Movie Review: The Barkley Marathons

The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young

As a runner in Tennessee, I can't exactly pinpoint when I first heard about Barkley. It's just one of those things that YOU know about. Or, you at least pretend that you know about it. You'll hear it brought up in conversation and nod along and because... it's Barkley, dude and you're a runner. DUH. So, throughout the years, I've learned bits and pieces here and there. Then I started dating The KoB who is (among many other things) my ultra running Sensai and I have asked him a zillion questions about it and hopefully I am not divulging a ginormous secret, but The KoB's awesome Brother (KoBB perhaps?) hopes to attempt Barkley one of these days and might have even figured out the application process and might have even applied. MAYBE.

He will also hop out of your boat and grab your lure that you

got stuck on a log in the river.
While holding a beer.

I suspect that will not come in handy at Barkley,

but, helpful nonetheless. 

In my mind, Barkley is like this mythical race. The unicorn of races, if you will. The application process is a huge fucking secret, so the chances of you even being able to APPLY is probably less than your chances of seeing a unicorn and then, if you do find out how to apply, the chances of you actually getting in are like being able to actually ride that unicorn and then if you are lucky to even finish 3 laps of the 5 lap course (finishing 3 laps of the course is considered a "fun run" and respectable), well... that's like being in a meadow filled with unicorns with rainbows coming out of their asses.

Or cats with horns. Whatever.

But, as with anything mythical, there is that element of allure. Everyone wants to know about it and talk about it. So, when my friend Carolyn texted me Wednesday morning asking if I could skip work that afternoon and get to the Nashville Film Festival to catch the last showing of this documentary. I was like HELL YES.

I actually kind of almost wished I didn't know ANYTHING about The Barkley Marathons or Gary Cantrell aka Lazarus Lake (the Race Director), because I think it would have made the documentary even more entertaining. 

But, in case you aren't hip to the Barkley, let me give you a brief Amypedia of it:

It's a race that is referred to as a 100 mile race. 

In actuality, it's about 130 miles.

It's ridiculously rough terrain.

The course is not marked, so you are just given a map (THAT YOU HAVE TO MARK YOUR DAMN SELF FROM A MASTER MAP) and a compass.

Only 15 people have finished the race since it started in 1986.

No woman has ever gone further than 66 miles.

So. Yeah.

This is part of the "course."

That is also JARED CAMPBELL.

Ultrarunner Royalty.

The documentary is great!

Okay, you want more than that... well, it displays the quirky, but lovable side of Laz. It starts out with a lot of interviews with him and his past. It's interesting to hear his perspective on those that attempt the race. He talks about how a lot of people who are supremely successful in their careers and life are drawn to this race, because there is a HUGE chance of failure. Which must be why I have zero interest in attempting the race.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

And then the movie follows the race and certain runners in particular. You get to hear their stories of why they are there, what they are hoping for. And the year that the documentary focuses on, happens to be like the BEST year ever of the Barkley. There is more than one finisher and an amazing course record gets set (that still stands today). I knew about the course record that year and I remembered that Jared Campbell finished it the first year he ran it, so, I knew there were two finishers and I just assumed that was it. So, when they kept interviewing this guy John (a Barkley Virgin) throughout the documentary... I was like... "bless his little heart. he thinks he can finish."

And he kept completing loop after loop and then it became clear that he was going to finish the race, but then... I was like... OH SHIT, HE'S NOT GOING TO MAKE THE TIME CUT-OFF. HE'S GOING TO FINISH THIS DAMN THING AND BE TOO LATE AND NOT GET AN OFFICIAL TIME. I could feel the tears welling up as he ran down to the finish...

And... well... you're going to have to watch the documentary to find out what happened. Or, I guess look it up online to see if he finished in time.

The documentary was fun, and interesting, and well shot. I can't recommend it enough. And since it was apart of the Nashville Film Festival, most of the people in the audience, weren't runners. Most of them looked to be retirees, honestly. And they were still cracking up and enjoying it. 

After the movie, Laz popped out of the audience and he and one of the filmmakers did a Q&A. In which, Laz, seriously made a comment about how he didn't think a woman would ever finish the race.

But, instead of getting mad, the only thing to do is to prove him wrong. So, all you BADASS ULTRARUNNING WOMEN none of whom read this blog, but whatev PROVE HIM WRONG!!!!! We are built to host another human being inside us and bring them into the world... we can finish the Barkley Marathons. Right? 

There is always that fear when watching a documentary that I will want to do whatever it is that's in the documentary. I am happy to report that after watching this documentary, my desire to attempt to try to apply for this race is even LESS than it was before. There is no fucking way.  I hope to go and camp and spectate one day... hopefully, I'll be able to spectate for someone near and dear to my heart. HINT HINT NUDGE NUDGE UNIVERSE.

I do however, hope to run one of Laz's other races one of these days... The Last Annual Vol State 500k. 

Anyway, if this doc comes to your town or once it's released to the public, you have GOT to see it. They did right by the race, for sure.

The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young.

Movie Review: UltraMarathon Man

Last Thursday I got the chance to see the premiere showing of UltraMarathon Man: 50 Marathons, 50 States, 50 Days. Overall, my feelings about this movie were kind of mixed for me. The movie follows Dean Karnazes on his journey to run 50 consecutive marathons-one in each state-to raise awareness for childhood obesity. A few of the races were actual scheduled marathons for the city, but the majority of them were recreated. On these recreated marathons, people could join him for part of his run or even the full 26.2.

I kept expecting Karnazes to break down physically, but he never really did. Honestly (and I like a sadist for saying it, but), I was kind of looking forward to a major break-down simply because it makes for a better movie and I wanted to see him overcome the struggle. But the guy is a superhuman and he felt better and stronger with every race. Scientists who conducted experiments on him confirmed that he had, indeed, gotten stronger as time went on. And at the end of it all, tests showed that Karnazes's body deteriorated only 25% of what a normal human being's body would after one, single marathon. So he really is a superhuman...just like Lance Armstrong and his freakishly enlarged heart. Although amazing and interesting, it made for a semi-boring movie...I wanted to see some pain, not a walk in the park!

He did, however, have a slight mental breakdown due to the constant hounding of the media and pressure from having to always be in the spotlight. He said that when he finished running all 50, he had lost himself and lost his soul somewhere along the way. So guess what he did to find it? He got up on the 51st day and ran west. In fact, he ran 3 months straight until he had made it back to the city of the very first race. In those 3 months, he usually ran 26 miles or more.

When I left the theatre, I just kept thinking...what about his family? True, his wife and 2 small children came along for the adventure, but really, I can't see how he spent that much time with them since he was either running, talking to fans, giving interviews, eating or sleeping. And then he just runs off into the night for 3 months after the 50 day challenge? If I were his wife, I'd be pissed. I mean, I know that running is his job and that running is vital to his health and happiness, but jeez...you're still a dad and husband.

So, while the movie was inspirational and fascinating from a scientific standpoint, It wasn't the motivating movie I'd hoped it would be. My favorite line in the whole movie was Dean's dad:

Run if you can...walk if you have to...crawl if you must....but just keep moving forward.

I love that. It might just be my favorite quote of all time.

Spirit of the Marathon

Last week, I got the chance to see a screening of a really cool documentary called Spirit of the Marathon. The filmmakers chose 6 runners who signed up for the 2005 Chicago Marathon and followed their training all the way through race day. The thing that made this film so unique was the fact that each person was on a different level of running. They also focused on the different inspirations of the runners.

Two of the athletes were first-time marathoners. Another guy had several marathons under his belt, but was now ready to try and qualify for Boston. The fourth man was 70 years old and had run a handful of marathons, but this time around he was training with his daughter, who would run her first. And then there were two elite runners-Deena Kastor and Daniel Njenga, who comes from Kenya, but lives and trains in Japan.

In addition to following the training of these six, many other famous runners and coaches were featured as well-even Coach Hal! I learned more about the history of the marathon, races and runners that helped to pave the way and more specifically—the history of women’s running.

I don’t want to go too much into detail and spoil the movie for you, but there is just one thing that I learned that I’d like to share. Maybe I’ve been in the dark, but I didn’t know anything about Katherine Switzer before this movie.

Switzer was the first woman to run Boston. It was a commonly held belief that women did not have the endurance or strength to run at any length close to 26.2 miles. But in 1967, Katherine Switzer entered the race as K.V. Switzer and therefore went unnoticed as a woman. She was now officially entered with a number. Once the media picked up on the fact that she was running, the race director learned of this and became furious. The nutjob actually ran onto the course and tried to rip off her number! He physically tried to force her to stop running. That’s crazy!! Look how angry he is:

But then thankfully-- big, strong boyfriend had enough of this jerk pushing his lady around and saved the day…

Katherine Switzer is my new hero!!!

I’m kind of an emotional girl when it comes to running. I get teary-eyed and a lump in my throat at the start of races, at the end of important races or really just anytime I get a feeling of runner camaraderie or self-achievement. I’m just a sap like that, I guess, but the reason I’m telling you is because I had a lump in my throat for almost the entire movie.

Maybe it was watching the joys and heartache experienced by the athletes on the big screen. Or maybe it was the sense of pride, sitting in that theater with my fellow runners. We could understand how the runners in the movie felt. We’d all been there. Even though I didn’t know them personally, we had so much in common. We know what it’s like to run through pain, sacrifice time with loved ones or fall short of a goal. But we also know how it feels to finally cross that finish line or set that new PR and that is often what makes it all worth it.

One final comment on something in the movie that had never really crossed my mind before...One runner was talking about how unique the marathon is...what other sport can an everyday, average Joe run in the same exact event as the greats? We literally run in the footsteps of the elite. That's pretty amazing.

Movie Review: Without Limits

"I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it."

--Steve Prefontaine

Steve Prefontaine was a Bad. Ass. (Samuel L. Jackson would refer to him in another way, but this is a family blog). He was a runner who pushed himself in every race. He was also a bit of an arrogant bastard, too, but then again, when you’re a world class runner… you can be.

This movie, Without Limits stars Billy Crudup as Prefontaine. And it basically starts with Prefontaine as a high school senior being recruited by every college in the country. He winds up University of Oregon and the movie covers his life from then till his death at the age of 24. I know what you’re thinking… this is a movie about Steve Prefontaine as a person… it’s about his childhood, what made him so determined and strong willed, and that it’s about his relationship with a girl or his parents… But you know what? It’s not! It’s actually about his running career! I mean, sure there are some subplots about those things… but the film is basically about Prefontaine and the way that he competed. So, this is really a runner’s movie.

Prefontaine was apart of the running boom of the 1970s. (You’re thinking about Forrest Gump aren’t you?? Sheesh). He was basically a 5,000 meter race runner. Now, I never ran track and field… but apparently, 5,000 meters is considered an endurance event? (Okay, I’m staying away from that one). This movie showed his interaction with his fellow teammates, who, quite honestly, must have thought he was a total jerk. Everything was a competition to him… not just the races, but practices, too. He was always looking to be number one… to gain an edge and that’s pretty inspiring..

His coach at Oregon, Bill Bowerman, played by Donald Sutherland, has his own subplot in the movie… Bowerman actually started the company that is Nike today. And he was constantly using his wife’s waffle iron to make his athletes new shoes. Pretty crazy to imagine… a track coach making shoes. It makes sense though… and he must be a multi-billionaire at this point.

This movie didn’t try to turn Prefontaine into a saint. Because he wasn’t. He was just a kid. A really talented kid. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot regarding the olympics and how he died, etc… But it is an inspiring story. Inspiring in such a way that he pushed himself to the limit everytime he raced… He left everything out on the track during a race.

The only thing you’re left wondering at the end of the movie… is… what could have been if he had lived just a few more months… oh and also… how many seconds he could have shaved off his times if he’d cut his hair.

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."

-- Steve Prefontaine (my favorite quotation of his)