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
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 alarmsthat 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 missouriand at one time extended over 200 miles across the states of tennessee, alabama, and georgianow is a mere 16 miles long….most Read more
Need I say more?Can’t say much!.Looks like storms all day on the rock..Brandy Davis topped monteagle and dropped.Terrie, Erin, and James were still moving.Rain on course only from jasper on right now.So the ones coming thru tracy city and across the Cumberland plateau only have their existing problems to deal with.
the parade is in full swing.27 people finished during day 8,and 16 more joined them during the first 12 hours of day 9..32 runners are still out there on the course,striving to answer the call of the rock..and at the rock,this is an exhausting timebut so rewarding..the innocent faces on the ferryhave been replaced by the glowing facesof people who have done things they never dreamed they could do..we have a scattering of battered thrownsthat Read more