the hardest thing to do at hotsis to know when to quit..extreme heat is nothing to play around with.but the nature of this game isthat it requires going on when the body is literally begging to quit..so when the heat is like it has been the last few dayswe dont press call-ins to go on,we press them to take refuge in a motelsleep and cool off.if possible get stomach issues sortedand hydration back on track…..this Read more
at last count we had 25 down,and 63 alive.30 of 41 original 400 milers are still going34 of the 48 who started the 350 have hung in there….it can be emotionally challenging to do meat wagon duty,because everyone you talk to is defeated,and you start to think maybe the race is impossible..but doing the sweeps of the course and talking to the live ones,it seems like they are managing it well….and then a couple of Read more
during the night we lost three more!.for the 70 survivors the real world has begun to fade from memory.life consists of the moving search for sustenance…..something to drinksomething to eata place to get out of the heat.and the need to keep moving.. a restaurant that closed early can be a catastrophe.the next place to stop is probably many hours away..getting caught on a long, barren stretch at mid day is devastating..the mind is constantly creating Read more
73 of the 88 who got off the busare still on the road.today was a bloodbath.even tho the highest heat index i saw was only 109..recency bias is surely evident,and maybe timing bias is just as significant.last night the runners hitting the 4 lane after sylvania thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.wide shoulder and low traffic: “woo hoo!”those who hit it today thought it was a slice of hell.no shade, no services: Read more
this morning is the real start of the hots.eyes are blearylegs stiffthe first rays of the sun seem to sear the flesh….the merry band that deboarded the buses is no more.the virgins are now veteransand the veterans remember the whole story….they know what is coming.and what has been so far is barely a foretaste of how hard this will be..the rock seemed far away yesterday….today it has receded beyond even the wildest imagination.no one is Read more
make hay while the sun shines….and cover miles in the moonlight!.for most of the field there really was not much choice but to try and get all they could today… starting from zero the runner has little strategic choice.the cutoffs are stark.40 miles in the first 24 hours or the meat wagon comes for you..as the race goes on,the storyline for each athlete revolves around what they have in the bank.any 12 hour segment with Read more
way off.a little over 4 hours ago the forty one 400 milers were unceremoniously dumped from a tour bus on the side of a highway in south carolina..armed only with a map of a route they have never seen,they have set off to return to their cars,parked in a hayfieldon a remote mountaintop in north georgia.even in the early morningthe humid air settled on them like a hot, wet blanket. .an hour and a half Read more
for 12 months they have wondered..where will they sleep tonight?where will they be unceremoniously dumped beside the road tomorrow?.the heart of the south is about to begin..they know where it finishes.but not where it starts….missouri? kentucky? florida?louisiana? georgia? miss’ippi?west virginia? north carolina? south carolina?arkansas? alabama?.they know one thing.at 0730 (central time) tomorrowtheir cars will be parked in a hayfield 400 miles away….and they will have 11 days and 10 nights to reach them..on footalonewith only Read more