12 hours

reality didnt come knocking,
it kicked down the door.
.
what a lovely ferry ride we had this morning.
it was cool and misty.
the breeze off the water was perfect;
just short of jacket temperature….
.
and then the ferry landed.
.
.
i had left early to scout,
because we knew there were issues from road construction and landslides in hickman.
i was confident we could get a bunch of people on foot thru town.
but we needed to be sure of the bus route…
.
it was a good thing i went early.
the road construction i knew about just narrowed the road to one lane.
but the detour we planned on using had a 20 foot deep, 40 foot wide trench across it.
the other alternate track thru town was buried under a landslide
and apparently the public works assumed everyone would just know how to get around i because there was only a road closed sign, no detours…
.
i knew how,
i followed where i saw other cars going,
and when i saw a sheriffs deputy i stopped and asked him.
(i was on the right track)
then used the basic logic that the river would be downhill.
.
we had an alternate route figured out for the runners,
but the only way to inform them was to rush ahead on the course
and then point them onto the detour with verbal instructions.
it would cut a couple of miles off the course,
but what the hell.
.
this worked perfectly for the first 3 runners.
“we have to detour; climb the stairs and go straight to the courthouse” was simple enough.
those runners soon showed up at the courthouse,
but then no one else came.
.
we waited, and waited, and waited.
it was pretty obvious something had gone wrong.
.
the 4th runner climbed the stairs
then consulted his map to see the course was at the bottom of the hill.
so he turned left and ran back down to the course he had just been turned off of…
.
all the runners behind him followed.
.
after all the runners had been turned onto the detour,
carl went to rubberneck at the landslide.
as soon as he turned on the blocked road
he was met with the sight of 100 runners milling about looking at their phones at the base of the landslide…
.
he said it looked like ants,
after someone wipes away their scent track.
.
needless to say,
most of the field was late getting out of hickman,
and the pack had not spread out much at all.
.
but everyone was on notice….
.
pay attention and dont follow idiots!
.
after the somewhat halting start,
the rest of the morning was nearly perfect.
the issues in hickman caused there to be very little traffic on the road to union city.
the temperatures were amazingly mild,
probably the coolest first day in vol state history…
.
the heat index didnt hit 100 until noon!
.
it did get a little warmer as the afternoon wore on,
but a high of 106 is moderate for this time of year.
i totally couldnt understand the occasional references like;
“the surface of the sun”
from the runners passing thru the stinky bride checkpoint.
.
those runners must live in arctic environments.
.
there isnt much to tell about the race part of this yet.
no one has really stepped up to take charge.
michelle leduc is in the lead having gotten just past gleason,
but 10 people are within 3 miles of her.
.
things will probably get a lot more interesting tonight.
this weather pattern has more than one side.
.
all day long,
the surface moisture has engulfed the runners in a tender embrace of humid heat as it evaporated in the sun.
later tonight we are expecting massive electrical displays
and “pull off the road because you cant see” rain,
as all that moisture returns to the surface
so this can all start again tomorrow!
.
if the skybound humidity is a tooth rattling slap in the face during the day,
the tropical storms are the following backhand that leaves the ears ringing during the night….
.
i hope no one is discouraged to find out today was mild weather for the vol state.
it looks like the good weather will continue at least one more day;
tomorrow’s high is only forecast to reach 105,
altho tomorrow night’s thunderstorms come with a flash flood watch.
.
a lot of the vol staters probably need a little more time to acclimate.
lets hope the good weather holds on for a while longer