well, it all comes down to this.
the last call in has been made.
the surviving vol staters still on the course have turned off the 12 hour alarms
that have notified them to check in over the past nine and a half days.
.
the line of runners that started with 129 hopefuls at the ferry in missouri
and at one time extended over 200 miles across the states of tennessee, alabama, and georgia
now is a mere 16 miles long…
.
most of that in alabama.
but the most important part in georgia.
the part that ends at the rock.
.
it is impossible to explain to anyone who has not been there.
16 miles sounds like nothing.
an easy medium-long run.
and for the foot warriors still on the road,
that would normally be the case…
.
but there is nothing normal about having already run 300 miles
thru all kinds of weather
and over all kinds of terrain.
.
for these battered bodies
every step exacts a price.
every yard is hard earned.
these are the longest miles they will ever run.
.
83 of the 129 have stood on the rock in victory.
37 have boarded the meat wagon,
for the long, depressing, drive home with no sticker.
.
there are only 9 weary souls left on the road.
barring an unexpected collapse
5 of them should reach the rock sometime tonight.
.
4 of them have entered the final 12 hours exactly on pace for a finish.
chelsea drummond fell back during the day
to join james barry, erin dupey, and terrie wurzbacher…
.
and oprah
.
exactly on pace.
.
only oprah is guaranteed to reach the rock by tomorrow morning.
one second past ten days.
the rest must grit their teeth
and do whatever it takes to make the distance
in one second less than that!.
there are no more cutoffs except the most important one.
the cutoff at the finish line:
10:00:00:00
.
if ten days end with any one of them a single step short of 100 pi miles
their long struggle will end in a long ride home without the prize.
.
and so it all comes down to this:
finish the game,
or all the struggles
all the pain
all the sleep deprivation
all the highs and lows…
.
will all be for nothing but memories.