The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014) - full transcript

[instrumental music]

[BBC Radio Announcer]

You're listening to

NewsHour from the BBC.

Coming up in the program,

we're going to be talking

to the founder of an

endurance race so tough,

hardly anyone has

ever finished it.

[Lazarus Lake] You always

have to keep people

a little off guard.

[Man] The first rule of

Barkley is don't talk about it.

If you talk about it,

then you're not going

to be part of it.

[BBC Radio Announcer]

So it's kind of secret?

[Laz] It kind of

weeds itself out.

If you belong here, you would

find out how to get here.

This is about you

by yourself against

all that out there.

[clock ticking]

[acoustic music]

[Interviewer] So

Laz, what is this?

This is my big

map of Tennessee.

Where I have marked down most

of the roads I've run on,

and I'm trying to think

right now where my marker is

so I can mark in

some that I've done

that I haven't

put on there yet.

All the orange roads I've

run, I remember them all.

Lots of hours went into this.

Lots of damn fun.

Yeah, I'd be curious to

know in continuous time,

how many hours of

running are in that map.

That guy is smarter than a

whip, smarter than dickens.

He looks like an old hillbilly

redneck, acts like one.

You know, people like to

think of him as this sadist

for creating

this race but,

that's not

him at all.

I mean neither is he.

Neither is he

a bleeding heart.

There is nothing less

pleasant to clean

than a rattlesnake.

I don't really even like

the man very much,

but I love him.

Does this make any sense?

You know he was one of

the original ultrarunners.

He was one of

the original ones.

[Interviewer] And what

are the Memphis Runners?

It was just the first

running club in Memphis.

What does that say '78?

[Interviewer] Space

Coast Marathon.

Yeah, '78.

Ah, that was a brutal race.

Yeah. [laughs]

I used to wear

shirts that size.

Those were the days.

I could run!

I could run fast.

It didn't seem like

I was very fast then,

but I feel it would

be really fast now,

if I could run the

times I ran then.

So those are hidden away,

Sandra doesn't know

I still have them.

[Interviewer] Is your

fuel gauge broken there?

[Laz] No.

[Interviewer] Oh okay.

We're just on empty?

[Laz] No, E means excellent.

F means you're fucked.

It's on E we're in

excellent shape,

we have plenty of gas.

Why, how does yours work?

Backwards?

[acoustic music]

Lazarus, Lazarus Lake,

in the white shirt and

the cigarette over there,

the guy that hung up

all the license plates,

he's a dangerous man.

He and Raw Dog are the guys

that invented this race.

They made this race out of

nothing, out of thin air.

[Interviewer] Who is the

mastermind behind the Barkley?

Oh, Raw Dog.

[Raw Dog] I have suggestions

to make it easier,

but the harder I protest,

the more that eggs him on.

[Interviewer] He

swears that it's you.

Which kind of leaves

me obligated to

swear that it's him.

[acoustic music]

[Interviewer] Would you

say the application process

is a secret?

Uh, it's not a

very good secret

because hundreds of damn

people are figuring it out.

It's like a series

of complicated

ninja moves to get in.

Part of the application

involves an exam.

I've never had to take an exam

to get into a race before.

If you're selected, you

get a letter of condolences,

Sorry to inform you,

you've been accepted

to run the Barkley.

I guess I should get

the map and some numbers

and stuff out now and,

start getting people

signed in, see who's here.

Still Julian Jamison?

Still the same.

You're going to finish 19th.

Okay, do I even have to start?

[people laughing]

And we now count

you as starting.

And 29.

And at this point

we are counting

you as a starter.

[Brett Maune] I'm Brett Maune.

I'm a physicist by training.

I do research in

semiconductor devices.

I finished the

Barkley last year.

I was the 10th finisher.

I feel like I have some

unfinished business

with not getting

the record.

The main goal is

to try and break

Flyin' Brian Robinson's

record of 55 hours,

42 minutes, and 27 or 37

seconds, I'm not sure.

So that's

basically the goal.

I mean, then second to

that just finishing,

then I'd be the only

two-time finisher.

[Marco Cych]

For the entrance fee.

Oh, okay, great.

[Marco Cych]

Application fee.

I'm getting rich here.

We don't give

anyone change.

No.

Well, a lot of people

think it's $1.60

to enter the race, but

that's really not accurate.

We charge $1.60

just to apply,

and we don't give the

$1.60 back, we keep it.

And that's my

retirement plan.

If you get accepted

into the race,

then the first year

when you're a virgin,

the first time you come,

you have to give us

a license plate from your

home state or home country.

There ya go.

You know, it was

hard to get this off

the state trooper vehicle

without just, sort of,

torching it so I

cut off the top.

[Laz laughing]

[Man] Something from France.

[Laz] Something from France

and we can tell this time.

[Man] Why? Because

it says France?

And then in succeeding

years, there's various things

really kind

of according to

what it is I need.

For years we charged

a white shirt.

Now I have a lot

of white shirts.

So we charged socks until

I had lots of socks.

Now we're charging

a flannel shirt,

'til I get flannel shirts.

This is your shirt.

All right.

That one will be special

because it's a German shirt.

Yeah, I had to

translate the sizes.

[Laz laughing]

[Laz] Oh yeah,

in centimeters I would have

had a really tiny shirt.

[Laz] It's a pretty

low budget production.

For anyone, regardless of

their economic situation,

if they want to see that

kind of a challenge;

it can be a poor college

student, can afford to do it.

[John Fegyveresi]

All right, John.

John Fegys.

Yeah, Fegy, that's me.

I'm John Fegyveresi,

I'm from Pennsylvania.

I'm sort of just a poor,

stipend-funded grad

student right now

and this is a great

event for that

because it only

costs $1.60 to do so.

This is my

first time here.

I study glaciology

and climate change,

paleo-climate actually.

Currently, I'm working

on a project where

we're looking at an ice

core from Antarctica.

Ah no, we like

the Antarctica plate.

All right. There you go.

That will add

a certain spice.

Numbers!

You like numbers right?

[John] Sure, yeah.

[Laz] Scientists and numbers,

they almost go together.

This is the ugly

truth and we now

are counting

on you starting.

All right, here we go.

Thank you, sir.

You are officially

in the starting field.

Fantastic.

[John]

It's hard to put

a finger on it.

I don't remember exactly

what it is I searched for.

Somebody may have

said something,

Oh, you think that's hard,

you should look at this race

they have down in Tennessee.

And I just started

reading the race reports

and it just was so

fascinating to me.

I was like, this is

what I gotta try.

Basically, for the last six

months I've done nothing

but eat, sleep, and

breathe this event.

I think people have

often said that

you could charge

a huge fee

and people would

pay it and come.

But I don't think you

would get the same

collection of people.

You like to have people

that will enjoy the race

and people that will

enjoy each other.

And, plus, for a $1.60

and a license plate,

if people have complaints,

I can just laugh.

You are

officially starting.

Oh my goodness.

I've got your shirt.

Excellent.

Have you made a fun run?

No.

I didn't think so.

It's my year.

You're a really good

runner not to have a fun run.

[people laughing]

Do you have the map?

Course map?

The master map is

around somewhere.

[Man] Here.

On Friday, we put

out one master map

and the people have

to mark their own map.

If they don't exactly

match the master map,

that's their own problem.

But it forces them to

have some familiarity

with what the layout

of the course is

and find out a lot of

things that it would be

a lot less convenient

to recognize that you

have this question

when you're eight

hours into the race.

Whenever you get

to the first trail

just start following it

and if it switchbacks down

you went the wrong way.

I thought it was right there?

- It is.

- It's not!

They got rid of that,

and now they're going...

I think the instructions

last were basically,

Keep on following

the ridge up and

climb to the highest point.

When it hurts more,

you're on the right path.

Or something like that.

To your right.

45 to your right.

[Wouter speaking French]

If you hit the big rock,

it's on this side.

If you hit the trail,

it's on that side.

Okay.

Jeep road, you go across,

and you go right?

No no, the

jeep road you go left.

You'll want the instructions,

the course map,

you'll know where all

the sweet new stuff is.

[Nick Hollon] Cool.

You're going to

like the new hill.

It's a source of

endless speculation,

decoding what Laz says.

There's this tree

that's got three trunks,

and there's this other tree

that's got four trunks,

and they're right

next to each other.

To him, that's like,

he really knows the area

and that means a lot.

As if that would

be helpful to me,

a tree with three trunks

when they're in a forest!

So his instructions

require you

to know the history

of his instructions.

I don't know

everyone who's in it.

I would be most worried

about Jared Campbell.

He was a past winner of the

Hardrock 100 in Colorado.

So he's clearly in

pretty good shape.

So he would be

my top concern.

However, he's a

virgin at the Barkley,

which gives him an

enormous disadvantage.

Ya know.

Which will definitely be

relevant on Loop five,

if it gets to that point.

So, we'll see.

Hopefully he's running,

I haven't seen him yet.

[Laz] You're seated

47th out of 35.

Fabulous.

I like to start at

the back of the pack.

I'm Jared Campbell.

I'm from Salt Lake City, Utah.

I'm an engineer,

mechanical engineer.

[Interviewer] Have you

ever been up here before,

to Frozen Head?

Never have.

Just drove in about

five to ten minutes ago.

So yeah, this is all

new to me at this point.

There's a great

website out there

with tons of

information on it.

I'm totally kidding.

There's no information

online at all,

so it really helps

to know somebody.

I think my intent is

to really go out and

pair up with someone

who knows the course

for at least

a lap or two.

Try to get it figured

out and go from there.

The virgins tend to want

to stick with a veteran

for the confidence in

knowing where they are

because they're seeing it

all for the first time.

But if you don't have a

certain number of veterans,

you just have people

wandering around

out in the woods all day.

I am Wouter Hamelinck

from Belgium.

I took my bike with

me, a folding bike,

that I had in my luggage.

And from Knoxville airport, I

was cycling over to the park.

I am here to run the

Barkley and well,

I try to get as

far as I can.

And as we know, that

might be not so far,

but okay we try to

make the best of it.

[Interviewer] Is it

well known in Europe?

I think it ranks among

the best known races,

US races, in Europe.

I've been here

two years ago,

and then it was a

rather total disaster

so I try to do

better than that.

[Interviewer] How did

you do two years ago?

Just one loop.

[Interviewer] Do you

have any goals this year?

Well you should at

least hope for five loops.

If you don't hope it,

you shouldn't start.

But I will be disappointed

if I don't get a Fun Run.

[acoustic music]

As you probably know,

the course adds up to...

Each loop is 20.00 miles.

And every time the

course changes,

somehow it's

still 20.00 miles,

even if he's directly

added something.

Maybe it's both.

Maybe it's exactly 20 miles

and maybe it's a bit more.

That's probably about

as true as you can get.

Part of the whole

adventure is

having a

little uncertainty,

having to use your

route-finding skills.

We do it twice clockwise,

a daytime loop clockwise

and a nighttime

loop clockwise,

and then a daytime

loop counterclockwise

and a nighttime loop

counterclockwise.

On the fifth loop we send them

out in opposite directions.

The first guy who

leaves on the fifth loop

can go either way he wants,

clockwise or counterclockwise,

but the next person has to

go the opposite direction.

Every loop you're doing

is going to be unique

because of the time of

the day and the direction.

I just hope to slog it

out and get to the end.

Really, that's my

whole objective.

I think I'd be thrilled

if I could finish 5 laps,

so that's it.

Try to have the best

time that I can out there

but I'm not going into this

thinking it's going to be fun,

to be honest.

If you're going to quit and

you know you're going to quit,

quit somewhere where

there's a trail by it.

If you're going to

quit, quit early.

No don't quit early,

or don't quit at all

because you gotta do five.

But if you're out

here, you're...

It took us, I think, four

hours just to get back.

That's after you quit.

Damn.

I just don't want to get

so lost that it becomes,

like, embarrassing

that I end up

having to get airlifted

out or something.

And yeah, become one of those

stories of miserable failures.

I just want to be a regular

failure like everyone else.

Well you know the

record for futility

is poor Dan Baglione who

covered two official

miles on the course and

was out there

for 32 hours.

So I now hold

the record for the

slowest absolute

pace ever at Barkley;

16 hours per mile.

[Interviewer] Are you

excited, are you nervous?

How do you feel right now?

Not yet.

I can't be nervous

until tomorrow morning.

[Interviewer]

How do you know it's not

going to start tonight?

Could be.

Yeah, so one of the

beloved features

is wondering when it'll start.

We actually only

narrow the start down

to about a 12-hour period

between midnight and noon,

on Saturday of race weekend.

And at the time

that me and Raw Dog

picked out a year earlier,

we blow a conch

shell and that means

the runners have one

hour until they start.

From trying to figure out

how to enter the race,

to actually finally

toeing the starting line

and going out

in the woods,

there's all kinds

of little things

that you just

have to deal with.

And I've found,

over the years,

people who have trouble

with any of those things

are not going to do

well out on the course

because it's not going to

be the way you planned it.

[serene instrumental music]

It was nice weather

for the snake.

[Wouter] What time is this?

[conch shell bellowing]

[Bev] There we go.

Okay.

Game on.

One hour to go.

There it is.

Time to get ready.

[Interviewer] How you feeling?

A lot better now since

the conch blew, man.

Yeah, I was

sort of stressing all night

because I was here last year

and had the middle

of the night start,

so you're sort of

anticipating that again.

You keep waiting for the

conch to blow all night long.

Didn't sleep too well.

[speaking in French]

It's been nerve

wracking just sitting here

so I'm happy to have heard

the noise and the conch shell,

and get ready to go.

I slept miserably

from, I think, about

10 to 7 so...

Miserable, but you never

really get good sleep

before a race so,

whatever.

I put my shirt on backwards,

that's not a good start.

[John] I think you

kind of have to come

at least hoping to finish.

I mean, especially when I

think about all that training.

I have to at least

believe that I could do it

so that's about as

best as I could say.

I know the odds are

super against me

and who knows?

But, I have to at

least say that...

60 hours, right? 60 hours.

[instrumental music

with clock ticking]

I've never gone quite that

long without sleep on an event.

The longest I've ever

gone is about 48 hours so

this will be in uncharted

territory for me as well.

[instrumental music]

With the Barkley,

there's,

since it's so steep

there's a lot of pressure

both on the front

and the bottom

of the heel.

[Interviewer] Does

everyone do this?

I don't see how you could

get by without doing it

because you're definitely

going to get blisters

on your heel

and after a while, that's just

going to become debilitating.

I don't think these

are even the socks

I was intending to wear

but they're on now so...

About ready?

Yeah.

You got plenty, you got

more than that or is that it?

I got one more bottle

and 100 ounce water.

Oh, okay cool.

Yeah, you're good to go.

I've got the Camelback, yeah.

You got your map?

Uh huh, yeah.

All right.

[Brett]

one, two, three, four, five.

[Hareem Maune] Wow, Aidan

do you have socks like that?

This is my favorite

day of the year.

I love this event.

[Interviewer] How many

times have you run it?

This will be my 16th.

[acoustic music]

[Man]

The most important thing is

how did you sleep last night?

Four minutes!

Oh, I slept like a baby.

[Man] Nice.

Because that's what's important.

That's what's important.

I knew when it would start.

[Man] Don't be shy, step on up!

Step right up!

Carl, behind the gate.

[people laughing]

[acoustic music]

Good luck, buddy.

All right, we've got

about a minute to go.

This would be the part of

the race where they give you

lots of good advice.

If y'all would take good advice,

you wouldn't be here.

[people laughing]

So in about 50 seconds, we're

going to light a cigarette.

Like all great races

in traditional history,

we light a cigarette and

that means they're off.

[Interviewer] Can they

jump over the yellow gate?

They are perfectly free to

jump over the yellow gate.

That might save them a couple

hundredths of a second there.

[Laz] Do it the right way.

Around, over, under or through.

If you're going to

face a real challenge

it has to be a real challenge.

You can't accomplish anything

without the

possibility of failure.

Pretty much everybody

you see go out there,

you really want

them to succeed.

You know that

most of them won't

and there is kind of

maybe a dark humor to all

the things that go on.

Some of the failures are

spectacular and really funny.

But you like to

see people have

the opportunity

to really find out

that something

about themselves.

[Instrumental Music]

[people cheering and clapping]

Good luck Stu.

[Interviewer] How

did the Barkley start

or where did you

get the idea?

The James Earl Ray escape.

Word that he had gotten

out of the prison

into this area and we

were familiar with it

because we'd hiked up

here for some years.

And because when trail running

started to become popular,

and we thought it was amazing

that people were running

astounding times on trails.

We didn't really have

a picture in our mind

of what kind of trails

they were running.

We thought of

trails like this.

We had

pretty well said,

man, this

would be such a...

I guess the only term, it would

be a ballbuster of a race.

[banjo and percussion music]

The Barkley course is

about one third on-trail,

and that's the formal

trail in the park,

and two thirds or

more off-trail,

keeping in mind

every year the course is

going to change a little bit.

The off-trail sections

are not marked.

[Interviewer] Is

anything marked?

No, no, there's no marks.

Nothing is marked.

You get a map, a compass.

Can't use GPS.

And this year, due

to popular demand,

they don't get to

use altimeters.

Whatever you can

carry on your back

and you're on your own.

We do try on most

years to put out

a couple of water

drops along the way

for people who are reluctant

to drink out of the creek.

Do you think one

year he'd let us fill

one jug with moonshine?

Frozen Head is a place that

creates its own weather.

[Laz] Howling winds and

hail, sleet, snow, ice

and this time, in the

spring in Tennessee,

you can get, especially at

Frozen Head, almost anything.

Both of the water

drops are at elevation

so there are years when

what we have out there

for the runners are

100 8-pound blocks of ice.

They come back and say,

the water is all frozen solid.

Yeah, it's 10 degrees.

What did you

think would happen?

[suspenseful music]

[Joel] Pillars of Doom.

Woo! That's slippery.

Watch out if you launch off.

There's nothing in the military

I did that was this hard.

I used to be in Special

Operations for about four years

and I've done some of the

hardest things you can do

and so I tell people

you might want to rethink this

'cuz I'm telling

you, it's no joke.

I truly think it's the

world's toughest trail race.

You know the real

attraction of it is that

every year there are

some really good people

that come to do it and

most years, nobody finishes it.

Barkley's out there on

the edge of possibility,

impossibility.

There's no other event that

I know of in this world

that is as hard.

When you talk about

being the hardest,

there's really not

such a measurement

because you have races

that are in extreme heat,

races that are at

extreme altitude.

So we never really

thought of it that

this will the

hardest race,

but we felt like you would

put something out there

that was right at the limit

of what people could do.

One of the big motivators

in running ultras

is that people want to

challenge their limitations.

They want to see how

much they can do.

And you can't really

tell how much you can do

until you try to do

something that's more.

[Joel] Whatcha got?

All right you're next,

go ahead Michiel.

[Frozen Ed] Bye!

Uh oh, go fast, go fast.

Here ya go.

I'm going to

start following Ed.

The first couple of years,

runners had a hard time

staying on course

and so I said,

Well, why don't you

put a book out there

and have each runner

tear out a page

to prove that they

got to that book?

And the race number that

you have corresponds to

a page in the books that

you're supposed to tear out

to show that you've been

through the whole course.

And so if you get

race number 35,

that means every time

you come to a book,

you have to pull out

page 35 of that book.

They're unofficial checkpoints.

They give us the assurance

that people did the course.

They give the other runners

the assurance because

some people will have

a tendency to think

maybe someone

else is cheating

and not doing

the right thing.

And some of the people

can't find their way around

and will come back and

believe in their heart

they did the loop when,

who knows where they went?

The titles are fun.

They'll be things

like The Valley of Death

or Almost Home,

things which you would

look at that book and,

knowing where you

are on the course

you would think to yourself,

Ah, he's just

messing with us now.

[Joel] This is The

Idiot , is the name of the book.

There is no live web update,

there's no chip-timing

here, there's books.

There's books that

we find in the woods.

How old school is that?

This year we had 11 books.

Ahhh! I found it!

[upbeat instrumental music]

All of the places out

there have their own names.

It just kind of

developed over the years.

And it's really kind of handy

because they're not

on the park maps.

So the people who wanted

to come out here and

wander into the areas

where people are really

not supposed to be,

don't have a map

reference to find them.

It's a unique hill.

It's the only one where

you can see the whole hill.

And when we came around

the corner, he said,

which is apparently

an old saying...

Let's see, my spectacles,

testicles, wallet and cigars.

And I just heard him

say testicle spectacle

and thought...

I just had this vision of

the people coming around.

It's kind of a test

of manhood

[breathes in]

So it became the

Testicle Spectacle

with an entirely

different meaning.

[dramatic music]

[upbeat instrumental music]

That's fucked up.

[Laz] Over the years, when

you drew the course map

it looked exactly like

the head of a rat,

with an open mouth.

So they started

calling it the Rat Jaw

and then it kind of stuck.

And because it has

all the briars,

or has some of the

worst briars most years,

that's where people

get the most rat bites.

They started calling their

briar scratches rat bites.

That's a saw briar.

Out in the woods, you

come on some of them

they're 20 to 30 feet

tall, have a stem that big

and thorns

about that long.

[Joel] Coming down Rat Jaw,

these briars are

fucking everywhere.

Ahhh!

The country people

had a name for them,

they were called

wait-a-minutes

because you step

into it with your leg

and a piece pulls down from

the back and snags your ear.

[Joel] Help me.

Ahhhh!

[Man] On your face?

[Joel] In my ear. Got it.

And then when the

runners get tired,

they just put their arms in

front of their face and go.

[instrumental music]

[Man] Hey Laz, who's

this year's Human Sacrifice?

Tim Hardy.

And Tim is in way

over his head.

Tim Hardy is really good

and done a lot of good stuff

but he's kind of

playing it by ear

and, yeah, he's dead.

Every year, the

runners seem to like,

even at the risk of

losing one chance

at getting a

slot themselves,

that one person

gets entered

who has absolutely no

business out there.

Thanks.

[Man] How did he get number one?

Is he the top seed?

He is the top seed.

Yeah, I'm the

top seed, all right.

We expect him

to be back first.

You just wade through all

of the available information

and you find

that person,

that poor

unfortunate soul,

who's gonna be in

way over his head.

It was going to take

me at least three hours

to get up to book seven

and I was out of water.

[mumbles]undertrained

for this one.

Just kinda hard to...

[Interviewer] Just

hard over all?

Yeah.

This is the hardest

course I've ever been on.

[Alyssa Wildeboer] Tim.

Yeah.

[Alyssa] Where'd you make it to?

[Tim] Not very far.

[Alyssa] Not very far?

[Tim] Get your bugle out.

Okay, the first one all year,

it might be a little rusty.

[Tim] That's alright, you

gotta start somewhere.

[Laz] We play Taps

to commemorate

that they came up

short of the mark.

[Taps playing on bugle]

I learned how to play

the bugle in scouts.

And when Gary found out

I could play the bugle,

this was probably 15 years ago,

he suggested that

I should play taps

every time someone quits

or is timed out or

does not continue.

They get tapped.

I guess it's a way of

[people laughing]

the final punishment,

I guess.

Let's the whole camp

know that somebody quit.

[Taps on bugle finishes]

[Man] Good job.

Welcome back

Way to go guys.

[Laz] All right, all

the way touch the gate.

7:41:07 and :06.

Good times out there.

[Laz] Isn't that sweet?

Oh, it's a little slice

of heaven you got out there.

Bev and Alan are probably

going to be about 10

minutes behind us.

This may be the best

you're going to see me, so.

7:44:28 and :30.

[Laz] So how did you like

it? Was it about what you

were expecting?

[Bev] Oh, it was fabulous.

When you get back

to the yellow gate,

it's the

interloopal period.

It's only that

interim period,

interloopal,

that you're

allowed to get aid.

[Laz] You are free

to go to the campsite,

replenish your stocks.

You can sleep if you

think you have time.

[Paul] If you're continuing

on, the clock never stops.

The clock doesn't stop

until the runner stops.

When you're in camp,

there's a tremendous

temptation to not go back out.

You don't want to have

that debate in your mind.

You just silence the debate

before you even start running.

[Jared]

I had some good guides.

I'd be still looking for

Book one if I didn't have

Brett and the Abbs.

I'm ready, yeah sure.

All right, thanks y'all.

[Woman] Good luck.

Have fun.

Okay, will do.

See ya.

Thanks Matt, for your

help, by the way.

[Laz] Boy that pace

is pretty impressive.

[Laz] All right, Wouter!

- 11 pages.

- [Laz] Touch the gate.

8:23:16.

[Laz] Do you want to make sure

of your count before you go?

[Wouter] You can count them.

[Laz] Well, yeah.

45.

57.

[Man] Good job.

one, two, three.

[Laz] 9:07:24 and 25.

If you don't have

the right amount,

you may wish you had.

My heart rate monitor says

I burned 7,000 calories.

I only ate about three.

You didn't even make

it to the prison?

No.

You just don't know

what you missed, anyway.

[helicopter noise]

[acoustic music]

[Joel] We're supposed

to go to the Northeast

corner of the prison

and there's a stream

coming out of a tunnel

underneath the prison.

And we're going

to crawl into that

and crawl

under the prison.

That's the instructions.

And it's an active

prison, apparently,

so there are

guards here.

Well, this is an interesting

Barkley tradition.

We are walking

under the prison.

[suspenseful music]

Eight years have passed

since James Earl Ray

began serving a

99-year prison sentence

for the assassination

of Dr. King.

His escape was big

news when it happened,

at least in Tennessee.

And I think most

everywhere in the country,

that it was big news.

He was a famous bad guy

and then he'd got out of

this inescapable prison.

Police with bloodhounds

on the ground,

helicopters with infrared

detection devices in the air,

all of them scouring a

five square-mile area

in the rugged

Tennessee hill country

around the maximum-security

Brushy Mountain Prison

near Petros, Tennessee.

The object of

their manhunt:

six convicts including

James Earl Ray.

I'm Stonney Ray Lane.

I was Warden of Brushy

Mountain Penitentiary

from the years 1976 to 1980.

We have an extensive

manhunt still going on

involving Brushy Mountain

Correctional Officers.

Ray and his

two companions

went straight up

the mountain.

[TV Reporter] At first, prison

officials were confident

they would apprehend James

Earl Ray within hours

not far from the prison.

But hours have now

turned into days,

and the search area has

expanded to distances

far from the prison.

For a while over

the weekend,

James Earl Ray

was at the top

of the FBI's

Most-Wanted List

for the second

time in his life,

then the

hunt ended.

He was taken in

custody in the woods.

He had laid down, covered

himself up with leaves,

pulled leaves over him,

and the dog team walked up on

him and took him in custody.

He was worn out.

He had been out 54 hours.

[Reporter] How far away

from the prison is that?

We're talking about,

what? Eight miles?

[Man] Yeah.

Eight miles.

The old story, you

might beat Brushy

but you're not going to

beat those mountains.

And this concludes one

of the largest manhunts

in the history

of Tennessee.

We talked about his

kind of pathetic attempt

and only going 8.5

miles in 54 hours.

And I said I thought I

could go 100 miles out here

in that length of time.

So that was sort of

the benchmark to see

if people couldn't go

100 miles out here and...

Some can but not many.

[Joel] We are on the

other side of the prison,

and the book.

I occasionally

get angry mail,

angry emails and

letters from people

who believe that this is

some sort of a tribute

to James Earl Ray.

It's much more

of the opposite.

[Man] There's a man

with a mission right there.

You are now

a free man.

Go out there

and get it, man.

[Man 1] Get it man.

Looking real good.

[Man 2] Good job,

looking good.

[Laz] 9:20:42.

It's warm out

there, Laz.

It's supposed to be

a lot better tomorrow.

Is it?

About 10 degrees warmer.

One of the

previous finishers

thought that in a hot year,

no one could finish.

Given the forecast,

it will be the warmest

Barkley on record.

To the gate in 9:29:52.

So you're perfectly

on your 9:30 pace.

And 9:47:42.

[Man] Good job, Rob.

You are looking good.

A little warm

out there today.

[Man] You have finished

the Fun Run, haven't you?

No.

[Man] Okay, I

think you've got a chance.

Yeah, I'm going to try.

Oh, he's got it in the bag.

It's not even going

to be hard for him.

[Man]

You've got a chance!

I've got a chance.

Go get it!

-Are you ready to

be on your own?

-I am.

You are now officially

in a new loop.

[Laz] You ready to be free?

You are into loop

two at 10:18:20.

Saturday night

is always fun.

All night long you'll watch

them come down quitter's road

real slow.

[Woman] And they

come down this way?

Lots of 'em will.

[Laz] All right.

I've gotta have

those numbers right.

So was it easier

than you thought?

Oh yeah.

I'd say you still have a

chance to win this thing.

All right, that's

what I need to hear.

That's it.

All right, let's

go get some food.

[Laz] Where did you drop?

[Man] On his head,

it looks like.

[Terry Cash] Testicle.

I've gotta be the

first drop I'm sure.

[Man] Nope, second.

And we were actually

just commenting

on how few there were.

And there'll be more

to join you soon.

Yes.

[Laz] All right.

Virgin going out alone at night.

[Laz] Alone at night.

You do have a light?

[Man] You've got a jacket?

Yeah.

115 at 10:54:11,

go get 'em.

[Man] Go Ed.

[Laz] All right, Ed!

12:15:19!

Touch the gate.

[Man] Touch the gate, boom!

[James] James,

letting the Brits down

in their fine record.

[people laughing]

[Laz] You going back out?

-No

[Laz] You haven't lived until

you've done the night loop.

[David] Yeah,

night loop's real good.

I'm afraid I won't

live if I do a night loop.

[Laz] Are you sure?

I'm sure. I'm done.

[Laz] Because if you're done,

we have a man to

play a song for you.

Oh excellent.

[Laz] Are you sure?

I'm sure.

I've had all I can take.

I've had all I can handle.

I couldn't even

comprehend what it was.

I thought I had an idea,

but I had no clue.

[Joel] We are

coming to hear taps.

[Ed] My legs hurt so

much I feel stupid

for starting another loop,

but it's what I came here for.

[Laz] Go get 'em Ed!

[people cheering]

[Ed] Thank you!

[Man] You can do it!

[Elise Harrington]I'm goin' out.

[Woman] You're goin'

back out for loop two?

[Laz] There's a

runner going back out.

All right!

And you're number 127.

Okay.

[Laz] Tear 'em up,

we'll see you in about

9.5 hours.

[Laz] For some people,

to finish the Fun Run

is the accomplishment

of a lifetime.

And for some of them

to finish one loop

is the achievement

of a lifetime.

And for some people,

just to get back to camp alive

is all they want

in the world.

[Laz] DeWayne!

You're not doing the

reverse loop are you?

Are you

tap-worthy?

How far did you get?

[DeWayne] Temple of Doom.

[people laughing]

[Man 1] Do you

feel as good as you look?

[DeWayne] The Pillars of Doom.

I laid on the trail waiting

for somebody but nobody came.

[people laughing]

[Man 2] You didn't

wait long enough.

Taps.

[Laz] You still

have time to go back out.

[Taps playing on bugle]

[people laughing]

[Laz] It's highly unlikely that

anyone will die out there

because we try to

make sure that people

know what they're doing

and you have some control

over the situation,

but they are going to

figuratively die because

they're going to fail.

They're going to get to the end.

They are people who

are used to succeeding.

We have such a high

number of people

that have graduate degrees

because they set goals,

they accomplish them,

they don't let anything

stand in their way.

And I think the race

appeals to them because

they could fail.

[instrumental music]

[Jared] This climb really

scrapes the hell out of you.

Yeah.

It's just razor-sharp down

there, you'd be amazed.

[birds chirping]

[Laz] All right.

You alright?

Time for taps.

Time for taps?

[Man 1] What?

[Man 2] Oh no!

You have 16 hours to

finish another loop.

You could get a little rest,

you might feel better.

Think how good it'll feel

when you finish

that third loop.

[Man 1] You came a long way

for a 40-mile training run.

Are you absolutely positive?

[Man 1]

Is that your final answer?

Is Dave uh... You are the

luckiest man this morning.

It's been ugly.

[Taps playing on bugle]

[Electronic Voice]

That was easy.

[crowd laughing]

[people clapping]

[Wouter] First loop was fine.

A bit fast, but okay.

But then the second

loop, my feet gave up.

My feet were totally wasted.

I'm disappointed.

I only got two loops.

In any given year,

there's probably

at least several people

who could finish.

But at the end of the day,

either due to some run

management issue,

like dehydration and

not eating properly

and frequently enough, or

due to mental

breakdown, essentially,

one of those reasons,

they end up not doing it.

But yeah, the mental

aspect is key.

[Laz] Magnificent effort, Byron.

[Byron] Taps please.

[Laz] There's a man who

never brings anything back,

leaves it all on the course.

I arrived at the yellow

gate and said, Taps please.

I'm done.

Barkley won, there's

nothing else I can do.

Sometimes, when

something defeats us,

we feel the need to

go back and prove

something to ourselves,

I guess.

I don't feel that

way about this.

It was just, I gave

everything I had

and it wasn't enough,

and I'm okay with that.

[John] Still on time to

maybe do it so,

we'll see.

I haven't slept.

[Interviewer] Oh,

you haven't yet?

[John] No.

[Interviewer] Are you trying

to plan some time for sleep?

[John] Yeah, I'll see how I feel

when I get back to camp.

But my limit is

sort of 48 hours.

I get kind of

weird after that.

I'm starting to

mumble my words.

[Laz] Yep, I

gotta change sides.

[Man] Oh yeah.

[Woman] And I know

what that's all about.

[crowd cheering and clapping]

Most of the people

that finish the Fun Run

kind of treat it as sort

of a lifetime achievement.

Really, we didn't even

say it was a 100-mile

race for several years,

although that

concept was there,

because people couldn't

even finish the Fun Run.

And once people started

finishing the Fun Runs,

then you say well,

you know the real deal

is to go 100 miles.

And the Americans just

had a fallback mentality

that the race

was the Fun Run,

the 100 was impossible.

[Interviewer] Who

was the first one?

Mark Williams.

Came from England.

He was one of the

first foreign entries

when we started to suddenly

get people from overseas.

He finished it in 1995,

so it had been going

on for close to,

if not at, 10 years.

Once someone finished, you

knew it really could be done.

And then it was an

additional six years before

a second person finished it.

Each year that no

one finished,

that appealed to a set

of people that liked to

be out there at

the limit.

And then people

would come

and they would be angry

when they got to the race

and ran it because it was

exactly like we said it was.

That loop really

took a lot out of

both Jared and I.

[Aidan Maune] Daddy!

[Hareem] Daddy,

can you say cheese?

[Brett] Cheeeeese.

[Hareem] Do you want two more?

Do you need anything else?

Good job Aidan, good job.

[Hareem] Do you want to

bring a shake with you?

A strawberry shake?

Mrs. Maune, he said he

might take that soup or...

[Alyssa] At

least you're having fun.

Oh yeah.

No, there were parts of that,

that were definitely not fun.

I felt

terrible though.

I don't know, I felt really

good the first few laps but

this last one was rough.

Things weren't

looking good.

Jared was just

waiting for me.

[Aidan] Dad, way up high.

Daddy, daddy

[kid mumbles]

No, no, no.

[Ed] Great job.

Course record,

course record!

[Laz] 163 and 165,

y'all have fun out there.

[people clapping]

[Man 1] Outstanding!

[Man 2] Tag the

gate, tag the gate.

[Laz] All the way!

32:14:47,

32:14:51.

You've got it made now.

It's all downhill from here.

[Alyssa] Good job guys.

[Laz] See y'all back

in about half an hour?

[Alan] Uh, yeah.

[John] Oh.

[Alyssa] Do you

know where you dropped Bev?

Yeah, on top of Stallion.

And thank you for a nice,

neat, orderly pile of pages.

Three down,

that's kind of cool!

[Alyssa] Yeah it is,

it's way cool.

Fun Run in the bank.

[Alyssa] Virgin Fun Run!

We got Mountain Dew

or caffeine pills?

[John] I kind of

don't want to take it

because I feel like

I don't need it yet.

Hey Nick, what

time are you going?

[Nick] Uh, in about 13 minutes.

You?

I just need to get at least

500 to 700 calories in me.

[John] Yeah, um.

I'll try to go

with you guys,

but I might not

quite make it.

[Alyssa] How about a Payday?

Oh, bomber. Yeah.

[John] It kind of started, so I

was just sort of working,

had a house, was doing

the whole domestic thing

and had this weird sort

of life-changing thing.

One year I just said,

I'm going to hike the

Appalachian Trail.

And I did that and I sort of

got hooked on that adventurous,

challenge lifestyle.

And then from there, I decided

to do a few more thru-hikes.

And I went home for Christmas

to visit with my family

and an old high school

friend was there.

We went out for a

beer and he said,

Yeah, I've got my first

marathon next weekend!

And I kind of just

sat there thinking,

that's something I

could probably do.

I know my dad ran a

marathon years ago.

I'm going to

give it a try.

The leaders,

these two guys.

That's four; me

is five.

If Bev's still in

it, that's six.

And then Travis,

that's seven.

I wonder if

Tim's still in it?

[Alyssa] No.

Tim Englund?

He dropped

at the tower.

Aw.

Hey man,

it's remarkable.

-Good job.

-Thanks, man.

[Aaron] How are your

feet holding up?

Uhm, ya know.

They're okay.

Just gotta get

through two more.

You ready, Nick?

Yeah, let's get the

hell out of here.

I think it's going

to be Nick and I,

and if John wants

to catch up to us

You've got

everything you need?

Yep.

Dropped off everything

you don't need.

Yep.

[Man] Way to go, Alan.

You are now an

independent human being.

169, good stuff.

Cool.

[Ed] Okay, way to go, Nick.

[Laz] Go get 'em.

[Man] All right, go get 'em!

Good luck.

[Nick] Thank you.

[Nick] Have you started

a fourth loop ever?

[Alan] Nope.

[Nick] All right.

[Laz] Have you handed

off everything

you need to hand off?

171, you're a free

man. Go get it.

171.

[Laz] 32:53:17.

[Man 1] Very good!

[Man 2] Good luck, John.

[Ed] Great job John!

[Man 1] Way to go, John.

[Ed] We want two more.

[Man 1] Two more!

[Man 2] But we'll

start with one right now.

[Man 3] Don't forget,

you're representing

an entire continent!

[Ed] Go Antarctica!

No pressure, though.

[people clapping]

34:29:10.

Well, you got

about 13.5 hours to

get turned around.

[Bev] No, check and mate.

You sure? You've got time.

Yeah, my knee is not

going to take another one.

I wish I could.

[Julian] The briars are actually

a little better this year.

I know, I know.

Sorry to say that, you went

a lot further than I did.

[Bev]

Oh, this is going to be ugly.

I guess I won't be wearing

any dresses for a while.

I think most people

would be better off

with more pain in

their lives, honestly.

I think they would,

if nothing else,

appreciate the

pain-free times more.

But I think also there's

this self-induced aspect

of, you've struggled,

you've overcome,

you've gotten through,

then you're confident

and you both enjoy the

rest of your life more,

but also you feel

like you can do things

and you take on challenges that

you wouldn't otherwise try,

and you get to points that

you wouldn't otherwise reach.

[upbeat percussion music]

[people cheering and clapping]

[Laz] All the way to the gate!

35:36:29.

or 35:36:29

All right, Rob,

you've got 25 minutes

to start on the 100.

Do you wanna go on?

I don't think so.

[Laz] Are you sure?

2012 was all

about the Fun Run.

Maybe someday.

[Laz] Great job.

Thank you.

Yeah, I worked

super hard for this.

This is my sixth attempt.

[Laz] It sounds

like he wants taps.

[Man] Finally, huh?

-This is an odyssey that's

spanned over 15 years.

-One last chance, Rob.

No.

I far exceeded what

I thought I could do.

[Taps playing on bugle]

[Laz] People have their own

concepts of success and failure.

A lot of them, by the time

that they've been through

the ordeal,

really are not concerned

how other people evaluate

their performance.

They make their

own judgments

about success

and failure.

[instrumental music]

[Laz] Who's first?

[people clapping]

[Hareem] Here Brett.

[Laz] Brett?

[Brett] Brett.

[Hareem] You get to decide the

route only when you sign out.

[Man] Yeah, Jared!

[Laz] Jared, all the

way to the yellow gate.

[Hareem] You've

got four gels, Brett.

I waited for him.

[Man] Yeah?

He was having trouble.

[Man] Did you get

off course at all on that one?

I stayed with him.

This better not come

back to haunt me.

[Hareem] Do you want socks?

Please change socks.

Ah screw it, I don't

need the jacket.

[Hareem] Another banana?

Fig Newtons? Cookie?

[Brett] No. I think

I'm ready to go.

[Hareem] Eat it.

All of it.

One bite, Brett.

[Brett] What's this again?

[Man] That's

chocolate with caffeine.

I'm following you, I

got you with the bag.

[Mrs. Maune] Bye Brett.

[Laz] You ready?

[Hareem] I didn't put any

Endurolytes, do you need any?

[Brett] No.

[Hareem] Do

you need another shake?

Good?

[Brett] No, I'm fine.

Now?

[Brett] Yeah.

173.

[Hareem] Good luck, Brett.

[Woman] Good luck, Brett.

Nice job.

[Man] Ring the bell.

[bell ringing]

[people cheering and clapping]

[Brett] It's only around

lap four or lap five

where it would really start

to morph into a true race.

But it's so rare that you have

even two people

get that far that

it's a rare event

when it happens.

I know I would

race someone who's

also starting a loop five

in the opposite direction

and I'm sure they would as well.

[Interviewer] Are you

kind of hoping for that?

Uh, yes.

Definitely.

Yeah, yeah.

It would be really exciting,

and I think it would lead

to an overall lower time,

knowing that there's

someone out there.

That can only encourage

you to go faster.

[Laz] Who is it?

[Alan] It's Alan.

I didn't make it.

[Laz] I was gonna say,

isn't this the wrong direction?

[Alan] Yep.

[Laz] You didn't make it?

[Alan] No, I had problems

on Pighead Creek.

I got all screwed up.

[Laz] Oh man, you

made it to Pighead?

Yeah, then who

knows where after that.

[Laz] You went down Pighead?

Yeah.

Little disappointing

how it turned out.

[Man] Is that the

furthest you've gone?

Yeah.

[Man] Good job.

[Travis] Who were you with?

Nick and...

I was with Nick and John.

How strong did they look?

Uh, John was looking

pretty strong.

[Laz] Not Nick?

Well, Nick uh...

He'll probably do pretty well.

He was kind of up and down.

[instrumental sad music]

[Man] Yay, Nick.

Wooo!

All right.

I'm disappointed in

myself on that but you're...

You did almost four loops.

That puts you in

pretty thin company.

Yes.

Quitters Road is so long.

[people laughing]

It was awful.

Was John Fegys with you?

Did John already come in?

No.

He hasn't come in yet?

Shoot.

[Man] Way to go!

46:26:28.

[John] I got so lost out there.

[Joel] Is there

anything you want?

[Laz] He wants to have 11 pages.

You going straight back out

or you need a little break?

[John] I need a little break.

I don't have time

to sleep either.

[Travis] No. Listen

to me, I'm not saying sleep,

I'm just saying you just...

[John] Oh, my feet hurt so bad.

I mean, it hurts so bad to run.

Oh, I'm going to be

running in a lot of pain.

Do you actually

have any dry socks?

[Travis] Oh yeah.

Because all my socks are damp.

They want to beat each other

and they will race

their guts out.

But as failure, for

one reason or another,

overtakes each one

of those top guys,

they become

like a defacto

crew of the people

who are left.

And when it winnows down

to that single runner

that's surviving,

he's got an aid crew

that's like a who's who.

The amount of knowledge and

experience and accomplishments

in that group,

helping him to go on

so that someone can succeed,

while if any one of them

were out there with him

at the same time,

they'd be trying to beat him.

[Travis] Your arms

and legs look like a scene

from Passion of the Christ.

I've never had blisters

my entire life.

[Alyssa] And

you've never done four loops

at the Barkley in

your entire life.

[people laughing]

[Joel] So you're

not going to pop them?

I'm not going to what?

[Joel] Pop 'em?

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know if I have

anything to pop them with.

Does somebody have a little

tiny knife or something?

[Travis] Do some

surgery on your feet.

It's going to pay

huge dividends later.

13 hours.

[Ed] I would try

to poke through it

so you get two

little holes in it.

[Travis] I'm going

to let you do it.

[Ed] It'll drain out better.

Good, perfect.

If you can just poke

it right through.

Ouch. Hurts me to watch.

[John] Oh, God,

that hurts so bad.

[Joel] What I just

did or your side?

[John] No, just, like, running.

I just need to muscle

through it for 12 more hours.

There's nothing I can do

about the stuff under my...

[Joel] The macerated feet, no.

It's going to take probably

six to 12 hours to dry out.

Uh, if these means I can

run though, I'll be so happy.

[Aaron] John, don't

let these guys

stop you from

going back out.

[people laughing]

I know, I do have

to get moving.

Am I okay to put

a sock on now?

[John] Travis, thanks

for dealing with my feet.

[Travis] I got a one-hour

warranty on that.

[Joel] Aside from this,

are you feeling good?

[John] Yeah.

[people cheering and clapping]

[Ed] All right, John, way to go.

You're the man.

This has never

happened before.

Three people

on loop five.

Never in history.

[Alyssa] Never in history?

You're part of history, John!

[Laz] You got

everything you need?

Dropped off everything

you don't need?

I got a water

right there, right?

[Joel] Yes, your

flask is in there.

All right.

[Laz] 47:13:00

[Man 1] 177

[Man 2] You're gonna do it!

[Man 3] Great job, John.

[people cheering and clapping]

[Crowd] Bell! Ring the bell!

[bell ringing]

[Man 1] Keep on going,

Johnny, way to go!

[people laughing]

[Man 1] Don't turn around.

[people laughing]

I told Carl, I said,

Man, It's hard to believe

it's already Sunday.

He said, It's Monday.

I said, It's time

for me to take a nap.

[Travis] You got

some sleep.

It didn't make

me better did it?

[Travis] I wouldn't

say you look rested.

So what happened while

I was in slumber-land?

[Travis] Wouter just came back

from the tower and...

Both pages were gone.

And Brett was

heading down.

So they met somewhere.

So it could be a race.

[suspenseful instrumental music]

[Alyssa] What is the

record, 55 or 56?

55.

Do you think that's

going to fall?

I don't know,

there's no telling.

And if it falls, who will it be?

[Travis] I didn't think

it would be this close.

[Alyssa] I know.

What a year!

[dramatic instrumental music]

[Brett] I always

expected to see Jared

around the next corner, and

then the race would be over.

Then I knew he

was going to win.

Where's daddy?

Let's go find Daddy.

[Man 1] Here he comes!

[Mrs. Maune] There

he is, round the bend.

And he's running!

[people cheering and clapping]

[Mrs. Maune] Love you!

[Brett] I didn't believe

I actually won until

I got to the gate

and did not see Jared

amidst the

assembled crowd.

[people cheering and clapping]

[Man] How much

sleep did you get?

One hour.

[Man] One hour, nice.

[Laz] Oh God.

Let nothing go wrong here.

[Ed] That's probably almost

three and a half hours off

the course record, I think.

Let me shake your hand,

this is just unbelievable.

[Brett] Yeah, I couldn't find

the first book for two hours.

[Laz] The first book?

[Man] Oh wow.

Yeah.

[Laz] But that's the easy one.

Yeah, I know!

[people laughing]

[people cheering and clapping]

[Joel] 52:03:08.

[Ed] The old record is 55.

Oh, thank you Aidan, thank you.

Daddy, eat this!

Yeah? Okay.

Yummy.

Yummy?

[people cheering and clapping]

[Man 1] There he is!

[people cheering and clapping]

[Man 2] Right on!

[Ed] Congratulations.

I'm glad to be

done with that.

Take that stuff off.

You're a bad bad man.

[people laughing]

[Man] You're the

11th person to finish this.

Sweet.

[Laz] You did a hell of a job.

Was it easier than you expected?

No.

It wasn't.

That was brutal.

Simply brutal.

[Man] What was the time?

Yeah, what was the time?

56:00:16.

Fun work.

-It was fun running with you.

-Yeah

It was quite the experience.

[people cheering and clapping]

I would have been

lost without this guy.

Seriously.

So thanks man, that was fun.

[Laz] Y'all made

an impressive team.

[Jared] Yeah.

[Laz] The camaraderie

of competition.

I hear people that talk

about, they well...

The competition is just

too hardcore for them

or they feel like

it's too rough,

but there's a closeness

between people

that you compete with.

One of my best friends

in my life was a guy

I competed against for

three years in high school,

and it was

something we shared.

And they share

that out here.

And especially in

this situation,

where the possibility

of success is so low.

Is anyone else out

on the fifth loop?

[John] As soon as I got

out in the middle of

nowhere, when I was out

on the Spectacle

and kind of just,

it's hot and just

out there by myself

and I knew everybody else

in the entire race was done,

and it was just me, I was

the only one on the course,

I started to,

like, really panic.

[suspenseful music]

There was this

focus, in growing up,

to be conservative when

it comes to your future

and have some good

plan for retirement,

and then travel and see the

world and do all this fun

stuff when you retire.

I was really good about

that but then, uh...

Yeah, so kind

of in one year

I had a series of a few

deaths in the family

and then I was in a

relationship for 10 years

and that ended so it

was like all this crap

just all happened to me

in one calendar year.

It was awful.

I was in a

really bad place.

[dramatic instrumental music]

One of the deaths in

this case involved

was my father,

who had done just

what he had told me

and saved all this

money for him and my mom

to travel the world

and he passed away one

year before his retirement.

That's when I realized

that you gotta live.

You've gotta live your life.

[upbeat instrumental music]

I used to, when I

would go out on trails

and hike and run,

I never really

thought about

just turning

things off

and taking in

the beauty of it.

And there would have been a

day where I was just like,

Oh, that's cool,

and kept walking.

But now, I really

try to just be like,

okay stop,

and realize how lucky

I am to be seeing

the cool things

that I'm seeing.

Suck the marrow

out of this

because you could get hit

by a bus tomorrow, man.

Like, this is amazing

this world we live in.

Ughhh, I really don't

want to get my feet wet.

[instrumental music]

[clock ticking]

Fegys is out

there somewhere.

[Travis] Yeah,

didn't expect that.

[Man] He's gotta move.

He's got no

room for error.

You can't write off

somebody 'cuz you don't know

how much they can come up

with from deep down inside,

but they're really

up against the clock.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[Man] How much

time does he have?

[Travis] He's got 26 minutes.

That'll be the tightest

that anyone's finished it.

[Wouter] 25 minutes left?

[Laz] He has 24 minutes left.

[cicadas chirping]

[people cheering and clapping]

[Man 1] Good Job, John.

[people cheering and clapping]

[Alyssa] Way to go, John!

[Man 2] Yeah!

[Man 3] Yeahhhhh!

[people cheering and clapping]

[Wouter] Touch it! Touch it!

[people cheering and clapping]

[Ed] All right, John, way to go!

Way to go!

59:41:21.

[Man 1] Awesome.

[Man 2] There's a

chair right behind you, John.

One more thing.

Right here.

[Electronic Voice]

That was easy.

[people laughing]

[Ed] Way to go John,

congratulations.

Awesome, awesome.

[Laz] I guess

there's a formality.

Let's pray for 11.

I counted them before.

Congratulations, John.

[Man] Oh yeah.

How does it feel to

be the slowest man ever

to finish this race?

[people laughing]

[Ed] Great job,

that's fantastic.

[John] The whole

reason for the Barkley

is so that you basically

crawl across the finish line.

Barely!

And you are so

shredded and ripped up

that you couldn't have gone

out for another 20 minutes,

and like that is

exactly my experience.

I mean, I finished

with barely enough time

and my feet were destroyed

and I was dehydrated

and I was hallucinating.

It was just every

possible thing.

There's no way I could

have run another two miles.

There's just no way.

I was totally at

the absolute limit.

So many people told me,

even before I knew

I wanted to do it,

just that like, you

have to be super elite

to finish Barkley.

And I just refused

to believe that.

I was like, I think if you

really want it bad enough,

Joe Schmo like

me can finish.

It's not going to be pretty

and it's not going to be fun

but it's going

to be possible.

[Joel] You're finisher

number 13 right?

[Man] Yeah.

[Joel] Lucky number 13.

[Wouter] 12th person.

[Joel] 12th?

[Wouter] 12th person.

[Joel] Oh, 12th

person, yeah, yeah, yeah.

13th finisher.

Man can only enjoy

that which he acquires

with hard work and toil.

The harder you

work for something,

the more

you enjoy that.

If something is easy,

how much reward is there?

I think people that

go through this,

they're better for it.

They're not

made of better stuff

than other people

but they're better for what

they've asked of themselves.

Put the guilty with

the innocent victims.

[people laughing]

[Man] What a year!

[camera clicking]

[camera clicking]

[surreal instrumental music]

[Interviewer] Something

we never asked you about

is the name

of the Barkley,

and where

that came from.

It's named after

Barry Barkley.

Hello, my name

is Barry Barkley.

A friend of mine named

a foot race after me

and it's called the

Barkley Marathons

and I have no idea

why he did it.

[Laz] We didn't know

we'd make him famous.

[Interviewer] How did you

decide to name the race

after Barry?

Well, he'd been

an invaluable help

in other races we've put on

and there was just something

about the character of

the race that I thought,

it fit.

Now the name is well

known all over the world.

Probably, if we had named

it something different,

it would not have had

this kind of success.

The Barkley Marathons, it

has its own ring to it.

[upbeat acoustic music]

[Interviewer] Have you

ever finished the Barkley?

[Laz] No, I never

came anywhere close.

[Interviewer] So even

when you said that,

Oh, I could do 100 miles

in that time, that was?

I was young and cocky.

[upbeat acoustic music]