I listed the Barkley Marathon in my Five Favorite running documentaries list HERE. If you haven’t watched it, definitely check it out!
Now, I wasn’t the only one in my family that was fascinated by this crazy race- my sister Cresta was too! So as the host of Thanksgiving this year, she organized a family fun run version of this race- our own “Barkley 5k.”
Rather than 100+ miles like the real Barkley Marathon, ours was a much more managable 3.1 miles.
I’ll remind you that each year, my family runs some sort of race together- either an organized Thanksgiving race, like this year, or an independent family one like last year. We’ve been doing this as a family for many years, so no one was surprised when my sister announced that this year would be a “Barkley 5k”, loosely based on the Barkley Marathon.
If you haven’t heard of the Barkley Marathon, here’s a quick synopsis:
“Every year, 40 international runners descend upon a small town in Tennessee to test their mental and physical limits against the Barkley Marathons. Devised as a mockery of James Earl Ray’s historic prison escape gone awry, the race has seen only 10 finishers in its first 25 years. The race’s co-founder Lazarus Lake is as weird, unpredictable, and irresistible a character as the idiosyncratic event he has created. With a secret application process, unknown start time, and treacherous terrain, the Barkley has gained cult-like status with ultra-runners and amateurs alike. This award-winning, oddly inspiring, and wildly funny documentary invites you to the sports world’s most guarded secret; where pain has value, failure is spectacular, and it only costs $1.60.”
The Barkley Marathons is an ultramarathon trail race held in Frozen Head State Park near Wartburg, Tennessee. Runners may elect a “fun run” of 60 miles (97 km) or the full course of 100 miles (160 km) (distances are approximate). The race is run over a 60-hour period in late March or early April of each year.
Runners of the 100-mile version run this loop five times, running loops two and four in darkness, taking a counterclockwise direction for loops three and four, followed by each runner alternating direction on loop five, after the first-placed runner’s choice. Runners of the 60-mile “fun run” complete three circuits of the loop.
So our “Barkley 5k” took place on a one-mile loop at a nearby park. Runners ran one direction for loop 1, the opposite direction for loop 2, and “runner’s choice” for loop 3, somewhat similar to the Barkley.
This is the most wonderful race ever!!! Your family is probably the coolest. So fun! I think your sister could really blow this up if she wanted to- I think the idea would be really appealing to a lot of runners!
Aww, thanks Katie 🙂 I think my family is pretty cool too…most of the time, haha!
Yeah, there were lots of other people running at that park who might have wanted to join! Maybe next year.
PS- I haven’t seen the Barkley Marathon documentary. Is it on Netflix? How can I watch?
I watched it on Netflix, but it looks like you can rent it on Amazon for $0.99!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018376TJ2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thrifi-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B018376TJ2&linkId=25eca5cb8f3c7b9d118e467040b2489d
sounds like a very fun and well organized race!!!!!!!
Thanks Eri, it was a blast 🙂
This was awesome! Thanks for sharing. The actuary in me panicked for a moment with the bib numbers, fearing that consecutive bib numbers would be used, which would create issues when tearing out book pages (since tearing out a page removes 2 consecutive #s). But it appears that “Laz” did not leave this issue to chance! Perhaps she is overqualified for the position!
Oh my gosh Eric, I can’t believe you noticed. To be honest, the sister who handled the bibs is a social worker by education…she had to redo some of them when she realized the book situation 🙂 Don’t tell her I told you….