For the movie itself, I want to quote one of the movie review as a summary: “Incredibly entertaining and inspiring. Amazing to see what the human body and mind are capable of when you push yourself beyond your comfort zone. The film is very well made and provides a real insight into an event most people know nothing about.”

But right now I am going to discuss is, how important endurance is. In this movie, it’s incredible to know that only 12 people success to walk across the forest through 25 years. Everyone has excuse to give up, but only a small scale of people choose to continue with endurance. It reminds me a famous saying: based on the degree of how hard-working the majority is, you don’t have to beat others by your talent. Most of people is not as hard-working as their maximum, so keep-going and study efficiently will lead to success with 99% possibility, even if you are not talented to some extends. This movie motivates me to be a endurable student dealing with finals.

When I first heard about this film The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young, I was surprised by how aggressive, for lack of a better word, the title was. I am not a particularly active runner nor am I interested in the idea of running numerous miles, but usually the many movie titles I have seen about running and marathons have a positive connotation with the title and the story itself is supposed to be uplifting.

Once more about the marathon was revealed, the title made more sense. Usually, marathons are supposed to celebrate hard work and persistence, and while the Barkley Marathon does, it also focuses on survival. Which makes sense when you consider its origins: the 1977 prison break of James Earl Gray. In 55 hours, he only covered 8 miles through the rugged terrain. Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell thought he could do better and thus the Barkley Marathon was born.

For a race born during a prominent time, it is notoriously hard to get into. Not only is the opening for registration and how to register not well known, but an application must be filled out, from which you can get denied. While I am not an outdoorsy person, I do understand why such a race could be considered interesting. Not only is it about running, which you can train for, it is also about survival and having to expect the unexpected, which is less easily trained for.

This week’s film was a documentary on the Barkley Marathons. I have never heard of the event, or for that matter the entire sport of extreme marathon running. The point of these ridiculously long, arduous races seems to be to challenge yourself. Your goal is to push yourself to your limits and learn how to accept defeat. The Barkley Marathons in particular highlight the futility of mankind. So far only 15 people have ever finished the race since its inception in the mid 1980s. It is a life lesson, you can try your hardest but ultimately fail. Even if you finish the race you get nothing but the pride of completing. The Marathons are organized by Lazarus Lake, an eccentric fellow who has wrapped up his philosophy of life into one fun foot race. The race stacks almost everything against the competitors, puts them through the worst possible conditions. Competitors face harsh weather, physical and emotional pain as they run. Like the race, life is no easy task and merely successfully completing the either the race or life is prize enough.

Last Friday night, I attended Rose’s screening of the documentary The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young. I had never heard of the Barkley Marathons before viewing this film, and I was shocked that such an unbelievably strenuous, taxing, and exhausting race exists — and that people actually want to participate in it! In case you are unfamiliar with The Barkley Marathons, this trail race is composed of 5 20 mile loops (100 miles overall) in Frozen Head State Park of Tennessee. 40 runners are chosen to participate via an undisclosed application process, and each loop of the race must be completed in 12 hours for the participant to continue competing. Only 15 runners have ever completed the 100 mile race in its 32-year history.

I was obsessed with running in high school – I was on the cross country, winter track, and spring track teams for all 4 years. I loved the challenge that running presented, the competition that pushed me to excellence, and the exposure to nature on long runs through the woods. But even I can’t imagine ever desiring to compete in the Barkley Marathons. It just doesn’t seem healthy, in my opinion. To complete the 100 mile race in 60 hours, competitors essentially have to pull 2 all-nighters, while exerting themselves to extreme extents. I can barely function after pulling 1 all-nighter here at Cornell, and that’s without having to run the next day! But then again, I remember that in high school my peers who didn’t run would always question me as to why I ran and how I could put myself through such “torture,” as they couldn’t fathom ever finding a 5-mile run enjoyable. Therefore, I do question the validity of my opinions about the Barkley Marathons – maybe if I did begin running even longer distances I would find them to be fun, and would be persuaded to apply for the Barkley Marathons. I think when we haven’t tried something and thus lack any familiarity to an experience, we are immediately averse to it and unfortunately that can prevent us from challenging ourselves and finding new interests/talents.

So, maybe someday I’ll train myself to run an 100-mile race in the woods.

Last Friday, I watched a documentary called The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young with Rose House. As a washed-up cross-country runner, I was a really excited to watch this film. I’d known about ultra-marathons prior to watching this film, and had always been intrigued by the level of physical endurance required to sustain the required level of energy for that many hours, or days, or sometimes even weeks on end. I remember hearing about an ultra-marathon in Brooklyn called the 3100 Mile “Self-Transcendence” Race; I can’t imagine having the mental and physical fortitude to do something of that calibre.

But the Barkley is in a class of its own. I feel like a lot of the event’s charm comes from the aura of it. The little intricacies of how the race runs, the characters that organize the event, the class of runners it brings in—they all add to create an event that, at least to me, is oddly intoxicating.  There is so much difficulty buried in the event, but that difficulty is wrapped up in a strange sense of casual-ness. The way the organizers explain how it functions really adds the the experience. For example, the relaxed manner in which the founder explains that the “entrance fee” is simply whatever he needs more of that year, be it socks or button-down shirts, really sets the tone for the rest of the film.

I don’t think I could, not would I ever want to, participate in the event. But I would love to just attend as a spectator, camping out and cheering on the runners. On some level I understand why that doesn’t happen; the event is small, and is intended to build a sense of camaraderie between the athletes, but there is definitely something about the culture of it that feels like it would be fascinating to be part of. It makes me wonder what, and where, all the other events in the same realm is this one are, because you know they must be out there somewhere. Maybe someday, if I’m lucky, I’ll have my very own “Barkley Marathons.”

Growing up, I was always exposed to the New York and Boston Marathons. Thus, when I saw the documentary last Friday about the Barkley Marathon, I was extremely surprised. This marathon was by far one of the most interesting and intriguing concepts I had came across in a while and I was shocked to learn how little is known about it by most people. The marathon itself is more grueling than your average marathon.

Although the organizers try and discourage a lot of people from applying, thousands of applications still flood in which at first might be odd. However, I believe this makes perfect sense and depicts an important aspect of the human psyche that a lot of us can relate too. The thrill and reward from possibly accomplishing such a tremendous feat is one that greatly entices us. I think this relates really well to students coming to Cornell as even though we know it will be hard and a lot of work, we still come and try and show our merit. Doing well on an exam or project at this school boosts our confidence and the motivation to hurdle a daunting task draws us in just like the competitors drawn to the marathon.

All in all, I was glad I was able to watch this documentary and learned about the marathon as otherwise, I don’t think I would have ever stumbled upon it.

Yesterday I watched a movie about the Barkley Marathon. The Barkley Marathon is not like a normal marathon. For one, its existence is a “secret”. Despite this, the organizers get a lot of applications from people all over the world wanting to compete in it. I believe that what draws participants to this marathon are its unique quirks. For example, once applicants are selected, the organizers ask them to bring things like state license plates and shirts as payment. Every year, they also select an unqualified applicant to compete in the race, calling him or her the “human sacrifice”. These quirks make people want to apply, but what makes them want to actually finish the race despite the grueling conditions?

For a lot of the runners, this race is about proving something. While many of us have never competed in a marathon, I think that we can relate with the motives of the runners. They want to achieve something that they think is nearly impossible. I think all of us have goals like that, from getting into that dream grad school, or getting that dream job that you think is nearly impossible. I applaud all of these athletes for all the effort that put into training and competing. Lots of them had bruises and cuts all over after running in the marathon, and I think that it must take a lot of endurance and perseverance to continue on despite the pain.

Previously to watching this film, I had never heard of the Barkley Marathon. To be fair, I didn’t fully understand the actual race while I was watching it, which caused me to look it up after the film was over. However, I did take away the difficulty of the race, and the toll it took on the bodies of the participants.

If not the images of the participants themselves, the low number of people that have actually completed the Barkley Marathon proves that it is not an activity to be taken lightly. The physical toll on the body was clearly shown by the roughed up feet of the different participants when they would take a break at the camp. As the movie said, some view finishing the entire race as the goal, others just certain parts of it, and some even just participating in it at all.

An aspect of the race that I found very interesting was the way that those coordinating the race kept track of whether the racers had completed the entire loop. Each racer had to take certain pages out of a book and bring the pages back with them once they completed the loop. While the race in and of itself isn’t particularly formal, these checkpoints still ensure that they truly completed the course.

After not going to the gym since the first week of my Sophmore year, I was afraid to watch the documentary of The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young. This was about the Barkley Marathon, which many people are so captivated by because most people do not finish.  The 130-mile marathon was inspired by James Earl Ray’s 1977 prison break from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.

The physical preparation these people were willing to do in order to be in the marathon, was truly inspirational. It made me question my lack of motivation in working out for an hour, no doubt less than the 60-hour hypothesized time it takes to finish. I really liked that the main determination was in themselves but I think unconsciously there is something attractive about being apart of the select group that has finished when so many do not.

After finishing the documentary, I applauded those who did not finish as they stayed and support the rest of the participants because it really showed that they really wished the best among their peers. It also verified that it was a personal goal free of selfish rewards. I plan on going to the gym today.

The Barkley Marathon is a 60-100 miles course that was inspired by a prison break. Along the way, the runners are expected to pick up books they find while running the course. During the movie it was said that barely anyone finishes the course. I could not imagine why anyone would put themselves through such physical exhaustion to run a course designed after a prison break.

Upon further reflection, I realized that idea of not a lot of people finishing the race draws a lot of people’s attention. I believe that they are many people who want to join the list of the few who finished the course. Also, there are a lot of people who would like to run a course like this for fun.

In all I thought the movie was not as interesting as the other movies that I have seen.

Watching tonight’s Friday Film, I appreciated how the main organizer of the marathons emphasized that they were as much a low-stakes opportunity to learn how to fail as a competition about pushing yourself to the limit to achieve success. The extremely high difficulty meant that there was no shame in choosing to drop out of the race. I really liked the observation the main organizer made that runners in the Barkley Marathons define for themselves what success is and can ignore anyone jeering at them for failing to complete the race. This is a skill that sometimes seem to be in short supply. Even more, I was struck by how so many people stayed after dropping out to wait for and support the remaining runners. After months of preparing for this race, they were able to let go of any frustration and focus their efforts on making sure others were taking care of themselves. It does seem, as the interviewed people said, that the races are a good character-building experience for the runners as well as a place to make friends.

I also really liked John’s story of coming back from a really low point in his life, though his circumstances were apparently more from bad luck than any failing on his own part. The moment where he got up from lying down in the water was truly admirable. The film director(s) did a good job organizing that part of the film especially.