please god, let it get hot again it is 0730 and the vol staters have been on the road for two days now. last night was hard. not amazing and wonderful hard. just hard. and we saw some more casualties. . the worst thing for your hopes of finishing seems to be a crew. crewed runners quit at twice the rate of those who are just. abandoned alongside the road. the next biggest killer; the Read more…
36 hour update: vol state they’re all gonna cry . once again the weather dealt the vol staters a big break… . unless they were trying to plan. rather than turning the heat up all afternoon a line of thunderstorms swept thru the field. for the runners that was a hot or miss. some runners got battered; gale force winds and rain in buckets. others got but only a few spattering drops. we got lucky Read more…
vol state 24 hour update quiet desperation you can’t quite say the sun has risen on the most crucial day of the vol state. there is light, but a layer of fog envelops a world where dew point and ambient temperature have switched their normal places. the runners’ world seems to be wrapped in a hot wool blanket. 90 degrees at 0700 is a hell of a start to a day that promises hell. . Read more…
vol state 12-hour update . digging holes . the fascinating thing about a race like the vol state is that no two years are the same. one of the defining features of 2023 may turn out to be the 81 virgins who have been thrown into battle. green troops need to be seasoned with veterans. . passing unnoticed were the bullets dodged today. the fierce thunderstorm that was supposed to hit us on the ferry Read more…
it is the night before the night before and i do not know who is better off. virgins or veterans the virgins stand at the mouth of the beast. they peer into that yawning chasm and do not know what awaits them there. it has become suddenly so imminent. many of their comrades in innocence have blinked. their nerve has broken and they are now at home wondering how their adventure ended so prematurely. but Read more…
i know i am the mean guy; but we want to discourage advertising where the angel stops are… . they are supposed to be a surprise! . i know the old timers know where the longstanding ones are, and some have become a part of the fabric of the race. but it is still better if they are a thrill when the newbies first see them! . do not worry, the vol staters are like Read more…
HOTS update…… 228 hours . character and integrity . there are a lot of things that make an athlete great. everyone knows that talent is important. the willingness to do the preparation intelligence physical toughness mental toughness all of these are necessary to achieve success but none of these things mean anything all the success in the world means nothing without a couple of other attributes…. . character and integrity. . the reason i say Read more…