diff --git a/src/run_queue.rs b/src/run_queue.rs
index 6814e8b..a2d1187 100644
--- a/src/run_queue.rs
+++ b/src/run_queue.rs
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 //! - `len()` is approximate (stats only).
 
 use crate::pid::Pid;
-use crate::sync_shim::{AtomicUsize, Ordering, UnsafeCell};
+use crate::sync_shim::{fence, AtomicUsize, Ordering, UnsafeCell};
 use std::mem::MaybeUninit;
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -92,6 +92,46 @@ fn assert_no_preempt() {
     );
 }
 
+/// Escalating wait for transient ring stalls: a peer preempted by the OS
+/// inside its ~100ns claim→publish window (finding 13). Spin first (the
+/// common stall is a peer that is merely slow, gone within a few hundred
+/// cycles), then donate the timeslice — under oversubscription pure
+/// spinning STARVES the descheduled peer of the CPU it needs to publish
+/// (measured in the finding-13 soak: 10⁶ pure spins can outlast the very
+/// stall they prolong). OS-level yielding is orthogonal to
+/// `assert_no_preempt`, which guards smarm signal preemption only.
+struct Backoff(u32);
+
+impl Backoff {
+    const SPIN_LIMIT: u32 = 6;
+
+    fn new() -> Self {
+        Self(0)
+    }
+
+    /// Total waits so far — lets bounded callers cap the yield phase.
+    fn steps(&self) -> u32 {
+        self.0
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn wait(&mut self) {
+        #[cfg(loom)]
+        // Loom has no notion of spinning time; every wait is a scheduling
+        // point so the model explores the stalled peer's progress.
+        loom::thread::yield_now();
+        #[cfg(not(loom))]
+        if self.0 <= Self::SPIN_LIMIT {
+            for _ in 0..1u32 << self.0 {
+                std::hint::spin_loop();
+            }
+        } else {
+            std::thread::yield_now();
+        }
+        self.0 += 1;
+    }
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // rq-mutex — the baseline
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -204,15 +244,57 @@ impl MpmcRing {
 
     pub fn push(&self, pid: Pid) {
         assert_no_preempt();
-        assert!(
-            self.try_push(pid),
-            "smarm: run queue overflow — occupancy exceeded the slab bound, \
-             which the at-most-once-enqueued invariant forbids. This is a \
-             runtime bug (double enqueue), not a capacity tuning problem."
-        );
+        if self.try_push(pid) {
+            return;
+        }
+        self.push_slow(pid);
     }
 
-    /// One full claim attempt; `false` only if the ring is full.
+    /// Cold path: the cell at `enqueue_pos` is still a lap behind. Two
+    /// worlds are indistinguishable at the cell (finding 13): a consumer
+    /// preempted between its `dequeue_pos` claim and its seq release while
+    /// the ring lapped onto that cell (transient), or a genuine occupancy
+    /// overflow (a runtime bug). The COUNTERS discriminate — the same shape
+    /// as crossbeam `ArrayQueue::push`'s fence + opposite-counter check:
+    /// occupancy < capacity ⇒ transient ⇒ wait for the stalled peer;
+    /// occupancy ≥ capacity ⇒ the at-most-once-enqueued invariant really is
+    /// broken ⇒ panic (a legal push starts from occupancy ≤ max_actors − 1).
+    #[cold]
+    fn push_slow(&self, pid: Pid) {
+        let mut backoff = Backoff::new();
+        loop {
+            // Order the counter reads after the failed cell read.
+            // `enqueue_pos` is loaded BEFORE `dequeue_pos`, so a pop racing
+            // us can only make the computed occupancy an UNDERestimate —
+            // conservative in the safe direction (never a spurious panic;
+            // a genuine violation is persistent and caught next lap).
+            fence(Ordering::SeqCst);
+            let enq = self.enqueue_pos.0.load(Ordering::SeqCst);
+            let deq = self.dequeue_pos.0.load(Ordering::SeqCst);
+            let occ = enq.wrapping_sub(deq);
+            assert!(
+                occ <= self.mask,
+                "smarm: run queue occupancy {} reached capacity {} — a pid \
+                 was enqueued more than once (or more pids exist than \
+                 max_actors); the at-most-once-enqueued invariant is broken \
+                 (enq={} deq={})",
+                occ,
+                self.mask + 1,
+                enq,
+                deq
+            );
+            backoff.wait();
+            if self.try_push(pid) {
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// One full claim attempt; `false` when the cell at `enqueue_pos` is
+    /// still a lap behind — which means EITHER genuinely full OR a
+    /// lap-stalled consumer (finding 13). The cell cannot tell the two
+    /// apart; callers must disambiguate via the counters (`push_slow`) or
+    /// tolerate refusal (`StripedRing`'s probe).
     fn try_push(&self, pid: Pid) -> bool {
         let mut pos = self.enqueue_pos.0.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
         loop {
@@ -246,6 +328,7 @@ impl MpmcRing {
 
     pub fn pop(&self) -> Option<Pid> {
         assert_no_preempt();
+        let mut backoff = Backoff::new();
         let mut pos = self.dequeue_pos.0.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
         loop {
             let cell = &self.buf[pos & self.mask];
@@ -270,9 +353,31 @@ impl MpmcRing {
                     Err(actual) => pos = actual,
                 }
             } else if diff < 0 {
-                // Empty (or the producer at this cell hasn't published yet —
-                // a snapshot miss the caller's idle-retry loop absorbs).
-                return None;
+                // The cell at `pos` is unpublished: either the queue is
+                // empty, or the producer that claimed it was preempted
+                // inside its claim→publish window (finding 13). The cell
+                // cannot tell the two apart; the counters can.
+                fence(Ordering::SeqCst);
+                let deq = self.dequeue_pos.0.load(Ordering::SeqCst);
+                if deq != pos {
+                    // Stale head — no verdict; re-probe at the real head.
+                    pos = deq;
+                    continue;
+                }
+                if self.enqueue_pos.0.load(Ordering::SeqCst) == pos {
+                    return None; // counters agree: genuinely empty
+                }
+                // Producer mid-publish. Wait briefly, then report None
+                // anyway — a DELIBERATE bounded deviation from crossbeam's
+                // unbounded retry: a spurious None is correctness-benign
+                // here (the stalled push completes and its RFC 018
+                // enqueue-wake re-wakes a parked scheduler), a parked
+                // scheduler beats a yielding one, and StripedRing's pop
+                // probe must not hang on one stripe.
+                if backoff.steps() > Backoff::SPIN_LIMIT + 8 {
+                    return None;
+                }
+                backoff.wait();
             } else {
                 pos = self.dequeue_pos.0.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
             }
@@ -342,6 +447,7 @@ impl StripedRing {
         // guarantees a free stripe exists, so the outer loop terminates.
         // The retry-from-home lap handles the racy case where every stripe
         // momentarily refused us.
+        let mut backoff = Backoff::new();
         loop {
             for i in 0..=self.stripe_mask {
                 let s = &self.stripes[(home + i) & self.stripe_mask];
@@ -349,7 +455,13 @@ impl StripedRing {
                     return;
                 }
             }
-            std::hint::spin_loop();
+            // Every stripe refused this lap: either transiently full (the
+            // headroom argument above guarantees a genuinely free stripe
+            // exists) or the probes landed on lap-stalled cells (finding
+            // 13 — try_push cannot tell the two apart). Waiting is correct
+            // either way; the backoff escalates to an OS yield so stalled
+            // consumers get the CPU they need to release their cells.
+            backoff.wait();
         }
     }
 
@@ -560,6 +672,33 @@ mod loom_tests {
         });
     }
 
+    /// Finding 13 regression: a consumer stalled between its dequeue_pos
+    /// claim and its seq release must NOT make a lapping producer conclude
+    /// "full" (the old code asserted here — occupancy never exceeded the
+    /// bound; the cell just hadn't been recycled). Capacity 2: fill, pop
+    /// once on each thread, then push a third element — in the
+    /// interleavings where a pop's release is still pending, that push
+    /// laps onto the stalled cell and must wait, not die.
+    #[test]
+    fn mpmc_lap_onto_stalled_consumer_completes() {
+        loom::model(|| {
+            let q = Arc::new(MpmcRing::with_capacity(2));
+            q.push(pid(0));
+            q.push(pid(1));
+            let q2 = q.clone();
+            let h = thread::spawn(move || q2.pop().expect("ring has two elements"));
+            let a = q.pop().expect("ring has two elements");
+            // enqueue_pos = 2 → cell 0: laps onto the other thread's cell
+            // whenever its release is delayed.
+            q.push(pid(2));
+            let b = h.join().unwrap();
+            let c = q.pop().expect("the lapping push must have landed");
+            let mut got = vec![a.index(), b.index(), c.index()];
+            got.sort_unstable();
+            assert_eq!(got, vec![0, 1, 2]);
+        });
+    }
+
     /// Producer races a consumer on a single element: the consumer either
     /// gets it or sees a clean None — never a torn/duplicated element.
     #[test]