HOTS UPDATE 60 HOURS: the long, wet line goes on

HOTS UPDATE 60 HOURS: the long, wet line goes on
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during the third day the eye of the weather pattern that has defined hots 2025 continued to move east,
finally the heavy rains coming from the south moved off of the hotties.
this did not mean the end of the rain.
the clouds cycling back down on the backside still had water in them.
but the rain was more sporadic,
and the intensity was diminished.
.
unfortunately for the road warriors,
this was still enough to keep feet wet.
and two and a half days of continuous wetness
challenged the best foot care…
.
to make a long story short
every foot still on the road was in danger of coming apart…
.
or already had!
.
driving through the field to retrieve casualties
we saw a lot of mincing, painful strides.
but the field continues to amaze with their perseverance.
93 of the 108 starters were still on the course.
.
shenoa succumbed to the inevitable during the afternoon
michael pichan and mary hosbrough managed to make the last ferry from cave-in-rock.
leaving derek murphy as a dead man walking,
still in illinois until morning….
.
it is no longer a matter of if,
but when for derek.
for all intents and purposes we are down to 92.
.
at the front james turner is still in the lead.
he only managed 23 miles during the last 12 hours,
battling thru the endless stretch from hopkinsville to clarksville,
through the beautiful downtown of clarksville
before dropping down to follow the cumberland river to the gg mclure bridge.
he reached cunningham by checkin,
unfortunately about to start a 24 mile stretch of continuous steep and long hills.
for the runners who had been shocked by the difficulty of hillinois,
the clarksville to dickson section was going to eclipse anything they have seen so far.
.
crystal wheatley and ken zemach stayed together all day,
garnering an excellent 28 miles
to reduce the hobbling turner’s lead to only 6 miles
and were just exiting clarksville on the approach to the hillpocalypse.
it was not going to be a pleasant surprise!
.
addison hendricks had the best day of anyone,
logging 32 miles to move within 8 miles of zemach and wheatley.
but he still has to negotiate the world’s longest strip mall on the way into clarksville
plus the downtown segment and the riverfront.
and that is just to reach the approach to hillpocalypse!
.
it will be interesting to see what transpires during the third night of the race.
but it is worth noting that only turner has passed the halfway mark.
we have a lot of action yet to come.