400 had over half the starting field,
which is something we wont know for sure until the 1930 check in.
but we had a similarly festive atmosphere a little over an hour later,
as the 350 field disappeared into the tunnel hill tunnel.
we stayed at the dollar general to watch the 350 runners pass by the 2 mile mark
(and picked up the first drop).
.
both fields benefited from an overcast sky
and relatively “cool” temperatures only in the 80’s.
.
then we drove back to see how the 400’s were doing,
passing ken zemach on the approach to jonesboro followed closely by addison hendricks.
behind them was a long string of runners all the way back to the giant goose near reynoldsville illinois…
.
trailing the pack by a long distance was the runner who would later become the second drop.
.
the line made a dip at ware,
into a produce market operated by the happiest produce stand owner in illinois,
as his morning had been marked by a steady stream of sweaty people wearing packs,
and buying a ton of fruits and cold drinks!
.
as we passed back through the field
we found the second pack just coming into jonesboro,
with zemach already entering anna.
we didnt see addison,
but jonesboro and anna featured many places to buy food and drinks,
so we were sure to miss a lot of people on the way thru.
.
back up to the front,
the 350 runners were beginning their race in the middle of the sparsest services on the course.
we caught up to the tail end of the pack around robb
and found a cluster of runners at the shawnee market in eddeville
sitting under an awning eating and drinking gallons of fluid.
.
starting down eddeville blacktop road the course enters some serious hills
(featuring a number of brutally steep and long downhills
as it began the descent to the ohio river, but plenty of nasty climbs to keep things interesting)
.
at the front we found james turner and crystal wheatley nearing the turn onto bushwhack cutoff road.
.
one of the real brainteasers on the course is the cave-in-rock ferry across the ohio river.
it runs from 0600 to 2200,
but the last boat from illinois to kentucky is supposed to leave at 2140.
the lead pack of the 350 had to decide whether to blast out the 50 miles to the ferry in 14 hours or less
and get across tonight
or pace it out to hit the ferry at 0600 in the morning.
.
if they succeed in reaching before it closes tonight,
they will reach kentucky after everything is closed until friday morning.
if they fail,
they would be stuck on this side of the river,
with nowhere to sleep except on the ground until friday morning….
.
not a lot of winning choices,
and a risky proposition considering the final 8 miles of rollercoaster hills on tower rock road to reach the ferry.
.
at least 5 of the 350’s seem to be attempting a thursday night crossing.
i dont know whether they will be better off to make it
or to not make it!
.
for the 400 milers,
the ferry is 100 miles in.
so nobody is getting there in 17 hours.
but i am sure they are all trying to manage their race to arrive when it is running!
.
and they have no good choice except to get there before the last saturday run.
we are allowing anyone who rides the first sunday ferry to stay in the race…
.
temporarily.
they will be about 5 miles behind the cutoff,
and it has to be made up by monday morning.
.
so the hots runners not only have to deal with heat and humidity
(and you can cut out blocks of air today)
but they have to play math games with their pace
in order to optimize the ferry.
.
that seems way too easy.
but luckily rain is forecast for tonight
and thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon….
.
god, they are having too much fun!