It took us 10 hours and 15 minutes to drive the vol state course today. The screwed runners meet at the finish line, leave their cars, and we load into buses and vans for the long haul across the state to Union City and The Last Supper. We stop for a couple pee breaks, and lunch catered at The Bench of Despair.
300 miles is just a really, really long way…
“Ditch” as we’re calling him, managed to high center his vehicle on the edge of a an irrigation channel at the edge of the parking lot at The Rock. To his credit, he left it and made sure his butt was on the bus before 0700.
A hundred runners all made sure to empty their bladders and start their fried convenience store diet “cleanses” for the week at our first stop, in Manchester.
Lunch at The Bench of Despair was a bit hectic, as the new management and staff were “broken in” by 100+ hungry folks showing up at the tiny Glendale Market.
Slowed by so many extra bladders needing emptied and filled, we arrived in Union City an hour later than usual….allowed almost no time to check in and clean up before The Last Supper.
Some “mechanical issues” caused a handful of rooms to be unavailable at our hotel. Runners were resilient and understanding….everyone ended up with a bed, although a few had to wait several hours, til after dinner to finally get into a room in a different hotel and shower and rest. I have to remember to go by and get them on the way to The Ferry tomorrow!
The Last Supper….truly a spectacle this year. Well over 100 vol staters, friends and crews crammed into half of a large restaurant. Lots of chatter and excitement. I think the race briefing was the best in recent memory (but I am biased). We have a great group of tough runners who are well prepared to go out and do a mighty thing.
But, so far, all they’ve done is get themselves (close) to the start.
at around 0730 tomorrow, we will be under way.