96 hr update
(6.5 days to go)
Digging deep.
Over and over,
these runners have felt their lower lip quiver.
Over and over,
they have let the tears flow.
and yet, over and over,
they have taken another step.
Well past 100 (or 200!) miles,
everyone is hurt.
After 4 days on the road,
there is not a place left on their body that is comfortable.
They are at rock bottom.
But when you are at rock bottom,
there is good news.
It is unlikely to get worse!
Much of the field is finally
entering “civilization” again.
The kinds of places they are used to running in…
where they can get ice,
….and they can get more on down the road, before their last bag has melted!
The path can be lonely,
you can forget that anyone exists who cares about you.
But many of them are bunched closer together.
They may find emotional support in seeing the other participants.
The last of the runners will pass by the capitol today.
They’ll remember being there just 5 days ago.
(or was it 5 months?)
Reaching Montgomery, after having crossed Florida from the Gulf,
is the next significant milestone,
and it is incredibly impressive.
Great feats of the feet
require digging deep.
Jim appears to have settled in, grabbing back a couple of miles,
but there is no doubt that Addison and John are ready
to seize the day if Jim falters.
Someone in the meatwagon yesterday asked,
“Has anyone bothered to tell Dipak and Meghan that this race is hard?
Because so far they haven’t let on that they know!”
That really goes for much of the middle of the pack.
These people are just, flat out,
getting the job done.
They signed up,
and by God they are doing the work!
Digging deep is a frame of mind,
knowing that there is more in your tank,
even when it seems impossible.
We have all seen athletes overcome incredible obstacles…
On the surface it seems like they should have been beaten.
But underneath, if we could see inside their minds,
they are refusing to give in,
willing success.
Sometimes the obstacles are too great,
but for the HOTS runners still plugging away,
that time has not yet come.
They will keep digging deep.