HOTS UPDATE HOUR 240.we are smoldering like last night’s campfire..there are only 8 hotties still on course,and after the insanity of last night and this morningit is quiet here on the rock..there is plenty if time for these last survivors to make it home,but nothing is guaranteed.they face the same merciless hills as all who went before them..my laptop is like the race staff.running on the last dregs of batteryand badly in need of recharging….but Read more…
HOTS UPDATE 216 HOURS the pace quickens.9 days are done,a day and a half remains.31 runners have stood on the rock35 are trying to get there!.this amounts to a finisher per hour….we hope!.there is a virtual train of runners on the home stretch between the clarion and the rock..at the back all but 8 runners have summited sewanee,and are headed onward..last night was a wild one,with a lot of runners going thru the crack at Read more…
HOTS UPDATE: 204 HOURS: respect.sorry for the delayed report.we have been following the progress of incoming runnersand affording the finishers their moment atop the thrown..after 8 and a half days 19 had finishedand 45 were still on the road….since then we have had 4 more come in,and there is a veritable parade following them..back at the back derek murphy finally fell.and to my surprise kim drake also..kim atkins is now the closest to the reaper.she Read more…
HOTS UPDATE 192 HOURS i told you the worst was yet to come.we finally saw some night time finishes at the rock.the first one wasnt a confidence booster.from the rock we could watch kim’s light dance down the log road and disappear into the woods..giving her some time to climb the treacherous trailwe went to look off the rock and taunt her tiny figurewhen it appeared at the base of the cliff..we waited, and waited, Read more…
HOTS UPDATE 180 HOURS: more updates might not happen.it has begun.one at the finishone at the bryant marketone on hogjaw ridge….and another picks up a tracker and leaves the clarion..by the time we give the finisher their time on the thrownand get them back to the hotelthe one from the market is on the crackthe one from hogjaw ridge is approaching the bryant marketthe new one from the clarion is starting up hogjaw ridge.and another Read more…
HOTS UPDATE 168 HOURS: day 8 begins.this is how a day should begin:where am i?oh, yeah, the clarion.whats the weather?oh yes, rain. the default setting!is anyone on the way to the rock?one, still a couple of hours till we have to go.have they started checking in?not yet.where are our people?two of us in kimball, one in bell buckle,one in lewisburg.have the checkins started?only a couple. probably checked in before a sleep break.how many drops?a list Read more…
HOTS UPDATE 156 HOURS: running on fumes.with the leaders in,and on the approach to a week on the road,the race is entering a new phase….exhaustion..the runners are shambling shadows;footsore, sleep deprived, malnourished.they have to reach deeper and deeper to find the motivation to go on.for the ones still with triple digit distances to go,the finish seems more distant than when they first stepped off the bus..the staff has entered a new phase with the onset Read more…
HOTS UPDATE 144 HOURS: oh my god!.that was the first thing we heard from the two leaders.we couldnt see them for the tree cover…..after picking up their trackers at the clarionthe hotties face their biggest challenge of the race in the home stretch.they run to south pittsburgand cross the blue bridge.then they turn off to go climb over hog jaw ridgebefore finally climbing sand mountain to bryant alabama.then they run back down sand mountain…there,after 398 Read more…