5 days down, 5 days to go. The early morning saw the podium filled out King Grant Rhoda Andrea Brian and Alan nipped a severely struggling Regina To round out the sub-5 finishes. Rich Flint pushed all day and night, but came up 19 minutes shy of a sub-5, but had the consolation of a sub-5 in a prior year. Then JT Hardy and Doug Long finished their 160 mile companionship with stellar 5:01:xx finishes. Read more
Alan Abbs (screwed) was resting in the community aid station at Pin Oak Elementary, about mile 100. They had a less hot place for the runners to lay down under an awning… Andrea Kooiman walked in and started attending to her needs, with her crew helping. After a bit, she reached down and picked up a water bottle (Alan’s) and took a big swig. “that’s not cranberry juice!” she exclaimed. “that was my gatorade….that I Read more
After King Grant finished this morning, we saw a 12 hour gap to the next runners. Andrea and Rhoda appeared on a collision course between monteagle and The Rock. Driving back through the field, we saw Andrea maintaining her lead across the plataeu between Tracy City and Jasper…but Rhoda was within 2 miles and appeared to be charging. Both crews assured me, “this is a race!” Driving back to monteagle, we saw Regina struggling with Read more
The three crewed ladies all want that 2nd place spot. Rhoda Smoker started the morning behind the other two, but across the Jasper Plateau she’s charged. Beginning the descent to Jasper, she looked strong and she’s got a quarter mile lead over Andrea K. Regina has been plagued by a bad stomach since last night, and has fallen back, just leaving Tracy City. Trinkle and Abbs are big question marks….driving back thru Monteagle twice, we Read more
july 16 day 68 27 miles total 1,781 can anything top running under a moonless sky far from anywhere? one thing can. sharing the experience with someone who has lived their entire life in the city. imagine getting to share the first sight of the milky way, the big dipper, shooting stars, and the astonishing density of a billion pinpricks of light as a backdrop for the bigger stars. it was one of the biggest Read more
i miss seeing the end-game strategy unfold…. from the podium placers all the way back to oprah! go get ‘em vol staters (especially dale and ben…the pride of short creek) laz Admin: Laz has been too busy to check the latest standings. Dale dropped in Linden / 84 hours.
It seems like we’ve been out here forever. 4 days is a long time to run. But we’ve only just had our first finisher! In the end, King Grant came solidly under the 4 day mark, with a 3:22:02:59, becoming the 5th fastest performer on this course. He said, somehow, this 4 days felt longer than some 6 and 7 day races he’s done. Something about staying up the entire time, with no nap longer Read more
The fourth day began ominously here in Tennessee. Storms were pounding over the front half of the field. The middle and back of the pack were in a steam bath after showers last night. But, as the day wore on, the clouds stayed thick, blocking the sun. The volstate let slip a merciful afternoon for the runners. Grant Maughan charged another 35 miles and despite a few hours of struggle, is smelling the barn. His Read more