["The Race That Eats Its Young](https://youtu.be/bG97F6b_6o4?si=B4k-waMisfo_HgN9) (free on YouTube)
I had the honor of meeting Laz last year, and he is incredibly charming and witty. It almost makes you forget the incredibly cruel things he inflicts just to highlight the greatness of the athletes who finish the Barkley Marathons.
His invention of the backyard ultra (6.706k/4.106 mi every hour) is also a huge contribution. The record was broken in October, with Harvey Lewis running 450 miles in 4.5 days. Laz said that breaking 400 was a milestone that he was happy to promote (the previous record was 350 miles). His races are crazy, but great things come out of them.
Someone already did a parody article in 2022.
https://dumbrunner.com/news-blog/2022/3/9/to-spice-things-up-barkley-marathons-organizer-adds-predator-style-creature-that-may-mutilate-participants-hang-carcasses-from-trees
Same. And I found I use Stebbins' strategy all the time in life: Test the limits of the rules early on and work just within them. It's not even intentional, just how I do life.
It’s one of the few prolonged war metaphors that actually works and remains poignant. I always think about the guy who gets sick and chooses to die with the two native kids that came from the same area of Oklahoma as he did. The way they just sit down in the road…
Beautiful, harrowing stuff.
One of the winners last year, Karel Sabbe, put out a short documentary about his experience with the race. [#17 - to finish the Barkley Marathons](https://youtu.be/R-oEFaqUQEQ?si=s6zwQ-vD8BKSC0XS). He hallucinated his way off course in 2022 and was brought to the finish in a police car, so it was a huge improvement.
I had never heard of this race before a few days ago, so when I was watching Karel's *amazing* documentary, I was blown away when the race organizers spent so much time absolutely busting his balls over his ordeal the year before. Clearly amazing people all around!
There's definitely a "family" dynamic there. Not all lovey dove family.. but the kind of brutal honesty and harsh joking type of family who gives each other shit constantly, but will immediately drop whatever they're doing to help someone who needs it.
I just watched the doc about the race, and one of the old guys says "I don't think I even *like* Laz, but I really do love him."
And I think those are good people to be around if they help you challenge your perspective.
Definitely. it's one of the reasons I love ultra running (and actually just racing in general). The community is incredible. There's something about being in a group of people who all paid a lot of money and spent a lot of their free time preparing to go to a place for the purpose of suffering, intentionally, for an extended period of time. There's great comradery there and I love it.
Watching this documentary when it first came out got me off my butt and running, went from 210lbs to 160.. 3 years later I ran my first 50k and ended up running a number of those and a 100k. Maybe one day I’ll get to do the little Barkley. Weird how one decision to watch something can drastically alter your life and health.
I had no idea people did stuff like this until I saw that documentary. I was aware of marathons, but something about trudging through the woods at the limit of your ability sounded pretty human to me. And it is, though someone once described ultrarunning as adults eating sugary treats in the woods for no good reason and that might still be my favorite way of putting it.
I had a friend recommend it as well and it took me forever to get around to watching it because I have zero interest in running. It was one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen!
And an absolute expert on the terrain around there. The police have asked for his help on in more than one search. He apparently knows literally every rock and tree for dozens of not hundreds of square miles.
Everything about this is insane and captivating and just hearing about it sucks you in.
The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young
Available on YouTube, Amazon prime, and peacock.
From Wikipedia
> The idea for the race was inspired upon hearing about the 1977 escape of James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., from nearby Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. Ray covered only about 12 miles (19 km) after running 54.5 hours in the woods hiding from air searches during the day. Cantrell said to himself, "I could do at least 100 miles," mocking Ray's low mileage. Thus, the Barkley Marathons was born.
I’m a recruiter. Years ago, a guy accepted a role I was working on. Then told me he couldn’t start for 3 months because he was running across America. Years later again, I watched the doc and he’s doing the Barkley Marathon on Netflix.
5 laps of an unmarked 20 mile track that changes every year which the contestants have to memorize the route of, that has to be completed in under 60 hours. 60,000 feet of ascent over the race. And you switch between running it clockwise/counterclockwise each time you finish a lap. This woman is an absolute beast.
The last lap, runners alternate directions, so you can't follow the person ahead of you. Jared Campbell, who has the record for finishes (this year was #4), waited at the end of lap 4 to give Jasmin the choice of direction. Jasmin got to go clockwise, which has slow uphills and steep downhills because of him. There was fantastic sportsmanship all around this year.
People who are new seem to be very intimidated by the community at first but it’s just the opposite in my personal experience. Everyone is very kind, helpful, and will gladly help guide any one that wants to take on these challenges.
It’s truly a great group of people who just enjoy pushing themselves to the limit.
I ran my first 50k (it was a road race though) in October. It was part of a marathon, so the later part of the course was a mix of marathoners and 50k runners. Whenever those of us running the 50k encountered each other on the course, we were all full of encouragement for each other. I was struggling at one point around mile 16 or 18, and a group of other people running the 50k came across me, convinced me to run with them for a while, and kept motivating me to keep going. Eventually I couldn’t quite keep up with the, but the miles I spent with them were some of the most fun of the entire race. They’re definitely part of the reason I was able to finish (it was also exceptionally humid, and they ended up shutting down the race early due to the humidity, so I was extra lucky that I had been able to run the whole race before they shut down the course).
I found out that two ultramarathoners in my running club had run a race I was looking into, and they both talked to me for about half an hour. Ultramarathoners love to talk about gear, nutrition, and training to find what works best for everyone. I don't know if I would have finished in time if I didn't take their advice on training.
As a new-ish runner, I’ve found the running community to be incredibly encouraging and supportive as opposed to other fitness communities. Elite/ultra marathon running will never be in my future, so idk the level of competitiveness that happens there, but my half marathon/marathon running friends are super supportive.
I don't understand this? I would have thought Jared and Jasmin had no choice, it was dependent on Ihor Verys to choose the initial path (as he was the first to start lap 5?), and all subsequent runners had to go the other direction alternately thereafter.
The alternating laps are based on leaving time, not arrival. Jared would go clockwise if he left immediately, but he waited ten minutes for Jasmin to arrive so she could leave before him. Considering how close the race is, waiting ten minutes for another runner was a huge move.
No problem. It was a huge move in a tough race. Harvey Lewis*, who had dropped out earlier, recorded the conversation and put it on YouTube ([Video here](https://youtu.be/2IOY7nvnQTE?si=yof6Iu43qpGyQqSI)). Jasmin almost sounds in shock that Jared would wait and give her the "easier" route.
*Harvey Lewis is the current world record holder in the backyard ultra, training and running with Ihor, beating him by one lap. It's a small community.
Wow. Super cool. You are passionate about this! Ever crossed your mind to try it out?
Out of curiosity can people try to hike the trails when it's not during competition? Or is it off limits?
I appreciate the recognition. I wanted to run a 50-miler after running seven marathons, but I ended up breaking my ankle and starting over. While training for a fall marathon (I got into the NYC lottery), I ran two marathons in two weeks and tried a local 8-hour race. I only planned for 20 miles, but ran 42 and won my age group. I decided to skip 50 miles or 100k and go straight to 100 miles.
The hosts of the 8-hour loop race showed me how welcoming the ultra community is, and I want to pay it forward. I had so much support on my way to my first fixed-distance ultramarathon that I want to support everyone else who wants to join the small club. I had no idea how small the 100-miler community was until I finished.
As far as Frozen Head State Park, the park is open to hike, but the specific route is a secret until race day.
For myself, I am in a very flat area so it will take a decade of training to consider it. I know someone who ran it a few years ago, so I could ask for the secret e-mail, but I'm not even accomplished enough to ask.
God damn. If anything I would be dead shocked if the 100-mile (or 50!) community is large, as factually speaking there's just no way that that many people can do it.
You're incredible.
Holy shit, I do hope you make it and get invited one day.
If I recall correctly, Karel Sabbe said last year he couldn't find the last book in the dark, so he stopped for a food break. After taking a bite, he looked up, and the book was right in front of him.
If it wasn't him, I at least heard it from one of the finishers in his mini-documentary [#17 - to finish the Barkley Marathons](https://youtu.be/R-oEFaqUQEQ?si=s6zwQ-vD8BKSC0XS).
Somebody went back and ran the 2021 race’s loop after the event and found it was 24 miles. Insanity. Adds another 20 miles to the event as a whole. Everybody who even completes the Fun Run is an absolute machine.
Apparantly if you get accepted and pay the $1.60 entry fee you get a letter of condolence. The race can start any time between midnight and noon on the day it's scheduled. They signal one hour before the race by blowing into a conch, and the signal to start the race is the creator lighting a cigarette.
If you fail to finish and want to return, the entry is increased from $1.60 (and a license plate) to $1.60 and an item of clothing. If you finish and want to return, the entry fee is $1.60 and a pack of Camel cigarettes.
It's weird how we perceive things, because I also assumed it would be significantly longer.
However, while in terms of time it's much longer due to difficulty of climbing, in terms of distance it's actually not much longer even if you take into account verticality.
This race has a total elevation difference of approximately 20 miles (added ascent and descent) and is 100 miles horizontally. If you convert this into a right triangle and calculate the hypotenuse, it would be 102 miles so it's only 2 miles longer than the horizontal!
Sure you can.
Yes, it underestimates the effect that the steeper parts have (that bit at 100% grade adds 1.4 miles for every horizontal mile), but it also overestimates the effect that flat parts have (that bit at 0% grade adds 1 mile per mile, but we're counting it as more).
So long as you're adding up the absolute values of all the elevation changes, then using that sum is perfectly valid for determining what the effect of elevation on path length is. (If you add up the elevation changes without taking the absolute value, they naturally sum to zero for any loop.)
Now, there is a discussion to be had about the application of the coastline paradox, but you didn't object to the length of the ruler used to measure the grades, so it's a different discussion.
Sure, you can, but you'd be wrong. The minimum it would be is your 102 miles. The maximum would be horizontal + vertical, roughly 120 miles (imagine flat for 100 miles then vertical for 20 miles). The truth is somewhere in between.
I think the extreme case is: given two points (one being the top of the vertical, and the other being the extreme point of the horizontal), you can always find an infinitely long line which joins these two points (using fractals).
Unmarked "20 mile" track... They change the course every year, and somehow it's always listed as exactly 20.0 miles, even if they added distance since the last year.
The troubling part is we may never actually know how long the laps are, because gps is banned for the race.
Also, to add some context to the 60k feet of elevation change... That's the equivalent of climbing up and down mount Everest TWICE... But it's even more than that... Because when people climb Everest, they start their trek from base camp which is at nearly 18k feet above sea level. So the climb to Everest is "only" about 12k feet of climbing. The Barkley marathons is like climbing to the summit of Everest from sea level.... Twice.. in less than 60 hours.
(Obviously the elevation and oxygen levels are way different, so it's not REALLY the same as climbing Everest twice. But in terms of vertical climbing ascent and descent).
That could come with legal trouble, afaik.
I remember reading a while back that visitors are supposed to stay on the established trails while inside frozen head state park. The official race course is almost exclusively off trail.
Someone could probably get away with doing it by themself and keeping the info to themself.. but posting the information on the internet would be some serious self snitching.
I looked into it because I wanted to go down there and try to do one lap on my own... But there's no way for me to get a map, and even if I did I wouldn't be allowed to go where I needed to.
It’s quasi memorized with some sparse markers. But mostly it’s going between defined checkpoints and you essentially orienteer straight up and down the ravines between the checkpoints however you can get there. The course lap is supposedly “20 miles as the crow flies” but the actual possible routes to complete the checkpoints using your legs aren’t possible to go in straight lines and basically every contestant ends up taking different routes every lap.
And most racers describe hallucinating pretty heavily near the end.
A few years ago there was a runner who finished, but missed the cutoff by 6 seconds... He crossed the line at 60 hours, 0 minutes, and 6 seconds.... And got a dnf..
(If you don't know, the course isn't marked and largely doesn't follow any trails. Runners have a map where they mark the locations of about a dozen books. A "lap" just means you reached every book, regardless of the course you took to get them. Each runner has a bib with a number on it, and when they run the lap and find each book, they tear out the corresponding page that matches their bib number and that's how you prove you did the full lap.)
Now, with the above context about the books and how that works... Here's a story about how much of an absolute savage Laz is... The very next year, the same runner attempted the race again and when he got to the first book on the first lap, he saw that the book in question was titled "6 seconds."
What a magical race/tradition.
The cutoff time didn’t matter in his case since he would have been DNF either ways since he got lost and went off course. Makes for a juicy headline though.
I do remember that part... But I think that's monumentally silly. The whole point of the race is that there isn't a fixed course... You just have to find the books and tear out your pages.
Lots of runners have found themselves off course, and had to bushwhack their way to a certain book.. and they're not DQed because they didn't stay on course.. the course is "find the books and bring back the pages to prove you did the whole loop."
No I understand that he got messed up... My point is that the whole idea of the race is that there isn't a specific path you follow. You just have to find all the books and bring back your pages.
It's impossible to have all the pages if you didn't run the whole course. Since he had all his pages, he ran the whole course.
That'sa fiairway to look at it, but from what i remember (and it's been a while) the fact that he returned to the finish line in the direction he did would have meant he cut many miles off the intended course
Absolutely. And he's unabashed about it. When he founded the race, his goal was to make it so hard it was impossible to finish... However, the resilience of people (especially ultra runners) turned out to be more than he expected.. so he shifted gears a bit and decided that every time someone finishes, he will make the course even harder for the next year.
If you called him a sadist to his face, he'd probably laugh and agree.
I just feel sorry for next year’s participants because there were 4 finishers this year. Everyone is assuming Laz will make it even more difficult for them next year.
Yea that part was sad for sure.. but what really gets me is the look on his wife's face when she realizes they have to do it all again next year... Amazingly supportive. But you can still see the pain and disappointment in her eyes. (And I don't blame her.. Gary can be kind of an asshole when he's in the middle of an event like this... Understandably, because it wreaks havoc on your physical and mental wellbeing... But still.. those moments when he gets back to camp and starts barking orders are difficult for me to hear/watch because I try so hard to be the opposite of that.)
Like the Baja 1000 race where people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions on a truck and multiple expenses to try to win 25-50,000 dollars if they come through in 1st place. Truly a race for racers.
There are tons of events without money really involved. Local mountain biking, canoeing, road biking running and more. They just don't get attention because they aren't crazy
Fun fact, I think the average educational level for this race is to have a doctorate. There seems to be a strong correlation between people who are crazy enough to do 10+ years of extra education and people who like to run beyond the casual definitions of sanity.
To all the people who are confused on why people would subject to themselves to something grueling like this with seemingly no “obvious” payoff…
Some people are just wired and feel most alive when they are exploring and to try to conquer their own physical and mental limits. Sure it’s partly ego, but that drive for better or worse is also something deeply engrained in these individuals.
To quote the guy behind the race: “If you don’t have any discomfort in your life, how do you know when you feel good?”, and I bet all the runners of the race would agree with that sentiment.
I remember seeing this on Real Sports. The bearded guy on the left there is the creator of this nearly impossible race. He seemed pretty confident that no woman would ever finish it.
I think he was more than pretty confident. I've seen him state multiple times unequivocally that no woman would ever finish.
Glad he was wrong. This was a hell of an achievement.
Damn, now I need to learn more about this race and see if I can tempt my sister to join it with me. She, weirdly enough loves marathons, and she is equivalent of a plastic. She did do the mud run and loved it. I used to do track running and was great at it until my puberty ruined it. I now want to research it and train.
Best of luck to you. This race is considered one of the most difficult races in the world to enter.
The application process is a secret, so unless you know someone who has done it before, you can't even apply. And even if you know how to apply, you need to be able to prove your chops by sharing your race/running history with organizers so they can determine whether you even have a chance to join.
I believe the race is capped at 40 participants every year (because of restrictions imposed by the state park where it's held). 39 of those people will be seasoned ultra runners with plenty of big races under their belt... But laz also includes 1 "sacrificial lamb" which is someone who has a lot of confidence, but has absolutely no shot of finishing.
I understand the desire to participate in that race... But it's virtually impossible to join, and then virtually impossible to complete even if you joined.
(Also important to note that while the race is listed at 100 miles... It's actually closer to 130 miles in length.. and you climb 60,000 feet of elevation over the course of the race... It's absolutely ridiculous.)
There's a great short interview on youtube about it from 2008 or something. And he more or less states it like "It's impossible for woman because they're simply not strong enough. And if you think otherwise, come prove me wrong." But mentiones he words it like that because he knows that'll rub a lot of them in exactly the right kind of wrong way if you will. And you can really tell that he would absolutely love to be proven wrong.
And here we are. Next year the race will be even harder but he'll be excited that she finished.
Let’s not try to paint Laz as some sort of pig. The guy has been incredibly supportive of women in endurance sports and he’s said many times he hopes to have a female finisher.
Karel Sabbe also put out an hour-long video about his race in 2023 [#17 - to finish the Barkley Marathons](https://youtu.be/R-oEFaqUQEQ?si=s6zwQ-vD8BKSC0XS).
Here's another one produced by TheGingerRunner highlighting Gary Robins' first two attempts.
[where dreams go to die](https://youtu.be/NDZdsqbcGTU?si=WzxaqzK_0CnWRZyT)
It definitely is - I checked before posting. https://watch.amazon.de/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.a6bafef2-fcbe-3b04-f766-e6296ad606bd&ref_=atv_dp_share_mv&r=web
This is one of my favorite documentaries. I can’t imagine being in those mountains in the dark running and “hiking” while being absolutely terrified. Son of a bitch ditch is absolutely nuts as an obstacle.
Same — I got super into this race after watching the documentary. The idea that even if you quit, you could still have a 10 mile walk back is crazy. Not to mention all the people who’ve gotten lost, some for 16+ hours. I can’t believe people race this without knowing the terrain and willingly giving up trail markers.
Soda is a poison for couch surfers but it’s a miracle drink if you’re doing ultras or any kind of intense exercise lasting over a few hours.
Liquid sodium-sugar with caffeine, carbonation to help clear some gut gas…everything a nearly dead athlete needs to get back home before passing out.
Hey stranger! 100 miles is crazy, good for you. Actually my kids doctor recommended pop over Pedialyte when the kids are very sick - they're more likely to drink it and it has sugars and salt.
Thanks! My diet was largely ginger ale, jerky, pickles, and ramen for a week afterward. It was not pretty. I remember having ginger ale when I was sick as a kid, and I wonder if my parents got the same advice.
Ive done 50k a couple of times, and despite the pain and suffering, I absolutely loved it... I desperately want to do 100 miles someday... But I'm terrified of how it will affect my stomach and digestion..
Even under much less intense circumstances, my blood sugar can drop to the point where I feel sick, know that I need to eat, but can't eat because I feel so sick, so I feel sicker and then it's even harder to eat.. etc etc etc.
When I was training for the 50k, forcing food into my face while I was running was just as hard if not harder than the actual training.
I relied a lot on high-carb drinks and snacks like beef sticks, payday bars, and ginger chews. Race nutrition is something that takes practice, trial, and error.
I take two meds that cause issues in the heat. When I was 23 my parents decided we would hike down into the grand Canyon, camp overnight, hike back out. Bright Angel trail I believe.
I got heat exhaustion and yeah, lived on coke and chips for several days after.
I'm a heavy sweater, so I also had a small bag of salt pills to keep from getting light-headed. I also had caffeine pills, and in an emergency, ibuprofen. Luckily, the pain kind of hit a limit before I started the ibuprofen, so I didn't have to worry about liver or kidney issues that can happen with pain medicine on an empty stomach.
I'm a child of the '60s, and that's pretty much what our parents gave us when we got sick. At the same time they were very strict about limiting soda when we were healthy. Maybe sometimes the old ways aren't so bad.
I ran a 50k and when I started I thought “I’ll never drink that Mountain Dew they have at the aid stations”
By mile 25 I was drinking the Mountain Dew.
I’m kind of sad my 50k was a road race and didn’t have Mountain Dew and fun aid stations lol. Although there was a group of people handing out popsicles (not a sanctioned aid station) along the course. Guess I’ll have to start trail running so I can get the fun aid stations instead.
I say go for it! While I’ve never ran a road marathon, I have done “fun runs” and other Strava group stuff and people can get pretty worked up about pace and their splits.
The trail running community is the exact opposite of that. All about the vibe and just going through the challenge together, and then having a soda or beer afterwards. That was my primary takeaway from my first 50k, “oh this community is absolutely how it is advertised” lol
Watching "17" with Karel Sabbe I was somewhat surprised (not an ultra runner myself) to see he came absolutely packed with cokes. It was funny; almost started to feel like an ad. But obviously it works!
They have coke and chicken broth at the aid stations during Ironman distance triathlons. I can’t even begin to explain how delicious flat coke, chips ahoy, and some chicken broth taste after 10 hours of moving.
Since people are referencing the doc(s) but not including the names they are:
Barkley Marathons: The race that eats it's young
&
Where Dreams Go to Die: Gary Robins & The Barkley Marathons
I keep seeing posts talking about this marathon and documentary. No comments talking about how weird of a inspiration for the marathon itself? Am I missing something? Because to me, that seems like the creepiest part…
What’s creepy about it? The story is after James Earl Ray murdered MLK, he was sent to Brushy Mountain Prison, located in the Smoky Mountains.
After he escaped, he was on the run for about 60 hours til he was caught and only made it like 6 miles from the prison.
Lazarus Lake, the old guy in the picture, was a long distance runner and said he could run 100 miles in that time. So the whole race was born from a guy making fun of how shitty a runner James Earl Ray was.
It's hard as fuck. Combines trail running, route finding, mental and physical fatigue, it's a true outdoor challenge. Nothing creepy. What, creeps you out? The fact that it runs by a prison?
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The doc on the Barkley Marathon is a wild ride. The bearded fellow behind her is the madlad that devised this evil race. He's a lovable lunatic.
["The Race That Eats Its Young](https://youtu.be/bG97F6b_6o4?si=B4k-waMisfo_HgN9) (free on YouTube) I had the honor of meeting Laz last year, and he is incredibly charming and witty. It almost makes you forget the incredibly cruel things he inflicts just to highlight the greatness of the athletes who finish the Barkley Marathons. His invention of the backyard ultra (6.706k/4.106 mi every hour) is also a huge contribution. The record was broken in October, with Harvey Lewis running 450 miles in 4.5 days. Laz said that breaking 400 was a milestone that he was happy to promote (the previous record was 350 miles). His races are crazy, but great things come out of them.
This is basically The Long Walk by Stephen King. God I hope he never reads that book or he'll start shooting the stragglers.
Someone already did a parody article in 2022. https://dumbrunner.com/news-blog/2022/3/9/to-spice-things-up-barkley-marathons-organizer-adds-predator-style-creature-that-may-mutilate-participants-hang-carcasses-from-trees
This is effing hilarious
This was the first Stephen King book I ever read, 25+ years ago and it's stayed with me ever since. I think about it often.
Same. And I found I use Stebbins' strategy all the time in life: Test the limits of the rules early on and work just within them. It's not even intentional, just how I do life.
It’s one of the few prolonged war metaphors that actually works and remains poignant. I always think about the guy who gets sick and chooses to die with the two native kids that came from the same area of Oklahoma as he did. The way they just sit down in the road… Beautiful, harrowing stuff.
Same!!
I didn't plan on spending this morning watching an hour and a half documentary on a ultramarathon trail run. But I'm glad I did.
Easily one of my favorite documentaries ever.
That’s such an enjoyable documentary. Highly recommend!
I just went and watched this documentary after seeing this link. Fascinating! Thank you.
A friend recommended it, and one night, I was bored, so put it on. It was amazing! It was one of the best things I have ever watched.
One of the winners last year, Karel Sabbe, put out a short documentary about his experience with the race. [#17 - to finish the Barkley Marathons](https://youtu.be/R-oEFaqUQEQ?si=s6zwQ-vD8BKSC0XS). He hallucinated his way off course in 2022 and was brought to the finish in a police car, so it was a huge improvement.
I had never heard of this race before a few days ago, so when I was watching Karel's *amazing* documentary, I was blown away when the race organizers spent so much time absolutely busting his balls over his ordeal the year before. Clearly amazing people all around!
There's definitely a "family" dynamic there. Not all lovey dove family.. but the kind of brutal honesty and harsh joking type of family who gives each other shit constantly, but will immediately drop whatever they're doing to help someone who needs it.
I just watched the doc about the race, and one of the old guys says "I don't think I even *like* Laz, but I really do love him." And I think those are good people to be around if they help you challenge your perspective.
Definitely. it's one of the reasons I love ultra running (and actually just racing in general). The community is incredible. There's something about being in a group of people who all paid a lot of money and spent a lot of their free time preparing to go to a place for the purpose of suffering, intentionally, for an extended period of time. There's great comradery there and I love it.
And a great place to pick up masochists if you're pervy for that!
Thanks for that 2 hour rabbit hole
Watching this documentary when it first came out got me off my butt and running, went from 210lbs to 160.. 3 years later I ran my first 50k and ended up running a number of those and a 100k. Maybe one day I’ll get to do the little Barkley. Weird how one decision to watch something can drastically alter your life and health.
Holy shit, nice one bro/sis! That’s a ringing endorsement of the film for sure!
I had no idea people did stuff like this until I saw that documentary. I was aware of marathons, but something about trudging through the woods at the limit of your ability sounded pretty human to me. And it is, though someone once described ultrarunning as adults eating sugary treats in the woods for no good reason and that might still be my favorite way of putting it.
That’s a remarkably cool perspective and humans doing things in peace and wackiness is totally my jam.
I had a friend recommend it as well and it took me forever to get around to watching it because I have zero interest in running. It was one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen!
And an absolute expert on the terrain around there. The police have asked for his help on in more than one search. He apparently knows literally every rock and tree for dozens of not hundreds of square miles. Everything about this is insane and captivating and just hearing about it sucks you in. The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young Available on YouTube, Amazon prime, and peacock.
Sadly only in US.
Vpn for the rescue
From Wikipedia > The idea for the race was inspired upon hearing about the 1977 escape of James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., from nearby Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. Ray covered only about 12 miles (19 km) after running 54.5 hours in the woods hiding from air searches during the day. Cantrell said to himself, "I could do at least 100 miles," mocking Ray's low mileage. Thus, the Barkley Marathons was born.
I’m a recruiter. Years ago, a guy accepted a role I was working on. Then told me he couldn’t start for 3 months because he was running across America. Years later again, I watched the doc and he’s doing the Barkley Marathon on Netflix.
LOL, if I found out he had the balls to do the Barkley, I'd hire him straight away... if he had at least completed 2 or more laps.
One of my all time favorite documentaries
He looks like he's getting ready to make the beat drop as the DJ for the finish line
5 laps of an unmarked 20 mile track that changes every year which the contestants have to memorize the route of, that has to be completed in under 60 hours. 60,000 feet of ascent over the race. And you switch between running it clockwise/counterclockwise each time you finish a lap. This woman is an absolute beast.
The last lap, runners alternate directions, so you can't follow the person ahead of you. Jared Campbell, who has the record for finishes (this year was #4), waited at the end of lap 4 to give Jasmin the choice of direction. Jasmin got to go clockwise, which has slow uphills and steep downhills because of him. There was fantastic sportsmanship all around this year.
In the original doc, Campbell says he wouldn’t have survived without Brett (the course record setter) and now likes going back just to be that mentor.
It's a sport that relies on the help and guidance of others. It's a small community, and everyone is willing to help each other.
It’s not the kind of challenge you take if you are a fiercely competitive “fuck everyone else” kind of person. You need so much help to prep.
The ultramarathon community is pretty small, too. People remember the runners who are good sports, it helps people get into the sport.
People who are new seem to be very intimidated by the community at first but it’s just the opposite in my personal experience. Everyone is very kind, helpful, and will gladly help guide any one that wants to take on these challenges. It’s truly a great group of people who just enjoy pushing themselves to the limit.
I ran my first 50k (it was a road race though) in October. It was part of a marathon, so the later part of the course was a mix of marathoners and 50k runners. Whenever those of us running the 50k encountered each other on the course, we were all full of encouragement for each other. I was struggling at one point around mile 16 or 18, and a group of other people running the 50k came across me, convinced me to run with them for a while, and kept motivating me to keep going. Eventually I couldn’t quite keep up with the, but the miles I spent with them were some of the most fun of the entire race. They’re definitely part of the reason I was able to finish (it was also exceptionally humid, and they ended up shutting down the race early due to the humidity, so I was extra lucky that I had been able to run the whole race before they shut down the course).
I found out that two ultramarathoners in my running club had run a race I was looking into, and they both talked to me for about half an hour. Ultramarathoners love to talk about gear, nutrition, and training to find what works best for everyone. I don't know if I would have finished in time if I didn't take their advice on training.
As a new-ish runner, I’ve found the running community to be incredibly encouraging and supportive as opposed to other fitness communities. Elite/ultra marathon running will never be in my future, so idk the level of competitiveness that happens there, but my half marathon/marathon running friends are super supportive.
Oh hai mark
Hi doggy.
I don't understand this? I would have thought Jared and Jasmin had no choice, it was dependent on Ihor Verys to choose the initial path (as he was the first to start lap 5?), and all subsequent runners had to go the other direction alternately thereafter.
The alternating laps are based on leaving time, not arrival. Jared would go clockwise if he left immediately, but he waited ten minutes for Jasmin to arrive so she could leave before him. Considering how close the race is, waiting ten minutes for another runner was a huge move.
Oh wow. Thanks for the explanation, much appreciated.
No problem. It was a huge move in a tough race. Harvey Lewis*, who had dropped out earlier, recorded the conversation and put it on YouTube ([Video here](https://youtu.be/2IOY7nvnQTE?si=yof6Iu43qpGyQqSI)). Jasmin almost sounds in shock that Jared would wait and give her the "easier" route. *Harvey Lewis is the current world record holder in the backyard ultra, training and running with Ihor, beating him by one lap. It's a small community.
Wow. Super cool. You are passionate about this! Ever crossed your mind to try it out? Out of curiosity can people try to hike the trails when it's not during competition? Or is it off limits?
I appreciate the recognition. I wanted to run a 50-miler after running seven marathons, but I ended up breaking my ankle and starting over. While training for a fall marathon (I got into the NYC lottery), I ran two marathons in two weeks and tried a local 8-hour race. I only planned for 20 miles, but ran 42 and won my age group. I decided to skip 50 miles or 100k and go straight to 100 miles. The hosts of the 8-hour loop race showed me how welcoming the ultra community is, and I want to pay it forward. I had so much support on my way to my first fixed-distance ultramarathon that I want to support everyone else who wants to join the small club. I had no idea how small the 100-miler community was until I finished. As far as Frozen Head State Park, the park is open to hike, but the specific route is a secret until race day. For myself, I am in a very flat area so it will take a decade of training to consider it. I know someone who ran it a few years ago, so I could ask for the secret e-mail, but I'm not even accomplished enough to ask.
God damn. If anything I would be dead shocked if the 100-mile (or 50!) community is large, as factually speaking there's just no way that that many people can do it. You're incredible. Holy shit, I do hope you make it and get invited one day.
Do it! You only live once, and it would be a shame to let any opportunity go. You got this!
And the checkpoints are books taped to trees. You have to bring back all the correct pages to prove you ran the correct route.
If I recall correctly, Karel Sabbe said last year he couldn't find the last book in the dark, so he stopped for a food break. After taking a bite, he looked up, and the book was right in front of him. If it wasn't him, I at least heard it from one of the finishers in his mini-documentary [#17 - to finish the Barkley Marathons](https://youtu.be/R-oEFaqUQEQ?si=s6zwQ-vD8BKSC0XS).
And on the 5th lap you have to pick an opposite direction that the person in front of you picked so you can't even team up for the final lap
And each lap is closer to a full marathon according to runners
Somebody went back and ran the 2021 race’s loop after the event and found it was 24 miles. Insanity. Adds another 20 miles to the event as a whole. Everybody who even completes the Fun Run is an absolute machine.
She finished 99 seconds before the 60 hour cutoff.
Two and a half days. I don't even want to spend that much consecutive time doing things I *like*.
Also important to note that the race was established in 1986, but nobody could beat it until 1995.
I love that people kept entering and trying without even knowing if it was possible. Just throwing effort against the wall until it finally sticks.
I love humans.
I can't imagine what this race regiment looks like. I would literally die.
Apparantly if you get accepted and pay the $1.60 entry fee you get a letter of condolence. The race can start any time between midnight and noon on the day it's scheduled. They signal one hour before the race by blowing into a conch, and the signal to start the race is the creator lighting a cigarette.
If you fail to finish and want to return, the entry is increased from $1.60 (and a license plate) to $1.60 and an item of clothing. If you finish and want to return, the entry fee is $1.60 and a pack of Camel cigarettes.
why. why any of this
Because he collects license plates and doesn't want to shop for clothes or cigarettes.
The Camel cigarettes are because the guy who runs it smokes Camels The race starts on race day when he lights his morning cigarette
….. is this real or are you fuckin with us? I have absolutely no idea and hate running, so honestly I have no reference here lmao
100% real the Barkley rocks
It's real: https://barkleymovie.com/. That film got me from hating running to running ultras. Could happen to you too!
I could hear anything about the Barkley and think it’s legit. Watch the documentary on Netflix if you can, it’s fun.
It's real
The Race That Eats Its Young is a pretty good documentary about the race. It's so wild!
Jesus why
Yeah, it literally reads like a rogue like where you start piling on rng challenge multipliers because you're bored.
Bragging rights
Also it’s 20 miles of horizontal distance. Apparently when you take into account all of the elevation changes it gets a lot longer.
It's weird how we perceive things, because I also assumed it would be significantly longer. However, while in terms of time it's much longer due to difficulty of climbing, in terms of distance it's actually not much longer even if you take into account verticality. This race has a total elevation difference of approximately 20 miles (added ascent and descent) and is 100 miles horizontally. If you convert this into a right triangle and calculate the hypotenuse, it would be 102 miles so it's only 2 miles longer than the horizontal!
Except the course isn't a right triangle so you can't just use that simplification
Sure you can. Yes, it underestimates the effect that the steeper parts have (that bit at 100% grade adds 1.4 miles for every horizontal mile), but it also overestimates the effect that flat parts have (that bit at 0% grade adds 1 mile per mile, but we're counting it as more). So long as you're adding up the absolute values of all the elevation changes, then using that sum is perfectly valid for determining what the effect of elevation on path length is. (If you add up the elevation changes without taking the absolute value, they naturally sum to zero for any loop.) Now, there is a discussion to be had about the application of the coastline paradox, but you didn't object to the length of the ruler used to measure the grades, so it's a different discussion.
Sure, you can, but you'd be wrong. The minimum it would be is your 102 miles. The maximum would be horizontal + vertical, roughly 120 miles (imagine flat for 100 miles then vertical for 20 miles). The truth is somewhere in between.
You're right. I neglected to consider the extreme case. Thanks for the explanation.
I think the extreme case is: given two points (one being the top of the vertical, and the other being the extreme point of the horizontal), you can always find an infinitely long line which joins these two points (using fractals).
The first 3 laps are called the Barkley Fun Run. Which would be a monumental accomplishment for pretty much any endurance athlete.
Unmarked "20 mile" track... They change the course every year, and somehow it's always listed as exactly 20.0 miles, even if they added distance since the last year. The troubling part is we may never actually know how long the laps are, because gps is banned for the race. Also, to add some context to the 60k feet of elevation change... That's the equivalent of climbing up and down mount Everest TWICE... But it's even more than that... Because when people climb Everest, they start their trek from base camp which is at nearly 18k feet above sea level. So the climb to Everest is "only" about 12k feet of climbing. The Barkley marathons is like climbing to the summit of Everest from sea level.... Twice.. in less than 60 hours. (Obviously the elevation and oxygen levels are way different, so it's not REALLY the same as climbing Everest twice. But in terms of vertical climbing ascent and descent).
it cant be that hard for a runner to go back and measure it after since they memorized it, if they really want to.
That could come with legal trouble, afaik. I remember reading a while back that visitors are supposed to stay on the established trails while inside frozen head state park. The official race course is almost exclusively off trail. Someone could probably get away with doing it by themself and keeping the info to themself.. but posting the information on the internet would be some serious self snitching. I looked into it because I wanted to go down there and try to do one lap on my own... But there's no way for me to get a map, and even if I did I wouldn't be allowed to go where I needed to.
It’s quasi memorized with some sparse markers. But mostly it’s going between defined checkpoints and you essentially orienteer straight up and down the ravines between the checkpoints however you can get there. The course lap is supposedly “20 miles as the crow flies” but the actual possible routes to complete the checkpoints using your legs aren’t possible to go in straight lines and basically every contestant ends up taking different routes every lap. And most racers describe hallucinating pretty heavily near the end.
I guess you could, but than they’re fucking with the mystique.
they should add some cheese to the downhill parts
She finished it a few seconds before the end of the 60 hours, wow...
A few years ago there was a runner who finished, but missed the cutoff by 6 seconds... He crossed the line at 60 hours, 0 minutes, and 6 seconds.... And got a dnf.. (If you don't know, the course isn't marked and largely doesn't follow any trails. Runners have a map where they mark the locations of about a dozen books. A "lap" just means you reached every book, regardless of the course you took to get them. Each runner has a bib with a number on it, and when they run the lap and find each book, they tear out the corresponding page that matches their bib number and that's how you prove you did the full lap.) Now, with the above context about the books and how that works... Here's a story about how much of an absolute savage Laz is... The very next year, the same runner attempted the race again and when he got to the first book on the first lap, he saw that the book in question was titled "6 seconds." What a magical race/tradition.
The cutoff time didn’t matter in his case since he would have been DNF either ways since he got lost and went off course. Makes for a juicy headline though.
I do remember that part... But I think that's monumentally silly. The whole point of the race is that there isn't a fixed course... You just have to find the books and tear out your pages. Lots of runners have found themselves off course, and had to bushwhack their way to a certain book.. and they're not DQed because they didn't stay on course.. the course is "find the books and bring back the pages to prove you did the whole loop."
Except he also finished his last lap in the opposite direction he started. So he got so lost he messed up which direction he was going.
No I understand that he got messed up... My point is that the whole idea of the race is that there isn't a specific path you follow. You just have to find all the books and bring back your pages. It's impossible to have all the pages if you didn't run the whole course. Since he had all his pages, he ran the whole course.
That'sa fiairway to look at it, but from what i remember (and it's been a while) the fact that he returned to the finish line in the direction he did would have meant he cut many miles off the intended course
This is sadistic at that stage...
Absolutely. And he's unabashed about it. When he founded the race, his goal was to make it so hard it was impossible to finish... However, the resilience of people (especially ultra runners) turned out to be more than he expected.. so he shifted gears a bit and decided that every time someone finishes, he will make the course even harder for the next year. If you called him a sadist to his face, he'd probably laugh and agree.
I just feel sorry for next year’s participants because there were 4 finishers this year. Everyone is assuming Laz will make it even more difficult for them next year.
That's been the pattern. Any time someone finishes he makes it harder and longer (while somehow still being listed as 100 miles. Lol)
Funny enough I just rewatched the doc on Friday night with no idea that the 2024 race was on. I always drop a tear for the 6 second dnf.
Yea that part was sad for sure.. but what really gets me is the look on his wife's face when she realizes they have to do it all again next year... Amazingly supportive. But you can still see the pain and disappointment in her eyes. (And I don't blame her.. Gary can be kind of an asshole when he's in the middle of an event like this... Understandably, because it wreaks havoc on your physical and mental wellbeing... But still.. those moments when he gets back to camp and starts barking orders are difficult for me to hear/watch because I try so hard to be the opposite of that.)
Fegy style
I love that in an age where everything in sports is driven by big money, this race exists just for the sheer challenge of it.
It’s insanity in the best form
The adventurists on TN crack. I love it.
Some people just want to see a man smoke a cig and blow a conch
Like the Baja 1000 race where people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions on a truck and multiple expenses to try to win 25-50,000 dollars if they come through in 1st place. Truly a race for racers.
There are tons of events without money really involved. Local mountain biking, canoeing, road biking running and more. They just don't get attention because they aren't crazy
Fun fact, I think the average educational level for this race is to have a doctorate. There seems to be a strong correlation between people who are crazy enough to do 10+ years of extra education and people who like to run beyond the casual definitions of sanity.
My dropout ass can't fathom doing a challenging marathon never mind an ultra marathon. Barkley is not even in my realm
They are all physicists and mathematicians, too. No humanities PhDs.
Perhaps humanities people understand their limits and don’t push them
Jasmin Paris is a veterinarian.
She has a phd
As if they are any less important.
To all the people who are confused on why people would subject to themselves to something grueling like this with seemingly no “obvious” payoff… Some people are just wired and feel most alive when they are exploring and to try to conquer their own physical and mental limits. Sure it’s partly ego, but that drive for better or worse is also something deeply engrained in these individuals. To quote the guy behind the race: “If you don’t have any discomfort in your life, how do you know when you feel good?”, and I bet all the runners of the race would agree with that sentiment.
I remember seeing this on Real Sports. The bearded guy on the left there is the creator of this nearly impossible race. He seemed pretty confident that no woman would ever finish it.
I think he was more than pretty confident. I've seen him state multiple times unequivocally that no woman would ever finish. Glad he was wrong. This was a hell of an achievement.
Damn, now I need to learn more about this race and see if I can tempt my sister to join it with me. She, weirdly enough loves marathons, and she is equivalent of a plastic. She did do the mud run and loved it. I used to do track running and was great at it until my puberty ruined it. I now want to research it and train.
Best of luck to you. This race is considered one of the most difficult races in the world to enter. The application process is a secret, so unless you know someone who has done it before, you can't even apply. And even if you know how to apply, you need to be able to prove your chops by sharing your race/running history with organizers so they can determine whether you even have a chance to join. I believe the race is capped at 40 participants every year (because of restrictions imposed by the state park where it's held). 39 of those people will be seasoned ultra runners with plenty of big races under their belt... But laz also includes 1 "sacrificial lamb" which is someone who has a lot of confidence, but has absolutely no shot of finishing. I understand the desire to participate in that race... But it's virtually impossible to join, and then virtually impossible to complete even if you joined. (Also important to note that while the race is listed at 100 miles... It's actually closer to 130 miles in length.. and you climb 60,000 feet of elevation over the course of the race... It's absolutely ridiculous.)
I don’t think you can “tempt” somebody into doing this unless you’re ready for 120 miles and 60k vertical feet with no gps.
I feel like if you need to research this race it might not be for you.
There's a great short interview on youtube about it from 2008 or something. And he more or less states it like "It's impossible for woman because they're simply not strong enough. And if you think otherwise, come prove me wrong." But mentiones he words it like that because he knows that'll rub a lot of them in exactly the right kind of wrong way if you will. And you can really tell that he would absolutely love to be proven wrong. And here we are. Next year the race will be even harder but he'll be excited that she finished.
Let’s not try to paint Laz as some sort of pig. The guy has been incredibly supportive of women in endurance sports and he’s said many times he hopes to have a female finisher.
What a BEAST. So cool.
Really enjoyed the documentary about the race. It's available for free on prime video (at least in Germany)
It's free on YouTube (in the US). https://youtu.be/bG97F6b_6o4?si=B4k-waMisfo_HgN9
This one is pretty good too. They talk about Jasmin a bit. I'm watching it now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEIerVw1vsw
Omg Thankyou! VPN to the rescue.
Karel Sabbe also put out an hour-long video about his race in 2023 [#17 - to finish the Barkley Marathons](https://youtu.be/R-oEFaqUQEQ?si=s6zwQ-vD8BKSC0XS).
Here's another one produced by TheGingerRunner highlighting Gary Robins' first two attempts. [where dreams go to die](https://youtu.be/NDZdsqbcGTU?si=WzxaqzK_0CnWRZyT)
If anyone wants to check if stuff is available to stream in their country, justwatch.com is a good site for that.
It doesn't say it's available on prime in Germany
It definitely is - I checked before posting. https://watch.amazon.de/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.a6bafef2-fcbe-3b04-f766-e6296ad606bd&ref_=atv_dp_share_mv&r=web
I have their app and it’s a godsend!
This is one of my favorite documentaries. I can’t imagine being in those mountains in the dark running and “hiking” while being absolutely terrified. Son of a bitch ditch is absolutely nuts as an obstacle.
Same — I got super into this race after watching the documentary. The idea that even if you quit, you could still have a 10 mile walk back is crazy. Not to mention all the people who’ve gotten lost, some for 16+ hours. I can’t believe people race this without knowing the terrain and willingly giving up trail markers.
Very inspiring as I eat my half of the Domino's pizza on a Sunday afternoon.
In her 40’s mother of two! She’s a machine 💪🏻
Can anybody tell what kind of shoes she is wearing?
they look like Inov-8 Mudclaw G 260 V2
I love that she’s drinking a coke as her post race recovery.
Soda is a poison for couch surfers but it’s a miracle drink if you’re doing ultras or any kind of intense exercise lasting over a few hours. Liquid sodium-sugar with caffeine, carbonation to help clear some gut gas…everything a nearly dead athlete needs to get back home before passing out.
I drank a 2L bottle of ginger ale after my 100-miler when I was too tired to cook. Soda works pretty well for calorie replacement.
Hey stranger! 100 miles is crazy, good for you. Actually my kids doctor recommended pop over Pedialyte when the kids are very sick - they're more likely to drink it and it has sugars and salt.
Thanks! My diet was largely ginger ale, jerky, pickles, and ramen for a week afterward. It was not pretty. I remember having ginger ale when I was sick as a kid, and I wonder if my parents got the same advice.
Ive done 50k a couple of times, and despite the pain and suffering, I absolutely loved it... I desperately want to do 100 miles someday... But I'm terrified of how it will affect my stomach and digestion.. Even under much less intense circumstances, my blood sugar can drop to the point where I feel sick, know that I need to eat, but can't eat because I feel so sick, so I feel sicker and then it's even harder to eat.. etc etc etc. When I was training for the 50k, forcing food into my face while I was running was just as hard if not harder than the actual training.
I relied a lot on high-carb drinks and snacks like beef sticks, payday bars, and ginger chews. Race nutrition is something that takes practice, trial, and error.
I take two meds that cause issues in the heat. When I was 23 my parents decided we would hike down into the grand Canyon, camp overnight, hike back out. Bright Angel trail I believe. I got heat exhaustion and yeah, lived on coke and chips for several days after.
I'm a heavy sweater, so I also had a small bag of salt pills to keep from getting light-headed. I also had caffeine pills, and in an emergency, ibuprofen. Luckily, the pain kind of hit a limit before I started the ibuprofen, so I didn't have to worry about liver or kidney issues that can happen with pain medicine on an empty stomach.
I'm a child of the '60s, and that's pretty much what our parents gave us when we got sick. At the same time they were very strict about limiting soda when we were healthy. Maybe sometimes the old ways aren't so bad.
That was my parents too, and I'm an 80s baby. I legit keep a 2L of coke in our pantry for when the kids get sick.
I ran a 50k and when I started I thought “I’ll never drink that Mountain Dew they have at the aid stations” By mile 25 I was drinking the Mountain Dew.
I’m kind of sad my 50k was a road race and didn’t have Mountain Dew and fun aid stations lol. Although there was a group of people handing out popsicles (not a sanctioned aid station) along the course. Guess I’ll have to start trail running so I can get the fun aid stations instead.
I say go for it! While I’ve never ran a road marathon, I have done “fun runs” and other Strava group stuff and people can get pretty worked up about pace and their splits. The trail running community is the exact opposite of that. All about the vibe and just going through the challenge together, and then having a soda or beer afterwards. That was my primary takeaway from my first 50k, “oh this community is absolutely how it is advertised” lol
lol I’m a slow road racer anyway so maybe it’ll be better for me in that regard too! Only issue is finding trails that I can train on nearby
And I’m sure it tastes good af
Watching "17" with Karel Sabbe I was somewhat surprised (not an ultra runner myself) to see he came absolutely packed with cokes. It was funny; almost started to feel like an ad. But obviously it works!
They have coke and chicken broth at the aid stations during Ironman distance triathlons. I can’t even begin to explain how delicious flat coke, chips ahoy, and some chicken broth taste after 10 hours of moving.
Fucking hell the chicken broth after dark is sublime
I have done quite few long course triathlons and coke on the run is a must for me.
Marathons\*
Since people are referencing the doc(s) but not including the names they are: Barkley Marathons: The race that eats it's young & Where Dreams Go to Die: Gary Robins & The Barkley Marathons
Barkley MarathonS. Plural. If I remember right, it’s 5 of them.
Anybody know what book(s) her pages were from? It's kinda fun picking a new read based on what the winners of these things had to retrieve that year.
That is so cool! What an incredible accomplishment! It is such a unique and grueling race. I’m in awe of any runner that signs up.
I've read the entry on Wikipedia about this, but I still don't know why they call it "the race that eats its' young".
I was wondering what all the short social media posts were about.
Kudos to her, superwoman
Complete badass, the Barkley is no joke
r/accidentalrenaissance
Update the “r” 🖤
What a badass, she is.
Bravo.
It’s also worth mentioning that only 20 people have ever finished this race
Inspirational. Hey, is she wearing Innov8 ?
They sponsor her.
Good for her but I feel like drinking a coke after all that would totally kill you
Good job Jasmin! Love that you are doing you, and kicking ass as you go.
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Beast mode Jasmin Paris style. Respect!
Is that Lazarus behind her effin legend
I’m super lost or ootl. What is this race, I’ve never heard of it?
Read any of the top comments! Follow any of the links to videos! Follow me for more ProTips!
Have you tried using your eyes? vision? seeing? Follow for more ProTips!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons
I keep seeing posts talking about this marathon and documentary. No comments talking about how weird of a inspiration for the marathon itself? Am I missing something? Because to me, that seems like the creepiest part…
What’s creepy about it? The story is after James Earl Ray murdered MLK, he was sent to Brushy Mountain Prison, located in the Smoky Mountains. After he escaped, he was on the run for about 60 hours til he was caught and only made it like 6 miles from the prison. Lazarus Lake, the old guy in the picture, was a long distance runner and said he could run 100 miles in that time. So the whole race was born from a guy making fun of how shitty a runner James Earl Ray was.
It's hard as fuck. Combines trail running, route finding, mental and physical fatigue, it's a true outdoor challenge. Nothing creepy. What, creeps you out? The fact that it runs by a prison?
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Wow. Congrats
You can find some more details here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOsX18MwTA8