OUCH! just got in. 201. 35 that stretch. Last 6 were the hardest, hottest miles I’ve ever put down. It took forever- Josh Holmes.

From: lazarus lake
Date: July 19, 2011 9:38:46 AM CDT
To: ,
Subject: so easy from an office chair; vol-state 14

it is so easy, looking at the mike-map
to think the whole thing is done at halfway.

ask a runner (any of them)
if they are almost sorry that it is about over….

and you will draw an incredulous stare.

even at 200 miles, the finish is an unimaginable distance away.

and it is so easy to ride about in my car
(i swear, i am tired… but i DONT HURT!)
or to sit in our office chairs
and watch the little flags march across the map.

out there it is real the whole time. very, very real.

and nothing is cerain.
the race is not almost over.
until you reach the cornfields at castle rock.

standings after 5 days:

1) don is at 278, around tracy city.
he has his 20 mile lead. but the heat is on.
he hopes to finish sometime tonight.

2) mike is at 258, somewhere around hillsboro.
can he mount a final charge in a heat advisory…
with two major hills to climb
(along with the most feared feature on the course,
the hellish descent into jasper)?

3)abi is past shelbyville at 227
4) sherrie is coming into shelbyville at 223
5) naresh is hot on sherrie’s heels at 222
6) joe is hovering behind the herd at 215…
like a wolf, waiting to pick off the old and weak.

7) sal is at 202… waiting for his wife to pick him up.
he has reached the end of the endless road.

8) josh is at 195, just past mooresville.
his nightmare continues.

9) john is in glendale at 184…
at the “bench of despair”
he, like so many vol-staters before him,
has come there to contemplate dropping.

10 & 11) the lovely & indefatiguable lynnor & erika at 180
are just leaving columbia.

12) fred murolo is at 179 in columbia, and moving
13) paul is stationary at 179, in columbia, and resting

14) fred davis is at 177, the columbia square.
and he is done.
ride arrangements are incomplete…

there is a reality check for you.
if fred is down, no one is safe.

15) stu is at 157, past the natchez trace & “celebrating” the halfway point.

16) we have a report of diane at 152. she was staying at a place around 158…
(the ridgetop inn; I would never climb the hill to that place at the end of a day)
and she always makes it to her indoor plumbing & bed with a mattress.
so i believe her to be at 158.

two more gone
and the heat has only just begun.

the battle of the vol-state:

they got on the ferry & they rode it to kentucky,
they were headed for a battle in the state of tennessee.

there was heat and pain a waiting, but they didnt waver
they were bound to make their way; to the castle rock, you see.
the sun went down and the runners kept a comin
there wasnt near as many as there was the morn before.

they ran thru the bottoms and they ran over ridges
they ran thru dry stretches where a camel wouldnt go.
the sun came up and the runners kept a comin’
there wasnt quite as many as there was the night before.

they ran so far that stray dogs couldnt follow
down the endless blacktop to the slopes of never more.
the sun went down and the runners kept a comin
there wasnt near as many as there was the morn before

they left their homes & they left their loved ones
to fight a hopeless battle in the state of tennessee.
but those who reached the rock down in georgia
found the prettiest sight that they would ever see…

the finish.

laz

Subject: RE: forgot the drop

Yep- absolutely amateur hour out there. Pepper spraying myself. 5 miles off course.
You know the movie “Misery” with Kathy Bates? I would much rather have that block of wood between my ankles than continue down those TN back roads.
Yep- definitely an amateur.
-Shannon Burke (THE corydon candy arse that is currently looking to move as far away from lazarus lake and his races as possible.
Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless

Today the heat increases to several warnings at at 8am, already 99% humidity.  Runners are going to have to take extreme care and get as many miles in under the cover of night as possible.

From: lazarus lake <drystoneman@hotmail.com>

Date: July 18, 2011 8:56:17 PM CDT

To: <ultra@listserv.dartmouth.edu>, <volstate@irun100s.com>

Subject: the heat is on vol-state 13

those mild temperatures are about used up.

today was the first day the heat returned.

i pointed out to the runners who were willing to listen

that the road temperatures were over 140.

Heat Warnings Vol State 2011

most of them didnt want to hear it.

tomorrow is projected to bring on our first heat advisory since the start.

the runners ought to weather it pretty well.

everyone left seems to be pretty well road-hardened at this point.

everyone is hurt, in one way or another.

everyone fervently wants it to be over.

no one is showing signs of quitting.

status after 4 days & 12 hours:

1) don winkley-246 in manchester & moving

2) mike matteson-last seen in shelbyville at 223 early this afternoon.

if he is still there, don is in good shape.

every mile he is past that narrows don’s lead….

i’d give a lot to know just where he is right now

and just what he is doing!

(i bet don would, too)

3,4,5) sherry meador, joe judd, and abi meadows all in lewisburg at 202,

sleeping in the same motel. they all arrived within an hour.

after 200+ miles, who can sleep the least means everything.

6,7) sal coll & naresh kumar 199, in the edge of lewisburg.

will they hit the motel, or will they jump over the sleepyheads?

8) john price- 169 at the site of the famous watermelon incident

Day 6 Vol State Map

9) josh holmes-166 but gone to earth

10) paul lefelhocz-164 just past hampton

11) fred davis-163-at the top of a big hill, he can see 12, 13, and 14 strung out behind him,

in order they are:

fred murolo, lynnor matheny, erika matheny

they are all in mile 163

15) diane taylor-around the natchez trace at 154

16) stu gleman-short of natchez trace at 152, and resting

lots of close races after 4 and a half days.

it isnt just the temperatures that are fixing to heat up.

laz

Josh Holmes Location 8am July 19, 2011:

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