Day 4 and the runners survived a wild day of rain yesterday! I’ll be updating today’s blog throughout the day so check back for more updates. Send dry and fast thoughts to all the runners! Oh, and I added a couple of Joshua’s tweets/photos to Day 3’s blog. Here are the first 3 Days if you didn’t get a chance to read them:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

And don’t forget, you can always:

-See what Joshua (@bayou) is up to on twitter or search the tag #VS500 on twitter.
-Check out The Last Annual Vol State Road Race page on Facebook.
-Check out the Vol State 2012 Map to see where the runners are (updated 2x per day w/ last location).
-Carl Laniak is adding photos to his album if you’d like to check those out as well:  Vol State 2012 Album
-Naresh is at the Vol State now and taking photos! Check it out: Naresh’s Vol State 2012 Album

So far today:

Posted by Joshua at 9:52 pm

Vol State Update 7…3.5 days (correction) by Laz at 8:50 pm

> 6-7) jay dobrolewski and sulaiman sericki 180 (on break)

should be

6-7) jay dobrolewski and sulaiman sericki 180 (moving)

Vol State Update 7…3.5 days by Laz at 8:44 pm

today saw the first warm weather of the event.
the promised thunderstorms never materialized,
instead the runners were treated to mid-90’s with a blowtorch sun.

mid-90’s isnt all that hot.
but the foot of water that fell on the course yesterday
came up at the runners from the ground today, in the form of steam.
suffering was evident,
and some drops resulted.

the feral fox made his move today,
running down paul in culleoka (about 185)
and then pulling away through the late morning and afternoon.
we saw dan eating “lunch” in lewisburg at a little after 1400 hours.
he was running strong.
he has opened up a 20 mile lead, the biggest anyone has held since day 1.

dan made a statement this afternoon,

today the whole nature of the event has changed at the front.
no more fruitbasket turnover.
rest breaks are calculated and measured.
end of game race tactics are taking shape.
the race is on, and people are fighting to position themselves for that last run to the rock….
which is still a day or so away.

the runners still approaching columbia will undergo that transition tomorrow.

it only gets better from here on in.
(better for the spectators. the runners are in hell)

1) dan fox 222 (moving)
2) paul lefelhocz 202 (on break)
3) juli aistars 202 (on break)
4) joshua holmes 197 (moving)
5) thomas mikkelson 194 (moving)
6-7) jay dobrolewski and sulaiman sericki 180 (on break)
8 ) charlie taylor 170 (moving)
9) sherry meador 167 (moving)
10) john price 166 (moving)
11) richard westbrook 165 (moving)
12) psyche winberly 157 (moving)
13) sal coll 156 (gone home)
14-15-16-17) jan silverman, shannon burke, dusty hardman, rita barnes 144 (resting in hohenwald)
18) fred davis 125 (gone home)
19) erika matheny/adam vess relay 122 (gone home)
20) diane taylor 117 (moving)
21) mike melton 107 (on break)
22) marvin skagerberg 104 (moving)
23) oprah 103 (moving)
24) abi meadows 100 (gone home)

Posted by Joshua at 2:14 pm 

Update from Carl Laniak at 1:09 pm

Flies at volstate
They are dropping.
So far:

Abi at mi 100
The relay at 122
Fred at 125
Sal at 157

Carl

 Update from Carl Laniak at 12:17 pm

Vol State relay update

Erika Matheny just called in with news of her relay. The effort and pain have ended. Abi is taking them back to her place in Chattanooga to complete the more restful half of their vacation.

Carl

Email from Laz at 8:23 am

 update change
lefelhocz 1st 179, fox second 178

laz (calls ins can be imprecise!)

72 Hour Update of runner status by Laz at 8:11 am

the 3 day standings
1) dan fox 180 (leaving columbia)
2) paul lefelhocz 179 (columbia) coming off a good rest (translates as “indoors”)
3) juli aistars 177 (feeling good… miserable is good, right?) in laundromat trying to dry clothes
4) joshua holmes 175 (down)
5) jay dobrotraski 169 (near columbia) needs a break
6) thomas mikkelson 158 (past halfway!) well rested and moiving good
7) sulaiman sericki 146 (leaving hohenwald)
8 ) sal coll 145 (leaving hohenwald)
9-11) john price, sherry meador and charlie taylor 144 resting in hohemwald
12) richard westbrook 144 (unconfirmed) believed to be resting in hohenwald
13) dusty hardman 132
14) psyche wimberly 125 (linden) battling the linden factor-the outcome in doubt
15) fred davis 125 (linden) dropped, waiting on ride
16) shannon burke 120 (feeling cheerful… but says that should be fixed by afternoon)
17-18) jan silverman 117 (past the river, and feeling like a whiney baby-but survived her crisis)
rita barnes 117 (moving)

19) erika matheny/adam venn relay 111
20) abi meadows 100 (dropped)
21-22) mike melton and dian taylor 92 (lexington) will they ever move??
23) marvin skagerberg 90 (lexington) working on a foot problem.
24) oprah 89

Email from Laz at 7:25 am

tails from the road
just a few notes,
while we wait on the rest of the incoming checkin calls
(from those runners who have yet to destroy their phones).

we call it the linden factor.
if the “bench of despair” in glendale (185 miles) is the break point,
beyond which few runners will quit,
linden is yang to its yin.
we lose ’em in linden every year.

at 125 miles, things are starting to get real.
really real.
they think their feet are trashed.
they think their muscles are sore.
they think their knees hurt….

and there are 191 miles left to go.

they know that they havent seen anything, yet.
only the runners with iron will continue beyond linden.

the men made a move to close the score in the battle of the sexes.
a male runner has now destroyed his cell phone.
the women answered almost immediately,
as a woman lost her watch.

women: 1 cell phone, two chargers, a watch, and a drop
men: 1 cell phone, no drops

(just sayin)

was just listening to a “pep talk” given to a discouraged vol-stater by a seasoned veteran:
“go ahead, get some rest.”
“but dont think it is going to make anything better.”
“you wont wake up and discover; ‘hey, new legs!'”
“it is going to suck. it is going to hurt.”
“but you already have your vacation, you might as well go ahead.”
“if you drop out now, you will regret it all week, while you watch other people finish.”
“and you think;’ that could be me. i could have done it. if i only didnt quit.'”

naresh drove around the course last night and noticed a strange phenomenon.
out in the middle of nowhere, uncrewed runners can simply disappear for a couple of hours.
in spite of days of rain,
the resourceful feral runners can discover someplace to sleep.
as carl said;
“once your standards drop low enough…”

altho one unnamed female runner was sleeping on concrete
and a local found her,
and brought her inside to sleep on a couch.
she thought she was in heaven.
(i bet he even gave her something to eat)
come to the vol-state, and live like a stray dog.

the real update will follow soon.

laz

Posted by Joshua at 6:49 am

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