This weekend I witnessed this race and it put racing into a more appropriate perspective.
The Barkley Marathons has a reputation in the ultra-running community, one that is growing rapidly as the hardest trail race in the world. This weekend, the 15th Barkley was run and records were put in the books, which made it really neat to witness. For those of you who don’t know, The Barkley Marathons is a 100 mile trail race in Tennessee. It consists of 5 loops of 20 miles each that must be completed within 60 hours. Only 35 people are allowed to start the race every year out of few hundred applicants. Since its inception in 1986, over 700 people have tried the Barkley and only 10 have ever finished it. A slight few more have ever started the 4th loop. Each one of these loops has about 11,000 feet of ascent and since you return to the start line each loop, 11,000 feet of descent. Over half of the “course” is off of established trails and consist of bushwhacking and trail blazing. To make it worse, there is a 5 mile section that makes up for 7,500 feet of the total climbing on the course. It is brutal, unbearable, and is the area that most people quit. In order to keep people on course, 9-11 books are hidden along the way that you must find, retrieve a specified page from, and turn in at the terminus of your loop. This proves that you did one entire loop.
Every year that someone finishes five loops ensures that the next year will bring a new challenge to the race. The course might change, a book might be moved, a new mountain added, or maybe even more distance added (the race has long since been longer than 100 miles, guestimates are closer to 120). This year, the change was kept a secret. The course was the same, the books were similar in number and location, but Gary held the “change” in the shadows. The race date and time are never officially posted. Racers simply know that sometime on X day, the race will start. Typically it starts in the morning when the sun comes up. Gary blows into a conch shell exactly 1 hour before the race is to commence. This alerts the racers in the camp that they have 1 hour to be ready for 5 loops of complete hell.
At 12:07 a.m. Saturday morning, the conch shell sounded. Curses rose above the camp. “I can’t believe it” could be heard echoing through the woods. The Barkley was already attacking their mental strength. 35 racers toed the line, and at 1:07 am the cigarette was lit (the way Gary signifies the beginning of the race).
There are a ton of things I could tell you about the race this year like the marble sized hail we got 3 hours into the race, or the forest fire that was burning on the course, the insane climbs of rat jaw, zip line, bad thing or big hell, the racers that finished one loop and collapsed, the nine men that finished 3 loops (a record number of 3 loop finishers, also known as the 60 mile “fun run”), the multiple racers that took 23 hours to finish one loop, the guy I talked to that had raced the Hardrock 100 (4) times and couldn’t make the 1st loop cutoff, the various racers from Europe that didn’t make it passed 2 loops before they quit, the guy that punctured his forearm but went on to finish an entire lap bleeding profusely, or the general insanity of everyone involved in this race.
But I can tell you what I learned. All in all, I witnessed the true meaning of HTFU. I watched the Barkley humble professional ultra racers, speed record holders and season veterans of the Barkley itself. It takes and takes and never gives back. It is truly an awesome and awful thing to watch. Next time you are racing and are hurting in the final miles of the run, remember, you haven’t been racing for over two days straight, the course is relatively flat and when it’s over, you probably won’t pass out for 18 hours because of sleep deprivation. Remember that it will be over soon, HTFU, put your head down and push it.
If you ever get the chance, head down to Frozen Head State Park during the first weekend of April and offer your respect to those toeing the line for the undoubtedly most difficult trail race on the planet, you won’t regret it.
The Barkley Marathons has a reputation in the ultra-running community, one that is growing rapidly as the hardest trail race in the world. This weekend, the 15th Barkley was run and records were put in the books, which made it really neat to witness. For those of you who don’t know, The Barkley Marathons is a 100 mile trail race in Tennessee. It consists of 5 loops of 20 miles each that must be completed within 60 hours. Only 35 people are allowed to start the race every year out of few hundred applicants. Since its inception in 1986, over 700 people have tried the Barkley and only 10 have ever finished it. A slight few more have ever started the 4th loop. Each one of these loops has about 11,000 feet of ascent and since you return to the start line each loop, 11,000 feet of descent. Over half of the “course” is off of established trails and consist of bushwhacking and trail blazing. To make it worse, there is a 5 mile section that makes up for 7,500 feet of the total climbing on the course. It is brutal, unbearable, and is the area that most people quit. In order to keep people on course, 9-11 books are hidden along the way that you must find, retrieve a specified page from, and turn in at the terminus of your loop. This proves that you did one entire loop.
Every year that someone finishes five loops ensures that the next year will bring a new challenge to the race. The course might change, a book might be moved, a new mountain added, or maybe even more distance added (the race has long since been longer than 100 miles, guestimates are closer to 120). This year, the change was kept a secret. The course was the same, the books were similar in number and location, but Gary held the “change” in the shadows. The race date and time are never officially posted. Racers simply know that sometime on X day, the race will start. Typically it starts in the morning when the sun comes up. Gary blows into a conch shell exactly 1 hour before the race is to commence. This alerts the racers in the camp that they have 1 hour to be ready for 5 loops of complete hell.
At 12:07 a.m. Saturday morning, the conch shell sounded. Curses rose above the camp. “I can’t believe it” could be heard echoing through the woods. The Barkley was already attacking their mental strength. 35 racers toed the line, and at 1:07 am the cigarette was lit (the way Gary signifies the beginning of the race).
There are a ton of things I could tell you about the race this year like the marble sized hail we got 3 hours into the race, or the forest fire that was burning on the course, the insane climbs of rat jaw, zip line, bad thing or big hell, the racers that finished one loop and collapsed, the nine men that finished 3 loops (a record number of 3 loop finishers, also known as the 60 mile “fun run”), the multiple racers that took 23 hours to finish one loop, the guy I talked to that had raced the Hardrock 100 (4) times and couldn’t make the 1st loop cutoff, the various racers from Europe that didn’t make it passed 2 loops before they quit, the guy that punctured his forearm but went on to finish an entire lap bleeding profusely, or the general insanity of everyone involved in this race.
But I can tell you what I learned. All in all, I witnessed the true meaning of HTFU. I watched the Barkley humble professional ultra racers, speed record holders and season veterans of the Barkley itself. It takes and takes and never gives back. It is truly an awesome and awful thing to watch. Next time you are racing and are hurting in the final miles of the run, remember, you haven’t been racing for over two days straight, the course is relatively flat and when it’s over, you probably won’t pass out for 18 hours because of sleep deprivation. Remember that it will be over soon, HTFU, put your head down and push it.
If you ever get the chance, head down to Frozen Head State Park during the first weekend of April and offer your respect to those toeing the line for the undoubtedly most difficult trail race on the planet, you won’t regret it.