Runner's screed

[Balderdasha]

She's one of only 20 people who have ever completed it within the 60 hours since its inception in 1986.

[San Bernardhinault]

Is this the race where they all start each lap at the same time, and you also have to finish each lap within the cut off, so if you go too slow and pace yourself too sensibly in the early laps you get no recovery and no food?

[Balderdasha]

Is this the race where they all start each lap at the same time, and you also have to finish each lap within the cut off, so if you go too slow and pace yourself too sensibly in the early laps you get no recovery and no food?

I think that's a different one. But this is five loops, as much elevation as going up Mount Everest twice, no food or aid stations on-site and lots of bizarre rules like having to find books and rip out the page with your bib number on to prove completion: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons

[ursus arctos]

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.

[caja-dglh]

Is this the race where they all start each lap at the same time, and you also have to finish each lap within the cut off, so if you go too slow and pace yourself too sensibly in the early laps you get no recovery and no food?

This is 12 hour per lap, find books and get page, no smartwatches on absolutely crazy “I didn’t realize Tennessee had shit like that” terrain.

with a conch announcing the start an hour before (no fixed start time), no support, each lap in the opposite direction (until the last then each runner goes a different way, alternating).

it is completely crazy. The most beautiful part is how one guy running waited for Jasmin as the start of lap 5. His reasoning was to give her the choice of direction she wanted to go for it on. She chose clockwise.

There is also a lot of coverage from the photo guys on her making it. The chat was around hitting one point and the assessment being “she has maybe a 10% chance of finishing”

“So she has a chance”

[caja-dglh]

The book thing isn’t weird. It is to prove you hit the way points.

[ursus arctos]

Isn't weird in a profoundly weird context

[caja-dglh]

We are into a world where an orienteering race has crossed into niche ultra-running stuff. It is sleep deprivation and messing up using a map and compass that kills the elite on this race.

[San Bernardhinault]

So you have to complete each lap in 12 hours, as well as the total in 60? You can’t do a first lap in 13 then make it up at the back end?

[caja-dglh]

Nope. I believe you get timed out on any lap over the 12. It is an incredibly difficult race. There have only been 20 finishers. This year there was obviously no fog as that normally sends the whole race to shit.

also - this is not the race for negative splits.

they normally kill off most the crowd in lap 2 when it goes anti-clockwise and all the navigation gets blown to crap (plus you are heading into dark).

[San Bernardhinault]

Anyone who thinks Tennessee isn’t hilly has obviously not been concentrating. There’s a mountain national park, Dolly Parton country, all those “Cumberland Gap” type places. It’s the same people who - before they start - think the Rockies are going to be the hardest part of RAAM and not West Virginia and western Maryland. The hills might not be as tall, but there’s little flat to be had anywhere.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

In a more mundane achievement, this morning I completed my 200th parkrun, alongside my sister completing her 300th, at Byxbee parkrun in Palo Alto. Took a bit of co-ordinating to ensure we hit the respective milestones on the same day and on this trip, but we managed it with one to spare.

[Balderdasha]

Bboy completed his first 2k park run this morning and got his first result. He came 26th out of a field of 45. Very proud of him. He was competing against a group of three similar aged kids throughout and still trying to outsprint them at the end. When he finished he told me "My whole body hurts but I've learnt that I can keep going even when it hurts" so I think that's fantastic.

[Simon G]

After completing five 5k runs in 9 days on Friday, I managed to do 10k for the first time this year this morning.

I then walked around a fete type thing this afternoon and my legs now feel like they're going to fall off!!

[caja-dglh]

Well shit. I have some training to do as I am now in the 2025 Georgia Death Race. 16k elevation gain, 16k decline over about 74 miles.

You only have to carry a 1lb weight though (a railroad spike).

[San Bernardhinault]

Congratulations?

[ursus arctos]

The spike seems like gratuitous violence

Do you have to carry it in your hand?

[Janik]

Calling something a death race seems like bad advertising. But it clearly works. Then again Bboy’s reported post Parkrun comment about it hurting but you can still keep going anyway - that, basically, is running in a nutshell.

[caja-dglh]

I am not sure how they can enforce how exactly it is carried but it is certainly intended as a penance.

I have a friend who is running it for the fifth time and kindly let us all know it was signup day (it will be full same day). I can't imagine I will keep up with him, but we will see what his plan is (he might want comrades rather than a fast time).

[caja-dglh]

The Death Race is all about the spike and it being a burden that is thrown in a coffin at the end. It is a Western States qualifier (which in turn is one of the most prized US ultramarathons) so it really just rolls on recognition.

[ursus arctos]

I would try taping it to my back.

Not that I am in any shape to attempt a fraction of this.

[San Bernardhinault]

Training for all those hills is going to be hard in Chicagoland, isn't it? Interesting that it seems to have more elev-gain per mile than the Western States.

[San Bernardhinault]

I'm guessing you'd want the spike where it's least likely to cause abrasion and blisters. Perhaps stick it to the top of your hat like a Prussian Pickelhaube.

[caja-dglh]

Training for all those hills is going to be hard in Chicagoland, isn't it? Interesting that it seems to have more elev-gain per mile than the Western States.

Stairclimber. Same as for Killington. Stairs and box-steps. It is the downhills that scare me more. That is harder to train for. But my friend is in Central Florida so I can't claim excuses.

The spike really is my last concern. My normal daily bag never weighs less than 40lb.

[Balderdasha]

Stairclimber. Same as for Killington. Stairs and box-steps. It is the downhills that scare me more. That is harder to train for. But my friend is in Central Florida so I can't claim excuses.

The spike really is my last concern. My normal daily bag never weighs less than 40lb.

Stairclimbers are more even than natural hills and don't train all the necessary muscles. If at all possible, it's best to train on some real hills as well. Even if it's a small, bumpy hill that you just run up and down lots of times, it helps build a broader range of ankle and knee strength.

I only base this on a very fit friend of mine who trained on a stairclimber for the Three Peaks Challenge and didn't do any actual hillwalking in preparation. His knee gave way halfway up Scafell Pike.