I'd seen this documentary on Netflix for a while and then someone I work with sent me a link to an article about the Barkley and said she immediately thought of me when she read it. The next day, another coworker stopped me in the hallway and said "Hey, I just watched this thing on Netflix and it totally looked like something you'd do. Have you heard of the Barkley Marathon?" It was then that I decided that I needed to watch the thing post haste. And then a few days after I watched it another coworker stopped me to tell me about this crazy documentary they just watched on Netflix...The Barkley Marathons.
And crazy it is. O.M.G is it crazy. In case you haven't heard of it and are wondering, the plural on "Marathon" is not an accident. This is not a single marathon. It's 5 marathons. In the mountains. Off trails. And racers have 60 hours to finish.
I thought the movie did a good job of showing the character of the race, the man that puts it on, and the people crazy enough to attempt it. One of the things that struck me while watching the runners was how absolutely selfish it all was. Now maybe this was a early attempt at making excuses for never actually doing this race myself, but I couldn't shake the thought. The guy that won the race the year the documentary was filmed was out there with his wife, mom, and young (toddler age) son. These people that care about about, and whom he likely cares about, were out in the woods for probably more than three days with him.
Being out in the woods for three plus days isn't the worst thing in the world you can ask your loved ones to do, but it's not like they were really on a vacation. Every time he completed a loop they hovered around him getting him food, clean clothes, and encouragement. And people can't use phones, so it's not like he can call and say "Hey honey, I should be back at camp in about 2 hours." It's not like it could be anytime, since he is running 20+ miles in the elements. Once he heads out you can assume he won't be back for a couple of hours. But it could be 10 hours, or 13, or 9. Personally, I'd hate to assume it was 10, but my loved one comes back in 9 and I'm not there to do the job I'm supposed to do. And then what about if there's an injury? Or he quits (as most people do) and comes back after only a few hours.
What I'm saying is it's not like you can say, "I'm going to head back to town for a bit, but I'm sure I'll be here when you need me." You're there the entire time, sitting on your hands waiting. And it's one thing if he eventually wins, since then you can at least say that it was worth it. But most people don't finish. The stat I heard is something like only 1% of all the people who have ever entered the race have finished.
Then there is everything that goes into this en-devour. There's the travel to and from the race, which is minor compared to the thousands of hours of training and preparation that go into something like this. And this guy had a toddler son. How much of that boys life did this guy miss because he had to train. It's not like it's a local 5k and you can knock out a 30 minute run early in the morning. You're running hours and hours each day. Sure, the kid can probably go with for some of that, either on a bike or a running stroller. But I doubt he could go for all of it, every time.
I know that I said in the first paragraph that this is something that I want to do, but I don't think I can ask my family to support me while I do it. Caveat: At this time. In a decade or so, my kids will be old enough that I can go for hours-long runs and they can take care of themselves. Who knows, maybe they'll even be running with me at that point. Wouldn't that be great? Sure, my body will be a decade older, but the Barkleys is not a race of speed. It's a race of endurance. Mental and physical. And a lot of times, those come with age. Or so I've heard.
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