twas the night before vol state and all thru the motel not a runner was stirring… .except one sitting outside his room watching ‘america’s got talent’ on his phone. . what do you say the night before the race begins? what do you think if you are sitting on your bed looking at the 3 pounds of carefully selected possessions that will define your world for the next…. . the newbies have expectations that will Read more…
the journey really starts tomorrow, . i will be up before the sun, heading high into the north georgia mountains to a parking lot cut into a cornfield on a remote mountaintop. . there i will meet a hundred hopeful runners. a few are elite multi-day athletes but most are just ordinary people. ordinary people with ordinary jobs and ordinary lives… . who hunger for the chance to do something extraordinary. . and there, out Read more…
screwed . it is that time of the year again, when the tiresome discussion over what constitutes running “screwed” in the vol state begins. . of course, there are no divisions kept in the results and even tho there seems to be a predictable call for us to parse rules (so that loopholes can be searched for) i will hold that the rules should be very simple: . running screwed is running as if you Read more…
Just a note to the HOTS enthusiasts…. Carl and I have thrashed out the 2022 course, and it is a thing of beauty. historic sites and sights, unique geological features, breathtaking scenery, small towns, soon to be discovered angels, lots of wide shoulders, and (as always) a few surprises. We believe you are going to absolutely love this 324 mile cakewalk. Possibly we will make some slight adjustments between now and race day (just in Read more…
silence on the rock. . all is quiet in the little clearing in the woods. the tents are gone the campfire is out. no sound of laughter no stories being told. . the footprints in the corn are filling with sand, and the parking lot is empty. . the last checkin has been made the winners are heading for home. and the losers too . 10 days packed with living are over. . but not Read more…
12 hours to go. 5 runners left. . 0ver the long night ahead 5 weary warriors soldier on. everyone is now ahead of the reaper. . the last 4 are barely ahead, but they have done what had to be done over the past 12 hours, as they have been doing it for nine and a half days. . the end is so close. only 12 more hours of forging on. regardless of what their Read more…
here we are. 24 hours to go. . all the remaining runners are in the home stretch. we still have a little time before the next one arrives at the finish, but after that they should be coming in the rest of the day. . after all of us got a pretty good sleep break last night, the mood around the rock is good. it isnt like we are back to normal, but you dont Read more…
possible incoherence here. it has been so long since i actually laid down and slept that i am not sure what day it was. . things are into the final 36 hours and the last races are crystalizing. . dan chapman is the next runner on the road right now. (there was enough of a gap between him and the previous finishers that we actually got to come down off the rock and eat a Read more…