HOTS update…. 168 hours
.
in just a little while we will pass the one week mark.
it was a wild night up here on the rock.
we actually had an hour or so when the rain stopped
took the opportunity to get my car unstuck (carl)
and back to the campsite.
.
it was a must have since a lot of the race supplies are in it.
4 more runners came in
(all in the rain)
giving us 13 finished to go with 15 drops (that we know of)
.
3 more;
brian purcell, tim purol, and stephanie miller left kimball as soon as we got what passes for daylight
they are making their final charge on sand mountain,
where it has been pouring rain for a couple of hours now.
amazingly no one has yet gone down in the home stretch,
where the footing is almost as treacherous for runners as it is for vehicles.
carl managed to get out with last night’s finishers.
not sure when he will take the risk of coming back out.
.
so i am just sitting here in the car with the heater set on 80
waiting on word from the trackers that someone is close
(and hoping the rain will let up some by then)
.
watching for the check ins to come in.
most of the ones so far did not get a lot of miles during the night.
it has to have been terrible for the people with nowhere to take shelter.
amazingly the ones who finished last night were all in very good spirits.
or maybe it should not have been surprising.
for them the endless downpour was over.
.
so 28 runners have finished or dropped.
3 more are on their final push.
.
this leaves 51 runners facing an 8th day on the road.
the weather is calling for one more day of this
and then an instant return to early summer with temperatures getting up around 90 for the final 3 days.
the humidity will be horrendous.
.
we will take another look after the check ins are all in to see what the survivors face here in the home stretch.
you know that no one wants to fail now
after all they have been through!

Categories: HOTS