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| Race Director Lazarus Lake and Darin |
One part of fear is not knowing what lies before you. This is what I am facing this weekend—the
inaugural Barkley Fall Classic. The
Barkley Marathons is the toughest 100 miler in the country based on times run
and how difficult it is to finish under the 60 hour cut-off. It is famous, while being low key and
secretive. I have never attempted the
Barkley 100 miler and have no plans to ever do so, but when the race directors
announced this race, I had to give it a try in order to sample what the Barkley
Marathons is all about. The BFC is
reported to be a 50k, but the course will remain a mystery until we pick up our
race packets this afternoon. The race
director has said that less than 10% of us will finish under the 13 hours and
20 minutes allotted.
It is a pleasant Friday afternoon drive from Huntsville, Alabama to
Wartburg, Tennessee. I arrive a little
after 4pm and pick-up the much anticipated race packet complete with topographical
map of the course. The first 10 miles
look brutal on the map with switchbacks a plenty. Other parts don’t look as bad, but a topo map
can only tell so much. For example, it
gives no indication of how technical the trail is or whether the trail is
easily followed. This is going to be an adventure,
and an adventure to which I am looking forward.
After picking up my packet, I setup my hammock and then proceed to the
pre-race dinner complete with a Barkley documentary movie. The movie/documentary is awesome, and the
food was pretty good. Afterwards I talk
with Snipes and some other runners before climbing into my hammock for the
night. My sleep goes fairly well, and I think
I end up getting about six hours of sleep.
September
20
In the morning over breakfast I learn that I apparently slept pretty
soundly. There were gun shots, a police
chase, and nearly everyone camping behind the American Legion building was
awake in the middle of the night. I,
however, didn’t hear a thing! I eat a
solid breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, gravy, and pancakes. I don’t eat many carbs, but right before a
race is the exception. I drive to the
start and am ready for the adventure of unknown course difficulty and whether I
am quick enough to finish.
Mile
7.6 2:23:30 (18:52 avg./mile) Bald
Knob
I
link up with Rick Gray right from the start.
There are also a couple of ladies with us that Rick knows—Michelle and
Glynetta. We start rather
conservatively, and the trail is nice and smooth. The first mile was on a paved road, and we
ran the whole first mile. The next few
miles were the first serious climb of the day.
My legs are fresh and conversations are flowing, so it passes easily enough. At the top, we make a right turn and proceed
to climb and descend for the next few miles until this aid station. As can be seen, it is not a blistering pace,
but it is a good steady pace to finish this race. I grab a couple of PB&J sandwich quarters
and head back onto the trail after topping off my Camelbak.
Mile
12.4 1:28:15 (18:23 avg./mile) Tub
Springs
About
two miles out of the aid station, we cross SOB ditch, and then pick up the
trail on the other side. Then we are
following along, but it doesn’t look like we are still on the main trail. This race only has “key” intersections marked
with no confidence marking in between.
We are following a handful of guys who seem to know where they are
going, but after 10 minutes or so, Rick, Michelle, and I decide to back track. As we are coming back, we spot most runners
going up a hill, so we cut towards them to rejoin the proper course. We are very fortunate as there is a
checkpoint soon thereafter where our bibs get punched. Then the course proceeds on an old jeep
trail, and Rick and Michelle pick up the pace to try to make up our lost
time. I let them go at this point. I come into the second aid station feeling
good, but also starting to feel the toll the climbing is taking on my legs. There are no PB&J sandwiches (or any
sandwiches for that matter) so I eat a couple of mini Slim Jims and a few
cookies. After topping off my Camelbak,
I continue on down the jeep trail.
Mile
18.7 2:37:14 (24:57 avg./mile) Tub
Springs #2
The
first part of this section is an out and back portion, and I start to meet some
of the leaders returning. Jack Kurisky,
Jeff Garstecki, and Keith Knipling are all looking good. The turnaround is near the top of a hill, but
not quite to the top. The turnaround is
just that and then I get to meet runners still heading out. After crossing back over a pave road where
Tammy Gray is cheering us, the course veers to the left. This takes us down to the beginning of rat
jaw—an infamous hill on the Barkley Marathons.
The climb starts through the saw briers straight up a hill. I am climbing on my hands and feet, trying
mightily to find foot and hand holds without grabbing onto a saw brier. This is extremely challenging, but the “fun”
is just getting started. After about 200
feet of climb, there are options to pick your own route up rat jaw. At one point, a few other runners and I climb
up a large rock that involves actual rock climbing skills. From there, I keep looking for signs of the
route previous runners have taken. After
almost 50 minutes of climbing and finding a way forward, the top is in
view. At the top of the hill is a fire
tower, which I now get to climb up as well in order to get to the next bib
punch spot. It is a gorgeous view at the
top, but I only pause for a second or two as I have a race to finish. After descending the fire tower, it is an easy
half mile back to this aid station. “6.3
miles” has taken me over 2.5 hours and has left me battered, bruised, and cut
up from the saw briers. My thighs sting
when I put my hands on them to power up some of the steeper sections. The sweat and dirt on my hands stings the
cuts that now cover my legs. With still
no sandwiches to be had at this aid station, I fill up my empty Camelbak and
start down the trail.
Mile
22.1 51:37 (15:11 avg./mile) Trailhead
I am on the jeep road for a quarter of a mile before
the course turns left down a single track trail. This trail is smooth and very runnable, and I
feel refreshed to be done with rat jaw.
The problem is that the race is just a little over halfway done. About halfway through this section, Rick and
Michelle catch up to me. They were way
ahead of me, but somehow I got back ahead of them going up rat jaw. Apparently, they didn’t pick as efficient of
a route as I did. I stick with them into
the aid station. Here I top off the
Camelbak and start to get my light out of my drop bag, but then I ask one of
the aid station workers if we have to take a light with us from here. He says I have over 5 hours until darkness
and that nobody is checking for lights.
So, I leave my drop bag alone and head out the trail for the last major
section. I am two hours ahead of the
cut-off, but my legs have really taken a toll from all of the climbing.
Mile
27.8 2:40:04 (28:05 avg./mile)
Spicewood
Rick,
Michelle, and I are together for the first few miles. None of us analyzed the topo map that closely
as we think we are almost to the next aid station after about an hour or
so. We have been climbing switchbacks
for 45 minutes when we start to descend.
After 15-20 minutes of descending switchbacks, we start climbing
switchbacks again. After 15 minutes of
switchback climbing, they end, and we are all sure that the aid station can’t
be far. However, when the switchbacks
end, the trail continues straight up the hill.
We pass a few weekend backpackers who are just standing there. Michelle leaves me and Rick behind as we just
aren’t climbing as fast as she is. Rick
and I start to take breaks as the top of this hill seems nowhere close. This climb is brutal. Occasionally, it looks like we are almost to
the top, but we aren’t. Finally, we get
to the chimney tops, which are a series of rocks. At this point, Rick starts throwing up. He does this often enough in these races, and
I have seen it before. We make our way
across the top, which again seems to never end.
After a mile or so the trail finally starts to descend, now where is
that aid station? This section is only “5.7
miles,” but I have run another mile about 10 times so far on this section
alone, and I am still not at the aid station.
I ran out of water nearing the top of the chimney tops so now I am
really looking forward to the aid station so that I can get some more
water. Just when I think the aid station
is never going to appear, it does. I
tell Rick that we might not die after all.
I quickly get my Camelbak refilled, and start sucking down the water
into my parched body. Meanwhile, Rick
decides to start throwing up again.
There is another group of backpackers here, but I tell them not to worry
about Rick as he is a professional and does this all of the time. When he stops throwing up, I grab some potato
chips, and we stagger down a single track trail towards the finish.
Mile
31.1 49:17 (14:56 avg./mile) FINISH –
Flat Fork Field
I
am running, but Rick is able to walk almost as fast as my running trot is. So, he runs a little and then walks, and I
keep up by running most of the time. The
single track trail is all downhill, and we make decent time staggering down the
trail. We get back close to where the
mile 22 aid station was, and I am ready hammer to the finish. Rick is ready to as well, but we walk some
more until we can hear the finish line.
Then we set off into nearly a full sprint. We finish together, happy to be done with
this impossible race that gave us a glimpse into what it must be like to run
the full 100+ miler here in April.
Official
Finishing Time 10:49:47
 |
| Darin's chewed up legs |
58th
out of 240 starters (163 finishers under 13 hours, 20 minutes)
I have no
plans whatsoever of ever trying the Barkley Marathons, so I am very happy I had
this opportunity at the Barkley Fall Classic.
I finished with over 2.5 hours to spare, and I am satisfied. I had a blast today! Getting off course early wasn’t pleasant, but
it didn’t cost us too much. Rat jaw is
brutal, but I loved the challenge and accomplishing the climb was
fulfilling. My legs will take a couple
of weeks to fully heal, but it was all worth it.
My next race
is going to be the Paris Mountain 50k on November 8 in Greenville, SC. This will be another new race for me. I am going to use it as my final preparation
for Hellgate in December.
Never stop
running,
Darin
Return to Darin’s Running Page.
