I ran 2:27 at Boston my first time there years ago. Honestly never even noticed heartbreak hill and had to jog back to it later to find it. It’s absolutely the most overrated, over-talked-about point of any running course I’ve ever heard of. I’d run heartbreak 100000x instead of the finish of MCM lol.
Heartbreak is a far better fable than it can live up to.
MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:
Nothing like a post about Barkley to get all the road runners riled up. You know, the same big, bad road runners who think "Heartbreak Hill" is a tough hill and the NYC Marathon is a tough course.
Surprised we haven't had the "give an elite Kenyan a year to train and they would destroy Barkley" post yet.
Do people say that? Where? Why? Dispite it’s misuse of the word “marathon”, there is very little about Barkleys that resembles running or the need to run. Does anyone ever dispute that? Technically you could call it a foot race, but it’s clearly much more of an adventure race like an extreme form of Tough Mudder. Instead of being electrocuted for no reason you are made to scramble through brambles for no reason. There is little doubt that Barkleys is extreme and very difficult adventure foot race. There’s a reason very few people have ever finished. Being a fast runner is not a necessary “skill” to do Barkleys and wouldn’t help you with the course.
The brambles actually grow into all trails in that part of the country. There is no way around it in spring unless by train you are envisioning a 9 ft wide crushed limestone path...
"You are made to scramble through brambles for no reason."
Except, there is a reason...to get the book page at the top of the climb.
What are you willing to go thru, physically, mentally and emotionally to finish?
This just in wrote:
When will this dude learn? Mofo goes home devastated every year there, the race doesn’t even have a prize pool smh.
Time to give up and ride a bike like Krupicka.
Not Really a Brojo wrote:
"You are made to scramble through brambles for no reason."
Except, there is a reason...to get the book page at the top of the climb.
What are you willing to go thru, physically, mentally and emotionally to finish?
You are supporting his argument. Your last sentence sounds precisely like a tagline from a Tough Mudder race.
In explanation of the briars, brambles and thorns... Some of the trail is following a power line up a steep mountain, where the growth has been cut back 100% when installed. A single or sometimes double track trail develops from hikers over the years but without proper ecosystem of natural shade from trees that were once there, ground cover encroaches all over from direct sun and rain, hence lots of brambles.
Power lines wrote:
In explanation of the briars, brambles and thorns... Some of the trail is following a power line up a steep mountain, where the growth has been cut back 100% when installed. A single or sometimes double track trail develops from hikers over the years but without proper ecosystem of natural shade from trees that were once there, ground cover encroaches all over from direct sun and rain, hence lots of brambles.
No explanation is needed for why brambles exist. The race is designed specifically to make people go through the brambles. It’s all part of why the race is so difficult and also why it’s an adventure race and not a running race.
I like Barkleys. I would never put myself through that but I think it’s great that others do. I don’t know why anybody gets worked up about it. It’s ok that it’s an adventure race.
I heard Dean Karnazes is running it next year.
Broken glass wrote:
Power lines wrote:
In explanation of the briars, brambles and thorns... Some of the trail is following a power line up a steep mountain, where the growth has been cut back 100% when installed. A single or sometimes double track trail develops from hikers over the years but without proper ecosystem of natural shade from trees that were once there, ground cover encroaches all over from direct sun and rain, hence lots of brambles.
No explanation is needed for why brambles exist. The race is designed specifically to make people go through the brambles. It’s all part of why the race is so difficult and also why it’s an adventure race and not a running race.
I like Barkleys. I would never put myself through that but I think it’s great that others do. I don’t know why anybody gets worked up about it. It’s ok that it’s an adventure race.
Because some people like to crap on things that make them insecure, others like to enter races that they think will make them look cool, and others like to act like they know everything. It’s just the way the world works.
Gobble Gobble