the sun has set again

the sun has set again after a very active day. . for the runners out on the road it is day two that really begins to define their path forward. . up front, it is the path to victory that is being defined. bev and jim really have control over the race with a third of the distance in the bank. they are at 136, looking at their 12 hour splits of 58/47/31 it is Read more…

the first night is always exciting

in an anticipatory kind of way. . who will make a big move who will go to earth who will crumble and be hauled off in the meat wagon… . how will the race take shape? . bev and james stamped their names on the lead last night. surging thru the darkness with the mountains of blue ridge escarpment looming dark shadows over their heads. . their feet treading in the footsteps of the cherokee Read more…

the onset of real

for some of the runners things got real by the time we saw them at 20 miles. . for a lot of the runners things got real by the time the sun was setting. . for the majority of the runners things will be real by morning. . for all of the runners even the strongest things will be real by tomorrow afternoon. . real? . what is this real. . real is when there Read more…

and they are off

and they are off! . it was a festive group of 76 (yes, we lost one more between the bus ride and the start) that gathered at the base of the giant peach. . photos were snapped small talk indulged. lots of nervous laughter bushes were watered and only a few using a last opportunity to take a load off their feet. . but no one really knows what to do with this last 15 Read more…

at last the month of fear is over.

at last the month of fear is over. the time of wondering has come to an end and the days of wandering are about to begin. . the 77 brave souls who boarded the buses to nowhere are now left with their 77 restless minds tossing and turning in their beds and thinking of the incomprehensible miles that passed by outside the bus windows today. there were hills. lots of hills. good shoulders bad shoulders Read more…

what i did on my summer vacation

everyone kept telling me before i started; “take lots of pictures of oregon…. it is so pretty and green!” well, i did not get lots of pictures of oregon. like everything else on my journey, the image of the green strip of west oregon is burned into my memory. but green is not what i think of when i think of oregon. oregon, to me, will always be the great sandy desert. 130 miles, from Read more…