the vole stare toad race after 24 hours:

the vole stare toad race after 24 hours:
.
the sky is off script.
.
watching the weather radar tracking last night was almost comical.
it would have been easy to think the whole thing was deliberate,
as we watched a line of thunderstorms cross the miss’ippi
and sweep down the vol state course,
with the largest, purplest storm cell tracking exactly down the route of the race.
it was uncanny.
.
but there was a saving grace.
the tail end of the rain was projected to pass the end of the course in about an hour.
that is to say; by midnight….
.
i woke up this morning
to find the sky still filled,
horizon to horizon,
with angry looking clouds.
down south, where most of the field is located
there was nothing but a grey wall of rain.
.
it had to be a tough night on the course.
and sure enough i saw a wistful comment
wishing for 115 heat indices to return.
.
8 hours later,
the rain is still supposed to end in an hour
but what is happening here is more thunderstorms.
.
the first 24 hours saw 7 drops out of 135.
3 more are behind oprah…
.
everyone else is just cold and wet,
and struggling to keep their phones alive.
.
and the axiom;
“its not an adventure if you know what’s going to happen”
is turning out to be less fun in the moment
than it is on a t-shirt.
.
for most of the field,
the race has devolved to a simple struggle to survive.
but there is still a race going on,
and its form is starting to emerge from the mist.
.
kyle malone and michelle leduc have taken up the front positions,
as of the morning checkin they were the only two that had made the big turn east in lexington.
always dangerous addison hendricks is not far behind.
.
adam walker was in parkers crossroads
with a veritable train of runners along the road all the way back to martin.
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and so it is, as day 2 begins
.
we can only wonder what surprises it has in store for the vol staters?