big dog’s backyard ultra heding into hour 28:
the small country competition is all but over….
depending on two guys from uruguay named jonatan torena and federico molina.
you see, guatemala has finished with 258 yards,
but these two orientals are still running
and team uruguay (-16) could catch guatemala if these two can continue for the next 8 hours.
the mid-size competition still looks like a race between three countries.
netherlands still leads at 398, with 13 athletes, the most still running in their division.
iceland is still second (-4) but has been losing ground with one less athlete.
slovakia (-7) is still third, but losing even more ground with 2 fewer runners still on their feet.
hour after hour,
the flow of the game is depending on who loses more athletes first.
netherlands is in charge,
but they have a couple of athletes showing signs of a death spiral.
the death spiral is a backyard runner’s nemesis.
you just dont have enough time to properly rest between yards.
you cant quite get your legs under you.
which causes the next yard to be even slower
leaving less time to rest
making you run slower still…
you know where this is headed.
first the whistles start before you are ready.
next thing you know, you hear the whistles before you finish the lap.
crews frantically poke stuff down the runner’s throat while they are standing
not even enough time to sit down between loops.
there is a way to break a death spiral,
but it is brutally difficult
and few can ever pull it off.
.
from somewhere you must summon the strength to run a really fast yard
and buy enough time to get some amount of rest.
even if successful,
it is probably only a temporary relief.
because the whistles and bells are relentless.
and the legs can never fully recover..
but it means a few more yards for your team.
possibly the decisive ones!
there is drama in the back yard.
but it isnt pretty.
