emerged ready to strike back against the course.
.
for the first time in a couple of days
everyone still in the race was ahead of the grim reaper!
heading into the 5th night….
.
in the morning they will complete their 5th day on the road.
at this point the real world is a dim memory.
their world is sore feet and sleep deprivation,
missed closing times that mean hungry nights…
.
and an endless white line.
.
carson moved back into the lead in the 400 today,
with hendricks dropping all the way to third.
tokarz continued to dog carson,
and moved into second.
carson and tokarz have been following the traditional strategy
taking short sleep breaks when it seemed the opportune time.
hendricks has been taking longer,
but less frequent,
sleep breaks.
which causes the standings to yo yo up and down.
.
sometime over the next couple of days
they will be measuring the distance to go
and trying to position themselves to take the first last sleep break
and set up a decisive move to the finish
being the first to make a break for the finish is a significant advantage…
.
it would sure be easier if they knew what each others plans were!
.
philip seems to have the 350 well in hand.
his lead is now equal to almost half the distance he has left.
a delayed bus in the middle of the night was the only break he needed.
crystal is back and moving well.
she made up a lot of ground today,
but she needs the course to throw some surprises at philip…
.
but surely there can be no more surprises on this course…
.
can there?
.
jeff leuwerke is in line to easily make through the marta challenge tonight.
jeff stafford (who has been having an outstanding race) is on the bubble.
he can probably get there before it shuts down for the night…
.
but will he end up stranded in the middle of atlanta when it closes down?
.
it is a funny thing about the way this course is laid out.
there are no places to stay for a long stretch before marta.
heading into that stretch is committing yourself to get thru it.
and there is a good place to stop right after you finish marta…
.
but if you get hung up in the middle
like a baserunner in baseball caught between bases
it is going to be a tough night!
one more crucial decision when you pass that last stopping place…
.
journey running is a thinking man’s game.
.
and speaking of thinking
we heard from some concerned athletes today…
.
i mis-typed
the cutoff to be on marta is 0730 thursday,
not wednesday.
Categories: HOTS 2026