HOTS UPDATE 84 HOURS: three and a half days out here, and you can give your therapist advice
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the team of zemach and wheatley have taken control
(for the time being)
265 miles out, they have passed santa fe and are on the homestretch to colombia!
addison hendricks’ charge last night petered out during the long hot day
and now he heads into the night 18 miles behind.
past bon aqua and heading into a fairly flat,
if desolate
crossing of the northwest corner of the highland rim plateau.
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kyle dudley really put together a nice run thru the hell section,
has left dickson, crossed I-40 and is coming up on bon aqua.
hendricks is only 5 miles up on kyle.
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i saw a classic video of kyle in dickson,
confused about his directions
and walking up and down the same 50 yards of road before finally figuring out his map.
(i hope it got posted)
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running across the terrain is so different than driving across it in a car.
this year’s hots has featured so many different landscapes,
each one formed by different processes
and each with its own unique feel.
after the violent climbs and descents of the hell section
the runners emerge on the other side of dickson onto the highland rim plateau.
long gentle grades
with an overall downhill as they make their way towards the drop into columbia situated on the duck river down in the nashville basin.
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they do get a special treat along the way,
cutting off the main road at fly
dropping down into an arm of the basin to hit a store in santa fe
before climbing back up on the rim for a few more miles before the final descent into columbia.
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the hotties have not just seen the country they cover
they have felt it
they have experienced it.
they know where the high ground is
and the low.
they know that every downhill leads to an uphill
and every river crossing signals reaching a low point
from which every foot they climb to get out has to be earned.
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you can drive a road a thousand times
and not know it as well as the runner who traverses it once on foot.
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a couple more threads to tie up before closing out this report;
the day was not all sunshine.
the humidity from all the rain this week made the air heavy and oppressive all day
the temperature might as well have been 10 degrees or more higher.
it also perked up some spot showers in the afternoon…
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depending on the state of their feet
the runners either found those refreshing
or a further torment…
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and some never even knew they happened!
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meanwhile, a band of rain has been taking shape this afternoon,
extending from houston to st louis,
and right now it is heading east.
there are still a lot of gaps,
and we dont have any way to know if it will gain strength or dissipate.
but there are already some pretty violent pockets of heavy weather.
this will bear watching overnight.
by morning we ought to know what kind of day we are in for!
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and lastly,
the duel with the death angel…
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derek murphy has made up all but two of the miles he has to get before morning.
if he has a good night section he can return from the brink…
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derek needs everything to work tonight,
michael pichan also has the pressure on him now.
he has slipped back within a mile of the cutoff.
for michael and derek the next 12 hours are a fight to stay in the game….
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this fight is theirs to fight alone
all we can do is send positive thoughts.
Categories: HOTS 2025