Construction

two days to go..the most amusing comment i have seen was several days ago,after addison finished in first place.essentially it said;“75 miles a day,that isnt so hard.you just have to walk 15 minute miles….with lots of time left over to rest”.this has been the kind of calculation that prospective vol staters have brought with them for decades….only to have the careful math turn to ashesand blow away in the wind..time and space are indeed related.but Read more

seven and a half days are done.the first place i look now is the back..we have 6 vol staters who have fallen 4 miles behind oprah.this is a problem for them.they need 16 miles tonight to reach the hard cutoff of the 55/41 intersection in manchester..these are hard times at race HQ.we know they need more than that to put themselves in reach of finishing.and we have come to really be pulling for them..part of Read more

the lives of the race staff and the vol staters have converged.everything is noticeably compressing every 12 hours.the tail end of the packmoved to shelbyville last night….this morning found hal fuqua struggling back at wheel.and the meat wagon is searching for him to execute an extraction.the morning sun struck the remaining walkerslike so many strips of bacon on a frying pan..familiarity does not make it any less unpleasant.another day of sweltering heat for most of Read more

veronica johnson is out.we dont know why…..she was at mile 216.she needed 2 miles in 12 hours to stay ahead of the cutoff.probably 8 or 9 to reach a place to hole up..but everyone out there is stretched to the limit.physically exhausted, sleep deprived,hungry, thirsty….hurt.and still so far away from the rock.sometimes the voices in your head(which have been trying to convince you to quit for a week)drown out the call of the rock..veronica had Read more

i know this report is early.but there is no way something more interesting happens before morning…..the chris clemens and henry lupton battle has taken a turn..chris left the clarion without sleeping and seized a big lead over henry.henry took time to sleep,.it remains to be seen which strategy will pay off..because right now chris and henry are wandering the back roads of northeast alabamain a test to see which can find their way to the Read more

michael carson and matt barker ended their suffering in under 5 and 1/2 days.our long ordeal is just beginning,as we are here hoping to catch a little sleep.chris clemons has picked up his trackerhenry lupton is only 3 miles behind….the slow motion battle between the two seasoned veterans will continue to the very end..there is an 8 mile gap between them and a trio of runners,and behind those three there is just a continual stream Read more

so the time is beginning when updates are even more dependent on where the runners are.updates have to wait on runners finishingthey come after transportand food.and they are far behind sleep(which will be something that we have less and less time for)updates will even have to wait for showers(if and when there is a chance for another).christine tokarz made her way to the rock in the wee hours.she reached kimball in the darktook a short Read more

the vol state belongs to the grinders. not the fastest or the strongest, but the ones who relentlessly plug along. . 4 and 1/2 days in everyone is hurt. it isnt the thoughts of quitting that plagues all the first time vol staters out there. it is the thought that they cannot finish. the finish is unimaginably far away. . they are headed into the 5th consecutive night on the road. exhausted sunburned living off Read more