the vol state belongs to the grinders.
not the fastest or the strongest,
but the ones who relentlessly plug along.
.
4 and 1/2 days in
everyone is hurt.
it isnt the thoughts of quitting that plagues all the first time vol staters out there.
it is the thought that they cannot finish.
the finish is unimaginably far away.
.
they are headed into the 5th consecutive night on the road.
exhausted
sunburned
living off whatever the road offers
and running on fumes.
.
i dont know if there is really any way to describe it
if you have not been there.
that sense of hopelessness…
.
but you go on anyway.
you know you cannot reach the rock.
but you just wont quit here.
.
day follows night
night follows day
you really arent sure how your legs keep moving.
but your brain sends the command
and they move.
.
landmarks are so far away
but then you reach them
only to have another waiting
somewhere in the distance.
.
and then
one day…
.
maybe after the battering descent into jasper
maybe when you stop at the clarion to get your tracker
it dawns on you…
.
the finish is right there.
.
you are going to make it.
.
oh, there will still be hours of pain and fatigue to endure.
but you will reach the rock.
.
addison asked me tonight;
what is my favorite part of the vol state?
.
that is easy.
it is the faces of the grinders.
the ones who did not quit
when any reasonable person would quit.
the ones who did not believe they could do it
and found that something in themselves
that they never knew was there.
.
it is not something easy to find.
it requires you to reach a depth of despair so deep
a low, lower than you knew was possible.
and then you can call up that something extra
way down deep inside you.
.
that something that keeps going
when going seems impossible.
.
it is in their faces when they reach the rock.
as horrible as the ordeal might have been
the joy is even greater.
they have reached down into the depths of their soul
and found that they were equal to the challenge….
.
they will never be quite the same again.
.
that is what is waiting at the rock.
for some of them it is still 5 and 1/2 days away.
they will not get there tonight.
.
or tomorrow.
.
but the grinders will get there.
because,
when any reasonable person would stop
any sane person would make that call
and get a ride home.
(it would be so easy)
they will not do it.
.
they will just keep putting the back foot in front
until
after three quarters of a million steps
the next one is on the rock
and there is nowhere left to run.
.
at the front,
addison reached the finish tonight
and a new king was crowned up on the rock.
.
his timing was perfect and he went to dinner with us…
.
drank half his beer
ate half his food
and fought hard to keep from face planting in his plate.
.
it was touch and go,
but he did stay upright long enough
for us to take him back to the clarion for a very long sleep.
.
christine was only a few miles from picking up her tracker for the final 16 miles.
the pressure is off.
addison is done,
and matt had collapsed 23 miles back in monteagle.
.
behind them the survivors are still chasing a dream.
all the way back to the 19 who have still not reached halfway
with only 12 hours until the time limit is half expired.
.
among them is terrie wurzbacher,
the patron saint of grinders…
.
she fell.
rumours here at the rock that she might have a broken wrist.
so surely terrie will be the next one out….
.
dont bet on it.