14:47 race time.
mike bur is the first to return from loop 2...
down quitter's road.
he reached the top of bird mt, and had no more will to continue.
only another half mile, and he could have gotten book 1.
of course, that would mean crossing the pillars of doom in blizzard conditions.
and he would have had to descend the gambit.
it is only a couple of hundred yards down
(but it does drop about 500 feet)
only a half mile further
(and a half mile back)
it was beyond comprehending.
nearly 15 hours on the course and mike gets credit for just 20 miles.
 
thomas ehmke's wife (girlfriend, crew, ? i am not good at keeping these things straight)
comes up to kowalski manor with a friend to interpret.
she is concerned.
she has heard the stories about what is going on "out there."
thomas has still not returned from loop 1.
 
i tell her he is fine.
i tell her it is not uncommon for people to be out on loop one until the next day.
thomas is a big, tough, experienced runner.
he has finished the spine,
and the tour de geants,
among other things.
going in, i figured he might make a run at the 100.
clearly he has come up short in one of his skill sets.
most likely navigation.
the trails in the brushy mts are not like the trails in europe.
 
but those alpine guys are tough.
and they know how to take care of themselves.
 
i leave her with a comforting thought;
"thomas is not in any trouble. i am sure he is not happy, and he might be miserable. but he will be fine."
 
she only looks half comforted.
but i have on my game face.
the one i wear when we are behind near the end of a game.
"we are fine. we can win this. here is what we have to do."
we win a lot of those games.
when things get tough, it is important to be calm and confident.
the guys who will do well at barkley will wear this same face.
 
i don't tell her that i already know thomas is late.
him and two others.
i have been listening for reports on where these guys were last seen,
and what was their condition.
i start the race with 40 people to track,
beginning with what i expect them to do, 
and adjusting expectations as reports come in.
i won't sleep until everyone is accounted for and safe.
 
15:05 race time.
chip tuthill and doug seaver come down quitter's road.
they reached book 1.
a little over 22 miles.
then they looked into the abyss.
and turned back.
 
15:23 race time.
roger lehman comes in, with leonard martin a few minutes behind.
they reached the needles eye,
just short of 15 miles.
but the climb up big hell had taken their last reserves.
 
i never understand why people drop at indian knob.
the quitter's roads are longer than following the course.
just a bit less cruel.
 
now only poor ehmke remains on loop 1.
loop 2 is down to 21.
my mental leaderboard is getting easier and easier to maintain.
 
we are heading into money time.
at most ultras a runner has the luxury of getting deep into the race
before reaching that point of crushing fatigue.
at the barkley everyone feels it by the time 20% of the race is done.
saturday night is a time of despair.
the race will go on until monday night,
but the runner is already locked in a desperate struggle.
 
i always tell the "media" folks that saturday night is when the drama happens.
they always give up and go to bed,
only to find out on sunday morning that almost no one is left.
 
15:23 race time.
it is bev abbs next.
she seems to have shrunk to almost nothing.
she is pitiful, and chilled to the bone.
i am stunned.
rumors of her and alan's over the top training regimin had filtered all the way to tennessee.
i was sure that she was going to make a serious run at the 100.
as much as i delight in shocking the women crew members in camp during the day on saturday;
"the barkley is too hard for women."
"no mere woman can do it."
i am about ready to see some woman at least give it a serious challenge.
it will not be bev.
at least not this year.
she made it to the garden spot.
27.6 miles.
 
15:26 race time.
willy syndram.
willy has a resume full of bucket list achievements.
he dropped at bald knob,
too tired to produce body heat.
25.6 miles.
 
15:40 race time.
jay hallinan.
book 1.
he looked into the abyss,
and could not find the will to go on.
22 miles.
 
taps kept ringing out,
time after time.
 
during a long gap between quitters,
the rain finally let up in camp.
it dwindled away, and eventually stopped.
after waiting for the inevitable return for a half hour,
i finally took off my blue poncho.
 
the blue poncho has its own story.
when the rain had begun, early in the race, i felt cocky.
last year i had forgotten my poncho.
this year i remembered.
not only did i remember to pick up the folded green plastic,
i remembered where i had it packed.
due to the constant rain, most of my gear was still in the van.
 
i pulled it out after the rain started,
went into kowalski manor, and jauntily unfolded....
 
a tent flap. 
 
there had been a lot of swearing before i resigned myself to a wet, miserable weekend.
 
later that morning julian jamison,
veteran of previous barkley failure, 
and current barkley crew extraordinaire,
tossed me a small blue package.
"i thought you might could use this."
 
it was a poncho.
 
did he pull it out of his gear?
did he go to town and buy it?
i don't know,
but it was a godsend.
 
tethered to the yellow gate, 
i am dependent on the mercy of others for anything not already in my van.
and every year there is something i need that is not there.
i have encountered trail angels,
and road angels...
 
gate angels have to be the best.
 
i did not get to part with my blue poncho for long.
as soon as frozen head duped me into removing it,
the rain started again.
this time there were even spells of fine ice mist mixed in.
sunday dawn seemed like it was a forever away.
 
17:20 race time.
nikolay nachev.
nikolay was a master.
he had remained warm and dry despite the conditions.
his navigation skills had kept him on course.
at bald knob;
a quarter of the way thru the race,
he could climb no more. 
 
17:47 race time.
jared campbell finishes loop 2 to applause from those huddling in the manor.
he has run loop 2 in 9:27:12.
only 5 others had beaten that time on loop 1...
 
in the daylight.
 
he reports that ehmke is not far behind.
and then returns to the course in only 35 minutes.
 
17:58 race time.
thomas ehmke finally makes it in.
relief is written all over his delighted crew's face.
i think she must love him...
 
later i expect he will have to answer for all the worry he caused.
 
routefinding had indeed been his nemesis.
he does not have all his pages.
as i expected, he has managed to stay warm.
but he is unhappy with his navigational shortcomings.
already he is planning for the training that barkley demands.
"next year" is a consistent theme,
as runner after runner surrenders.
the indomitable spirit of these barkers amazes me.
failure only makes them hungrier.
no matter how many times they are knocked down,
they always get back up and want more.
 
the field has been pared from 41 to17,
and no one has been timed out.
 
the race is not yet a third over.
 
19:40 race time.
nicki rehn, brad bishop, and heather anderson straggle in down quitter's road.
they made it to the garden spot.
hell cold.
 
heather was another hope for the distaff side.
she has accomplished so much.
some of her supporters had e-mailed me back in january,
to tell me that "anish" was going to put an end to this "women are too weak" nonsense.
 
it is easy to talk big,
if it is someone else's ass on the firing line!
 
heather still has laughter in her eyes.
and she speaks with delight of the torments that she endured.
i think that she and barkley have unfinished business.
but this is not the year.
 
20:50 race time.
this time it is tim waz and bob jones.
they had reached book 2.
23.6 miles.
they had no heart to go on.
 
23:25 race time.
the irrepressable iso yucra and michiel panhuysen.
theirs was a wild tale.
reaching the garden spot together with dale holdaway,
they found that the windblown snow,
while only a few inches deep,
had completely erased any evidence of trails, footprints, or any previous human activity.
the thick fog sompleted their isolation.
within minutes, they were lost.
so the trio separated looking for signs of the trail.
it was then that they discovered another unpleasantness.
 
the others' headlamps were invisible in the fog,
and their shouts could not be heard over the roar of the 50 mph wind thru the trees.
 
finally michiel and iso had found each other,
and iso, the master tracker, had traced out enough human sign 
(with his nose, literally, to the ground)
to find someplace they recognized...
 
it was the start of quitter's road.
 
what idiot would not take it?
 
as to what had become of dale,
they could offer no clue.
 
which is better,
a race you know you will finish,
or stories to tell your grandchildren?
 
you know which one the barkley offers.
 
a couple of hours before dawn,
the rain finally stops for the last time.
me and raw dog have kept the campfire going thru the entire race.
but this is the first time we have been able to warm ourselves by it
for more than a couple of minutes.
the crews for the band of 4 come up to join us.
they look tired,
and cannot understand what is taking their runners so long.
 
we entertain ourselves by talking about how thoughtless the runners are being.
we have it rough in camp
(what about us?)
they might not have the kowalski manor,
but at least they know where they are.
we can only speculate.
 
after it passes 13 hours on the loop we know one thing.
where ever they are, they are not moving fast...
 
*really*
(who do they think they are, anyway?)
the crews vow they will no let them stop short of the 100.
not after we have gone thru all this!
 
23:15 race time.
fegys comes in from loop 2.
he looks awfully pale.
 
a couple of minutes later, jamil coury and jodi isenor follow.
 
the surviving abbs was 3 minutes behind them.
 
they do not look strong enough to kick my ass,
so i cheerfully inform them they are still on pace for the 100...
 
"but you need to get a good turnaround,
and make up some time on the upcoming daylight loop."
 
they just stare at me, like i was speaking gibberish.
then they head off for emergency repairs.
 
fegy, coury, and abbs are back an hour later,
with sunlight finally back in camp.
i hear coury's crew ask him;
"you are still thinking 100, right?"
his response;
"i am thinking 'can i make one more loop?'"
he is limping pretty bad.
 
technically, they still have a shot at the 100.
realistically, it is a long shot.
 
24:59 race time.
harald zundell and eva pastalkova finish loop 2.
it looks like the last female hope has faded out.
it is looking like sunday will be a nice day;
warm and sunny.
harald and eva are not going to enjoy it
they are human wreckage.
mechanically, they head off to restock for another loop.
 
25:23 race time.
jodi isenor takes off an hour behind his buddies.
the extra rest has him looking nearly human.
i had been told he was one tough guy.
now i know it to be true.
the 100 is almost certainly out of reach.
but a fun run is nothing to sneeze at.
 
25:45 race time.
harald zundell heads out.
"the german," as he has been calling himself, trudges on.
 
26:06 race time.
eva leaves on loop 3.
the time limit is not far behind.
she looks really rough.
but she is hard as nails.
 
27:17 race time.
dale holdaway staggers into camp.
his only comment on what happened after he got separated from michiel and iso;
"i was lost."
he seems untroubled by not making 40 miles.
and very happy to be able to stop.
 
the magnificent 7 are all out on loop 3.
marcy beard is somewhere "out there,"
dog determined to finish loop 2.
 
i stand in awe of those who are still running.
 
and the race is not yet half over.
 
to be continued
 
laz