Last Annual Vol-State Race 2012 – Update 9

Last Annual Vol-State 2012 Photo by Naresh Kumar

Report from Laz on the the road:

vol state update 9: 4.5 days, the hammer comes down

i always get frustrated at the “horror moves” where the victim gains the upper hand,

then immediately turns her back on the villain,’only to be grabbed again when the villain comes back to life. once you knock them down, you are supposed to make sure they never get back up. i always coached basketball by the same theory. it wasnt that i believed in running up a score, but when you get the upper hand you keep hammering until you know the opponent is not coming back. the feral fox apparently comes from the same school. he opened a small lead at 3.5 days. blew it open at 4. the surviving contenders tried to answer. but fox was like a runaway train. by 4.5 days, he had the race in hand. 42 miles thru the east tennessee mountains isnt exactly a formality. it falls short of being a victory procession. but with a 27 mile lead, the feral fox can almost feel the crown on his head…. after his call-in from the top of mointeagle mountain, we watched as an intense electrical storm descended on his position. lightning was hammering the top of the mountain, huge bolts that ran from ground to sky like dancing pillars, some lasting 4 or 5 seconds. dan had lost his rain gear 12 hours earlier, while making his 4-day call-in. i reckon he will have an entertaining night to tell us about when he arrives. we expect him to reach the rock sometime tomorrow morning. dan’s lost raingear was part of an all-male attempt to cut into the women’s lead in the battle of the sexes. the men tallied 2 sets of lost raingear, a lost phone charger, and a drop. the women answered with a lost phone charger, a lost pair of pants (!?), a couple of lost hats, and another drop. and we havent even counted sunglasses. we saw one woman, who had lost her sunglasses on day one, running with several spare pairs hanging from her pack. however, no one may be able to match the performance of sulaiman and jay. after running off course in the wee hours of the morning, and unwittingly taking a room in a motel far from the course, they awoke to find themselves on a road that they could not reconcile to their maps, and spent 6 hours circling lewisburg on the bypass… a new twist on the concept of the endless loop. 11 hours in lewisburg. we received several frantic phone calls from the wayward duo during their treadmill experience. but we couldnt figure out where they were, either. we finally came across them during our afternoon drive thru… only a mile short of where they called in from that morning. lets see the women top that one. standings after 4.5 days 1) dan fox- 272 (monteagle) 2) paul lefelhocz- 245 (he finally had to sleep) 3) joshua holmes- 244.5 4) juli aistars- 244 (and starting to lean) 5) thomas mikkelson- 235.5 (waiting in his car for the electrical storms to subside) 6) sulaiman sericki- 212 (off the treadmill) 7) jay dobrovinski- 211 (still dizzy from circling the bypass) 8) charlie taylor-207.5 (just passed jp) 9) john price- 207 10) sherry meador-202 (rest break!) 11) richard westbrook- last sighted at mile 200 (might b e as high as 8th place) 12) psyche wimberly- 195 13) rita barnes- 185 (dropped at the bench of despair) 14-15-16) jan silverman, dusty hardman, and shannon burke- 179 (rest break in columbia) 17) sal coll- 156 (gone home) 18) diane taylor- 144 (short break in hohenwald, then a big push to get back on track) 19) fred taylor 125 (gone home) 20) marvin skagerberg-125 (linden rest break) 21) oprah- 124 22) erika matheny/adam vess relay- 122 (gone home) 23) mike melton- 121 (gone home) 24) abi meadows- 100 (gone home) there is no way to tell all the stories. laz

More info:

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The Vol-State 2012 Map
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Photos: Carl Laniak vol state 2012
Photos: Naresh Kumar LAST ANNUAL VOL STATE 500K – 2012

Last Annual Vol-State Race 2012 – Update 9 Multidays.com - Multiday and Ultrarunning News