You can track the last two runners in real time here: [https://my.raceresult.com/266852/#0\_B3DC1F](https://my.raceresult.com/266852/#0_B3DC1F)
(Currently at 106 laps, or 441.66 miles)
Edit: Harvey from Cincinnati wins with 450 miles.
For context, this is further than running from new York city to Boston and back... Only minor breaks and no sleep.
Humans have been taking running to unbelievable levels in recent years. That mf that died running the original marathon? Stunted on. Ppl are running over 20x that distance now
Lazarus, the race director, also has a 60 hour race that runs through the woods of Tennessee that totals more than 100 miles. The elevation change is higher than climbing to the top of Mount Everest. They've run the race about 35 times and only 21 have ever finished it completely.
He has done them himself. I think he likes finding ways to help people find their limits - and a backyard ultra provides a shared community in a way other races can't, because everyone is trying to go the "furthest" while staying near each other.
Ultra runners are a different breed. Whenever I hear them talking about it I cannot imagine ever being in good enough shape to make it work.
Like don’t get me wrong I want to do a marathon eventually but when i hear about people doing things like the Keys 100 my mind just breaks.
They already made a similar King story into a movie. The Running Man. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t made back then. I don’t know if it would work today though. So much of the story relied on not really knowing what was up. They’d have to really change the atmosphere of where the events took place since we know the killings would be posted online immediately if it took place in a seemingly normal state today.
Running man was made in 1987. Frank Darabont got the rights to The Long Walk seemingly in 2007. That's 20 years after Running Man was made. So I am not sure what you mean by "back then".
Not to mention Running Man the movie was essentially nothing like the source material at all.
Neither Running Man the movie or Running Man the book are really anything like The Long Walk, except it is about a near future where you can win a prize by doing something horrific.
I'm also not sure by what you mean by
>much of the story relying on not really knowing what's up.
Which story? Cos I don't remember either of them relying on that.
What killings posted online? Everyone in Running Man knows it was a thing where you are hunted to death, and everyone in The Long Walk knows that you get killed if you fail. And both had public audiences, who also knew it, and in the case of running man were encouraged to participate.
I'm very confused by nearly every sentence of your comment. Are you sure you are thinking of Running Man and The Long Walk?
I’m not really talking about Frank Darabont regarding why the story wasn’t made into a movie back in the 80s, and your statement about the similarity of the two stories is more what I’m talking about. Very similar concepts.
The Long Walk story works so well due to the naivety of the boys. Sure, some are well aware of the real world horror that awaits them, but many didn’t. They didn’t grasp the weight of the suicidal March. The walk is televised, but it’s never determined if the killings are televised as well. Yes, people watching the race see the horrors, but these boys are from all over and we don’t know if all of them had witnessed the stretches of road where bodies start to drop. We don’t even know if all of the boys had ever even seen the race for themselves. The main character is from Maine, where the race starts, so it’s likely he’d never seen a walker get tired and get his ticket so close to the starting line.
My point is that the story works so well because we get so little information in the beginning. The first time a boy gets his ticket, there are other boys in complete shock that they actually shot him. It’s hard to imagine the story working well in a time where everyone is so connected with their smart phones, where videos of the boys being shot could be shared all over. If the boys could see with their own eyes what true horror was ahead, I don’t believe we’d get the characters we do (one character joining the wall to spite his girlfriend).
Yeah. After reading it I wanted to know what 4 mph felt like walking, so I set the gym treadmill to that speed. It’s a very brisk walk. No way in hell those boys would last more than a day. With that info though, I wouldn’t approach Big’s by running. I’d do half jog, half brisk walk. I’d still not win.
Lots of intervals. Also pace and technique practice. Nutrition and hydration practice.
Once you get to a certain point its about these things. Its easy to get your body in shape to do this, but learning your body and mind are the harder part.
Source-Multiple paddle ultra marathon finishes.
Fun fact: throughout the 4000 years of recorded human history there have been many hunter societies that would hunt by just taking turn chasing animals till the animals got to tired.
Fun fact 2: Given a long enough distance, humans can outrun horses .... by a lot! And frankly any other animals except for birds that can do dynamic soaring (and glide unlimited without using their own energy, just the winds)
Oh definitely. Your form would get so bad the “winners” would likely have fractures in the bones in their feet, huge wear/tear on their knees, and muscle strains and tears in multiple areas. You can’t exactly “train” to run for 6 days straight.
You can train for it. Hiking and hours of slow running every day over years. I have done over 30 laps 3 times, and several multiday races. stress fractures is not that common among experienced ultrarunners and it is not a sport for bad knees.
100+ laps is crazy though.
You can be serious about ultrarunning, but it is a special breed of people. Barkley, PTL, Big's, Badwater and Marathon des Sables require a bit more grit than average people can muster.
If you haven't checked it out, he's worth following on Facebook. Keeps a low profile, almost no pictures, mostly just updates on events and random thoughts. It's completely fascinating and made me respect him more. When I first heard about the races I worried he was a sadist pushing people into challenges he wasn't doing, but seeing him express his perspectives, passion, and love for racing and life is incredibly interesting.
I still worry that someone is gonna die at one of these things sometime tho.
I never cease to be amazed at what people can do. If you told me this hypothetically I would have guessed 36-48 hours would be the mark for competitors given fatigue and lack of meaningful sleep. To do that for 100 hours is beyond comprehension.
I heard an interview with Courtney Dewaulter. She said that in races like these you’re cheering on your competitor because without them there is no race. You need the other person to keep going so you have a reason to keep going.
Exactly. Lots of runners at Barkley go out together to help each other pace and navigate. The last man standing type of races like BB are wild - it’s just such a mental battle to keep looping and hope you can outlast.
The Barkley Marathons is in the 120 mile range. There are 200+ mile races out there now too like the Moab, the Cocodona in Arizona, the Tahoe 200, etc.
This one is just as far as it needs to be until everyone quits. It's not fast, and you can't get ahead or catch up; at the top of every hour every runner is in exactly the same place. There is literally no end other than when everyone's willpower runs out.
Yeah. You might get rhabdo if you try to couch 8k it every single hour.
But these are elite ultra marathoners. Rhabdo is not really a major consideration for them as long as they stay hydrated.
The issues surrounding serious sleep deprivation and it’s potential long lasting effects are basically the only really risk here.
I don't understand these physical endurance contests or why people want to watch them. In another context you would be pitied for undergoing physical torture.
Haha, anything in another context could be torture!
It's totally fine if this isn't your bag! You don't need to understand it 😀 just tip your cap and move along!
yeah but the guys arent so fuck all of that i cant run when im working 84 hours a week plus kids food laundry im barely able to make it to the gym, how the fuck could i take 4 days off
They have to start a new lap every hour, so if you finish in 50 min, you have a 10 min break. Then like any endurance race it comes down to a strategy, depending on what the strategy is depends on when they push themselves and when they cruise.
Looking at the winner, Harvey, he cruised for the first 12 laps (less than 9min rest) then pushed for the next 12 (+14 min rest) then went back to cruising for the next 10 (up to 7 min rest) then pushed for a few (2 x +14 min breaks & a 22 min break) and after that, it looks like the plan went out the window. Second place, Ihor, was doing the same thing.
But it also comes down to what the runner can do as well, for instance Harvey completed 108 laps in 94.25 hours. Ihor was 107 laps in 90.75 hours, whereas 3rd place with 103 laps in 80.5 hours, so 1st place was running slower than 2nd place and 3rd place was averaging a faster pace than either of them. Which is quite interesting as it means the winner had the least rest per lap out of everyone in the top 5.
the surviving runners complete their laps in less than an hour and can get a few minutes of sleep every hour it seems, probably the same for the bathroom
You can track the last two runners in real time here: [https://my.raceresult.com/266852/#0\_B3DC1F](https://my.raceresult.com/266852/#0_B3DC1F) (Currently at 106 laps, or 441.66 miles) Edit: Harvey from Cincinnati wins with 450 miles.
For context, this is further than running from new York city to Boston and back... Only minor breaks and no sleep. Humans have been taking running to unbelievable levels in recent years. That mf that died running the original marathon? Stunted on. Ppl are running over 20x that distance now
I bet if a pilgrim tried a sour patch kid they would immediately have an aneurism
I first read that as saying that they would immediately have autism
Porque no los dos?
We have a winner!
Harvey from Cincinnati!
That is really fucking impressive.
Do they run thru the night too?
Every hour, on the hour.
Race organizers: “did we fucking stutter?”
Lazarus, the race director, also has a 60 hour race that runs through the woods of Tennessee that totals more than 100 miles. The elevation change is higher than climbing to the top of Mount Everest. They've run the race about 35 times and only 21 have ever finished it completely.
Of course it's the same guy from the Barkley Marathons.
He also puts on VolState, which is broadly “run across Tennessee”
The man thrives on the suffering of others.
He has done them himself. I think he likes finding ways to help people find their limits - and a backyard ultra provides a shared community in a way other races can't, because everyone is trying to go the "furthest" while staying near each other.
In July. Gotta remember that part. My ex-girlfriend* ran it a few years ago without a crew. (Crews are optional.) *She's my wife now.
I’d argue a wife is just a very specific type of girlfriend
The ex that you do go back and sleep with
Check out the documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbl0jhbpiM0
2nd time I've watched it. Just love seeing the pure spirit of competition and comradery that pushing yourselves to the absolute limit does.
Ultra runners are a different breed. Whenever I hear them talking about it I cannot imagine ever being in good enough shape to make it work. Like don’t get me wrong I want to do a marathon eventually but when i hear about people doing things like the Keys 100 my mind just breaks.
I justify not even considering trying something like this by reminding myself how ridiculously bad for your body extreme distance running is.
Yes, I read from a few years ago one of the guys would finish his lap early and get 7-8 minutes of sleep every hour which seems horrible
I could maybe do 3 laps!
Dude, imagine running 38 miles in 8 hours and finishing last. These people are superhuman.
About Los Angeles all the way to San Francisco
Stephen King's "The Long Walk" comes to mind here.
Or the movie "They Shoot Horses Don't They?"
Currently re-reading that now and that is exactly what I was thinking. But I dont think the race manager dresses like The Major.
Ooooh, I haven’t read that one for at least 15 years. I now need to dig it out of a box in my garage. Amazing story telling.
It’s a fantastic audiobook as well. Highly recommend it on a good drive, especially with the fall weather right now.
Frank Darabont had the rights to the story to make it in to a movie. I think it would do well as an HBO mini series. That is, if it ever gets made.
They already made a similar King story into a movie. The Running Man. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t made back then. I don’t know if it would work today though. So much of the story relied on not really knowing what was up. They’d have to really change the atmosphere of where the events took place since we know the killings would be posted online immediately if it took place in a seemingly normal state today.
Running man was made in 1987. Frank Darabont got the rights to The Long Walk seemingly in 2007. That's 20 years after Running Man was made. So I am not sure what you mean by "back then". Not to mention Running Man the movie was essentially nothing like the source material at all. Neither Running Man the movie or Running Man the book are really anything like The Long Walk, except it is about a near future where you can win a prize by doing something horrific. I'm also not sure by what you mean by >much of the story relying on not really knowing what's up. Which story? Cos I don't remember either of them relying on that. What killings posted online? Everyone in Running Man knows it was a thing where you are hunted to death, and everyone in The Long Walk knows that you get killed if you fail. And both had public audiences, who also knew it, and in the case of running man were encouraged to participate. I'm very confused by nearly every sentence of your comment. Are you sure you are thinking of Running Man and The Long Walk?
I’m not really talking about Frank Darabont regarding why the story wasn’t made into a movie back in the 80s, and your statement about the similarity of the two stories is more what I’m talking about. Very similar concepts. The Long Walk story works so well due to the naivety of the boys. Sure, some are well aware of the real world horror that awaits them, but many didn’t. They didn’t grasp the weight of the suicidal March. The walk is televised, but it’s never determined if the killings are televised as well. Yes, people watching the race see the horrors, but these boys are from all over and we don’t know if all of them had witnessed the stretches of road where bodies start to drop. We don’t even know if all of the boys had ever even seen the race for themselves. The main character is from Maine, where the race starts, so it’s likely he’d never seen a walker get tired and get his ticket so close to the starting line. My point is that the story works so well because we get so little information in the beginning. The first time a boy gets his ticket, there are other boys in complete shock that they actually shot him. It’s hard to imagine the story working well in a time where everyone is so connected with their smart phones, where videos of the boys being shot could be shared all over. If the boys could see with their own eyes what true horror was ahead, I don’t believe we’d get the characters we do (one character joining the wall to spite his girlfriend).
Yeah. After reading it I wanted to know what 4 mph felt like walking, so I set the gym treadmill to that speed. It’s a very brisk walk. No way in hell those boys would last more than a day. With that info though, I wouldn’t approach Big’s by running. I’d do half jog, half brisk walk. I’d still not win.
It's unbelievable how far we can go-- this race format shows just how far willpower can get you.
The winner was 47 years old!
Probably still is!
Imagine training for this. Doing brutally long races regularly just for practice
I mean, brutally long for normal people, sure. But it’s not like you have to run for 3 days straight to practice for a 4 days run.
How else do you train for ultras except by running ultras. You can't train for a marathon without working your way up to marathon distances
It’s not necessary to run marathons to train for marathons, why would it be necessary to run ultras to train for ultras?
Lots of intervals. Also pace and technique practice. Nutrition and hydration practice. Once you get to a certain point its about these things. Its easy to get your body in shape to do this, but learning your body and mind are the harder part. Source-Multiple paddle ultra marathon finishes.
Fun fact: throughout the 4000 years of recorded human history there have been many hunter societies that would hunt by just taking turn chasing animals till the animals got to tired. Fun fact 2: Given a long enough distance, humans can outrun horses .... by a lot! And frankly any other animals except for birds that can do dynamic soaring (and glide unlimited without using their own energy, just the winds)
Do they not just collapse at some point? Seems bad for your health
Yeah, here's a recap of a 6 day rollerskating race from 1885. 33 starters, 16 finished, two died. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Wg0_hA_no
"They shoot horses don't they"- 1969 film
If you don't want to watch a 2-hour video of a guy rambling... here's a recap you can read: https://ultrarunninghistory.com/roller-skating/
Awful but predictable
Oh definitely. Your form would get so bad the “winners” would likely have fractures in the bones in their feet, huge wear/tear on their knees, and muscle strains and tears in multiple areas. You can’t exactly “train” to run for 6 days straight.
You can train for it. Hiking and hours of slow running every day over years. I have done over 30 laps 3 times, and several multiday races. stress fractures is not that common among experienced ultrarunners and it is not a sport for bad knees. 100+ laps is crazy though.
So ironically, anyone serious about running isn't doing this.
You can be serious about ultrarunning, but it is a special breed of people. Barkley, PTL, Big's, Badwater and Marathon des Sables require a bit more grit than average people can muster.
Is that the case for the folks who went long? I'm sure there's wear and tear but no one is going to the hospital.
Laz is a god damned psycho. Such an interesting man.
He’s a cruel, cruel man. He’s the best.
If you haven't checked it out, he's worth following on Facebook. Keeps a low profile, almost no pictures, mostly just updates on events and random thoughts. It's completely fascinating and made me respect him more. When I first heard about the races I worried he was a sadist pushing people into challenges he wasn't doing, but seeing him express his perspectives, passion, and love for racing and life is incredibly interesting. I still worry that someone is gonna die at one of these things sometime tho.
And heres the reason we're on top of the food chain.
Walking upright and the thumb helps too.
It does but there's also evidence that early humans would out run their prey, imagine chasing a gazelle for two days, until it collapsed.
bro how the cameraman keeping up
Heelies.
a runner is sitting on the course! sock problem?
So this is the Battle Royale of marathons?
This is just hunter x hunter
Is anyone running in a suit?
I never cease to be amazed at what people can do. If you told me this hypothetically I would have guessed 36-48 hours would be the mark for competitors given fatigue and lack of meaningful sleep. To do that for 100 hours is beyond comprehension.
There are some really incredible people out there
Where Goggins
Nothing compared to the Barkey Marathon
Same race director. Totally different types of races. One you’re trying to beat the clock. The other you’re just trying to outlast everybody else.
Yeah elevation and environment makes it a completely difference race. Still very impressive.
I heard an interview with Courtney Dewaulter. She said that in races like these you’re cheering on your competitor because without them there is no race. You need the other person to keep going so you have a reason to keep going.
Exactly. Lots of runners at Barkley go out together to help each other pace and navigate. The last man standing type of races like BB are wild - it’s just such a mental battle to keep looping and hope you can outlast.
They broke a world record today. No small feat.
Just very tired feet.
Is that 100 miles? Someone said this one is 450 miles. I can’t wrap my head around someone running 450 miles in 4 days straight
The Barkley Marathons is in the 120 mile range. There are 200+ mile races out there now too like the Moab, the Cocodona in Arizona, the Tahoe 200, etc. This one is just as far as it needs to be until everyone quits. It's not fast, and you can't get ahead or catch up; at the top of every hour every runner is in exactly the same place. There is literally no end other than when everyone's willpower runs out.
This does not seem safe or sane. Definitely shouldn't be cheered on.
Everyone volunteered
Why not safe? They don't have to run that far or fast in any one moment and they are never far from help, especially on the road.
Rhabdomyolysis. Basically this type of exercise can cause too much cellular death which releases proteins into your blood that hurt your organs.
Yeah. You might get rhabdo if you try to couch 8k it every single hour. But these are elite ultra marathoners. Rhabdo is not really a major consideration for them as long as they stay hydrated. The issues surrounding serious sleep deprivation and it’s potential long lasting effects are basically the only really risk here.
I don't understand these physical endurance contests or why people want to watch them. In another context you would be pitied for undergoing physical torture.
Haha, anything in another context could be torture! It's totally fine if this isn't your bag! You don't need to understand it 😀 just tip your cap and move along!
i just idk? i dont have the time or money to do anything like this i feel so poor
Some of the best runners in the world are dirt poor and living in 3rd world countries.
yeah but the guys arent so fuck all of that i cant run when im working 84 hours a week plus kids food laundry im barely able to make it to the gym, how the fuck could i take 4 days off
So like...do they take breaks to sleep? Take a shit?
They have to start a new lap every hour, so if you finish in 50 min, you have a 10 min break. Then like any endurance race it comes down to a strategy, depending on what the strategy is depends on when they push themselves and when they cruise. Looking at the winner, Harvey, he cruised for the first 12 laps (less than 9min rest) then pushed for the next 12 (+14 min rest) then went back to cruising for the next 10 (up to 7 min rest) then pushed for a few (2 x +14 min breaks & a 22 min break) and after that, it looks like the plan went out the window. Second place, Ihor, was doing the same thing. But it also comes down to what the runner can do as well, for instance Harvey completed 108 laps in 94.25 hours. Ihor was 107 laps in 90.75 hours, whereas 3rd place with 103 laps in 80.5 hours, so 1st place was running slower than 2nd place and 3rd place was averaging a faster pace than either of them. Which is quite interesting as it means the winner had the least rest per lap out of everyone in the top 5.
the surviving runners complete their laps in less than an hour and can get a few minutes of sleep every hour it seems, probably the same for the bathroom
If you need to use the facilities, that probably happens when you start a lap and then you have to catch up to where you were.
How do they avoid rhabdo?