On Tuesday, March 14, 2023, I ran in the infamous Barkley Marathons. If you would like to learn more about the Barkley, it was well-portrayed in the documentary: The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young. But my story starts many years before.

The Short Story

Running the Barkley Marathons was a dream come true. Years ago, before I was even a runner, I saw the documentary of the race. Most people who saw it said things like “those people are crazy.” But I thought, “I want to run that.” The Barkley speaks to us. It speaks in tongues. It calls us in. It asks us to figure out its secrets. Unravel its mysteries. Work hard. Test ourselves. See what we’re really made of.

I was lucky enough to be on the start line this year. My experience pushed me to a limit. I found the courage to fight through and come out the other side still running. In the end, I failed, as most do. But the true test of the Barkley isn’t your result, it’s your response. Mine is to come back, to ask more of my body and my mind, to grow.

The Long Story

Dreaming of the Barkley

I probably saw the documentary first in 2015. It’s hard to remember. It immediately captured my imagination. I was just becoming a runner, and quickly became an ultrarunner in 2017. Shortly after my first 100 miler, I decided to try my hand at something like the Barkley: Niwot’s Challenge (so-called “Barkley of the West”). My first attempt was successful, but not pretty. In my second year, I really blossomed at the event, navigating for a whole group like it was my backyard. Clearly, I was hooked, and I expect to run the race every year.

Waitlist Year

In 2021, coming back from the COVID year, I raced everything I wanted to. Since big races were still getting canceled, small Fat Asses and Barkley-style events were attractive to me. So I signed up for not just Niwots (which I, along with everyone else, DNF’d), but also the Barkley Fall Classic (“a taste of the Barkley” where I placed 40ish and had an amazing time) and the Euchre Bar Massacre (where I was humbled by navigational difficulties).

In late 2021, I wrote a long essay in my yearly application to the race, which had become something of a ritual. I had no expectation of hearing back from laz, much less getting in. Luckily, I won the laz lottery and my name was 40th on the “weight list.” I think all the Barkley-style racing on my resume gave me a boost in laz’s weight system.

At 40th in the list, I knew my chances of running in 2022 were slim. Still, I decided to train for the race as if I was in to help me discover my training inadequacies without consequence.

Training Like I Was In

I trained hard, almost too hard, and without much direction. I wasn’t consistent. I wasn’t fast. I didn’t do enough workouts. And I was burned out by February. The weight list moved fast due to COVID, and there was a brief scare that I would actually get into the race. By the time the race came, I was 11th on the list, which meant an almost guarantee to get in the following year.

So there I was in March 2022: I realized I knew nothing about hard training, and my name was sitting there in a facebook group right next to John Kelly, Jared Campbell, Courtney Dauwalter, and all the rest of my heroes, with the impending doom of Barkley exactly one year from then.

So I got a coach; not just any coach, but a coach who has finished Barkley: Nickademus de la Rosa, who has a coaching business with his lovely wife Jade called Lightfoot Coaching.

Training With a Coach

I was all-in on training with Nick. In my mind, my biggest weakness approaching Barkley was fitness, so from April 2022 until March 2023, I was going to do anything Nick said to get fitter. So that’s what I did.

In the last year, I’ve run PRs at 1 mile, 5k, 10k, trail marathon, 50 miler, and mountain 100 miler. I’ve had the biggest training weeks ever. I have gone the longest without injury since 2019. Without getting into the details, it’s been amazing. I’m in the best shape of my life, and it’s because I’ve worked the hardest on my fitness.

Even outside of running, I’ve been very focused on fitness and injury prevention. Any time a small feeling came up during a run, I would go to my PT as soon as possible to discuss what it was, why it was there, and how to mitigate it. I did yoga weekly to stay loose. And I strength trained at least twice a week (also programmed by Nick) to get stronger and keep the injury bug away.

It’s taken an immense amount of work and focus to do all this. It’s basically a part time job that you have to shower after every day. In addition, I still work at Apple as a software engineer. During last spring and summer, the job at Apple became very stressful because of a particular new manager that I was reorged under, which really affected me and my running. Luckily, I’ve mitigated the situation and the job has been much less stressful.

So to come to a conclusion: I’ve been training for a year and more to prepare for this one moment, The Barkley Marathons 2023.

Preparing for the Barkley

The Barkley is not just a running race. It also involves navigating significant off-trail sections, memorizing a course written in English, map-making the route from laz’s map, and surviving in the woods of Tennessee in the winter for 15 hours.

So I studied: I read race reports of past participants and finishers (I love the book The Finishers!). I got hold of a copy of last years course map and descriptions from another Barker. I read and reread the course. I studied the slope angles of Frozen Head to figure out where the highwalls are (and where the routes through the highwalls might be).

I recce’d Frozen Head twice: once in December 2021 for 4 days and once in February 2023 for 2 days. In the two days in February, I was able to see all 23 places the Barkley course crosses, joins, or leaves designated park trails (no off-trailing is allowed in FHSP save for the event itself). Back in December 2021, I experienced fog and heavy rain, helping me understand why winter in Frozen Head is so… volatile.

And of course, I bought a lot of gear. As an unsponsored but well-off runner, I am quite lucky that I can buy any piece of gear I want. And for the most part, I use them all until they break. I completely overhauled my gear setup from 2019-2021 with a new purpose: gear that would be suited to survival in the Tennessee forest.

Finally, I practiced navigation. I attended orienteering races. I did Niwot’s in 2022. I acquired a Silva thumb compass (so hard to purchase in the US).

Goals and Mental Headspace

Coming into the Barkley, I was trying to internalize the following thoughts:

  • No matter what happens, I will be proud of myself and happy with my experience. Anything can happen at the Barkley.
  • I believe I can finish 5 loops. I believe I can do it in my first year.
  • My goals are to not quit. No stopping if there is time to go on.
  • Always focus on the problem at hand. Don’t worry about future problems until you reach them. Find the next book. Eat. Drink. Stay warm.

These may seem oxymoronic, but that’s just the Barkley I guess.

Arriving at Frozen Head

After flying with all 5 of our suitcases, Miranda, my crew, and I arrived at my parent’s house in Atlanta a couple days before the race. My mom made me a big batch of chili and brownies for the race. We then made a bunch of burritos to be eaten out on the course. We borrowed some glamping gear and tried to get some sleep.

On the day before the race, we drove up to Frozen Head for the race. John Clarke, my buddy from Colorado, was saving me a spot near the gate. We finally arrived to the park around 2pm, stopped by the visitor center to purchase maps, and pulled up to our spot. Camp was busy, with most people already there and setup. Miranda and I quickly set up our new tent (a nice big 6-person tent you can stand in) and ate some lunch.

A line formed near the first campsite: check-in had started. I eagerly got my license plate and headed up there. The line was mostly formed of virgins super-eager to check-in in their first year. Vets were milling about, checking out the map, and waiting for the long line to die down.

I met up with Andrea Kooiman and Dawn Greenwalt, who I knew from training calls with Lightfoot Coaching, as well as Wes Thurman and John Clarke (crew for Wes) from Colorado. The line took forever, but eventually, I got to sit down across from laz. We chatted briefly. He told me what he was telling everyone:

No sense wishing you luck, you’ll run the race you prepared for.

I knew he was right. I had prepared to run this race in so many ways. But not every way. There’s no way to predict everything the Barkley will throw at you. I was about to find out how I was unprepared.

For the next two hours, I worked on my map, trying to mark a perfect map with the route, book locations, bearing measurements, highwall locations, creek lines, and some of the unmarked roads in the area. I think I did a pretty good job. I didn’t need my map much during the race; just making it saved it to memory quite well.

Around 7:30, I started trying to sleep. Miranda and John Clark would wake me if the conch was blown. Sleep did not come easily. I think I got 20 minutes before midnight. Miranda came to bed, saying laz was sleeping. That was helpful. I think I got an hour or two of sleep in the next 8 hours before sunrise.

As camp woke up, the tension was palpable. Runners brushed their teeth and looked at each other awkwardly. I went to the bathroom only to find both toilets stopped up (actually one was John Kelly walking out asking for a plunger, lol). Because there was no conch, I had plenty of time. I walked down to the lower toilets and got my business done.

At 8:45 or so, I had eaten and woken. I impatiently walked up to laz’s campsite to check on things. The media and crew were waiting patiently for the conch. As if answering the interminable question, laz picked up the conch and walked in front of his tent. I immediately walked down to start getting ready. A few minutes later, the conch was sounded. After a long mostly-sleepless night, it was time.

I went to my tent and readied myself, taking care of last minute details, like which gloves I was going to wear. With the later start time, I opted for winter bike gloves and no extra warm layers. The minutes ticked by slowly and quickly. I picked up my watch, luckily avoiding the dreaded touch screen watch that Dawn got.

Finally, I headed to the gate. Laz made a small speech, taking a moment of silence for Barkers who’ve been lost.

The Race

He lit the cigarette and we were off. I knew Barkley starts were mad dashes, but this was more than I had expected. I let people pass me on the road, not wanting to be forced into red-lining the first climb. I found myself somewhere in the middle at the trail turnoff, then onto Wrong Way Ridge. I pushed up that first climb, keeping the group in front of me in sight. My heart is beating out of my chest. I’m running the Barkley!

Finally, we summit the ridge and I take off down the other side. I didn’t know what to expect from the cliffs on this route, but the downclimbs were obvious and easy. I landed onto the bench and followed the directions memorized in my head to find the new location for book one. I took off along the bench at a very good pace, settling my heart a little but still running too fast. Two others tailed me: Andrea Larson from the US and Stephen Redfern from Australia.

Andrea asked me where I was planning to descend Checkmate. My plan was to bear right a lot to make sure I didn’t go too far left, which had higher consequences. None of us had been there before. We eagerly took the first descent that pointed in the right-ish direction. My gut told me this was a mistake. My plan was to bear right, but I was way way too far left and I knew it.

This was the first mistake of the day, less than an hour in. We descended the ridge. We knew it was wrong quickly, but every fix to the right only partially repaired the damage. We ended up a half mile or so North of the book. We traversed back to it and grabbed our page. Nicky Spincks’ group was grabbing their page when we got there. Clearly we had been passed by a bunch of people.

The next few directions weren’t too difficult and I navigated them well. At this point, I was hurried from already making a mistake and the intensity of the start. I was trying to make up time already. I tried a very left-hand line down meatgrinder than others around me. This ended up being a mistake and I was passed by all of them. I caught them at the book, but again, I wasn’t gaining any time back.

I climbed up to the water drop and found myself next to Katie Wright from New Zealand and the UK. We would end up running together quite a bit. She was a veteran who ran the previous year. We helped each other correctly pick the entry and exit for the Coal Ponds, Garden Spot, and Upper Buttslide. We caught Andrea and Stephen who had picked a suboptimal line. We descended Leonard’s Buttslide together. It was good to finally see this part of the route, which had been a mystery to me (because it’s illegal to scout). From the information I knew from the description and talking with other Barkers, I walked right up to the book location without an issue.

We hiked up to the Borehole, which I had been to many times, so I found very quickly. At this point, I was starting to feel behind my nutrition. I decided to stop an eat a burrito, which slowed me down. I let the group I was with go. This is the only time during the first loop where I feel my head was in the right place. I think being on Stallion, which I was reasonably familiar with, helped.

As I descended Stallion alone, I found Katie wandering one of the roads looking for the right descent. It was at this moment I got thrown off my line and ended up taking a slightly circuitous route around the correct ridge. Eventually we corrected ourselves, but not without some more lost minutes.

I followed her line down to the river, as I had never been on this part of the route. We found a draw, but it was a bit uncertain as to where we were exactly, but as I said to her, “All roads lead to Rome.” So we descended the draw we were at and it turned out to be correct. We found the road and followed it around to the base of Little Hell.

The next book is tricky and messes up a lot of runners. We were looking for a waterfall. I saw one. Katie said that wasn’t the right one. We continued. My intuition told me to check it out, but I ignored it in favor of Katie’s instruction. Eventually we realized we were way past the book. We turned around and sure enough, there was a group above the waterfall, grabbing their page. I ran up and found Nicky’s group had caught us again after our mistake.

Katie was frustrated from the mistake and started burning up Little Hell. I did my best to keep up with her. We eventually got to the top, got the next book and grabbed some water. I hadn’t eaten in a while and munched on a burrito on my way down Rat Jaw. Katie disappeared down the descent. She’s a great downhill runner. I usually am, but I wasn’t feeling it. My ankles were tight, my energy levels were low. I just tried to get down the mountain without falling over on all the briars tripping us up.

I caught her at the prison book and we headed up to the Needle’s Eye together. She was starting to climb much faster than me, but because I knew how to get to the book at the top, I cut her line off and I got there first. We had a funny incident here where I failed to understand her Kiwi accent when she asked for privacy to go “wee.” I figured it out pretty quickly lol.

I tailed her down Zipline and we nailed Beech Tree. To our surprised, we caught Andrea and Stephen again. We headed up Hell together. I was flagging hard. My energy was so depleted. My attitude was turning dark. I started considering quitting. I knew this wasn’t the right decision. I just kept telling myself that I would fix myself in camp. It got dark as we descended from the final book. I couldn’t shake the desire to quit… I just needed to get back to my wife and crew.

At 11:10ish into the race (Keith never posted my time), I arrived back at camp. Miranda had setup to aid me right at the gate. I sat down and she handed me hot chili. It was amazing. My brain was foggy. I couldn’t make decisions. I told Miranda, “I’m going to need work.” I don’t think she understood my meaning. Quickly, things got bad. I started shivering uncontrollably. I asked to go to the tent. She took me to the car and started it. I broke down in the car, telling her about the battle in my mind. My battle with Past Jon and Future Jon for the rights of Current Jon to quit this stupid race. Through it all, Miranda was patient with me, hoping to convince me to continue. Without a decision to quit and without one to continue, I asked for more food. Finally, after 30+ minutes in the car, I stopped shaking. My mind centered. My thinking became clear again. I would continue.

Loop Two

Finally, over an hour after I came into camp, I walked up to the gate. Laz asked if it was a runner coming. I said, “kind of. I’m still on my interloopal.” Laz asked, “Is that Jon Eisen?” I responded, “it’s me.” Keith butt in, “We thought you for dead.” I laughed, “those were the good betting odds.” I grabbed my bib, number 141, and turned to face my destiny. Keith tweeted:

Finishing the race was not a possibility. Finishing a fun run would be nigh impossible. But, I could run this second loop as best as I could. I fought through my leg muscles spasming and locking up due to hyponatremia. I ate the salts my body craved. I climbed to the first book.

The first major challenge to my navigation was in front of me. A night descent down Hell, a notoriously difficult navigation challenge, which I was going to attempt solo on my virgin year. I knew my bearing and I followed it. As we had come up just hours prior, I had seen how the ridge split in various ways. I felt the mountain splitting and zenned my way between the ridges, catching glimpses of footprints to confirm my beliefs. I landed on a ridge filled with Rhododendron, which I knew to be covering the area near the book. I walked right up to the Beech tree with two runners picking up their page from it. I had just perfectly navigated to the Beech tree. I was on fire.

I “sped” past the two runners in front of me. I wanted to do this on my own. I didn’t want dead weight holding me back. My ascent up Zipline was very close, as I ended up one capstone over from the Needle’s Eye. I grabbed my page and started down Razor Ridge, with two new headlamps in front of me. I finally caught them on the bottom and we continued together, with Kyle and Derek. They had both gotten quite lost at the Beech Tree and Needle’s Eye. I wasn’t going to wait for them, but if they could keep up with my energy, then they could tag along. One of them, Kyle, did keep up. In fact, he beat me up Rat Jaw. Derek was nowhere to be seen, so we continued on together.

At this point, it had to be 10-15 degrees wind chill at the tower, but as long as we kept moving, it wasn’t that cold. So we kept moving. Down to the Skillet, which we missed by just a 100 yards or so. We reset to the road. Luckily, because I had gotten lost here before, I recognized that we were just past the book location on the road, but finding the book from this side was difficult, so we went back to the waterfall and used that to find the book successfully.

Now, it was getting late in the first night and we were getting low on spirits as we went through Stallion. I messed up the bearing down from the Borehole, but we reset to Bobcat Rock before attempting Leonard’s Buttslide. Even in the dark, I found Leonard’s Buttslide to be quite easy to navigate. Many others had trouble here. I think if you reset to the Bobcat Rock first and know you’re looking for a confluence at the bottom, you shouldn’t have much trouble locating this book.

As we descended the out-and-back, we saw Nicky’s group with Andrea attached. They had all gotten ahead of me back at camp. It was good to see more faces in the woods. Kyle started talking about making the 26 hour and 40 minute cutoff for loop two. I did the math in my head and I just didn’t see how we were going to make it. I was getting tired and Kyle wasn’t any faster. We discussed it further. I relented. I would run until it was clear we weren’t going to make it. As we got up Upper Buttslide, we ran on the road.

It took forever to get to Bald Knob and our time was ticking down. It was then we encountered Katie again, this time walking backwards on the trail. She seemed disoriented. Apparently, she had just spent two hours being lost on the Coal Ponds road. I think she was close to quitting, but she decided to tag along with us. I reoriented her to the next turnoff, down Hillpocalypse. We descended quickly, still thinking about getting an official loop 2. That is, until we were stopped by the 40-foot cliff on Hillpocalypse. It took us at least 20 minutes to find the route down.

Finally at the bottom, we got to start heading up the Meatgrinder. What to say about Meatgrinder that hasn’t been said? It’s pretty much the most awful suffering of all the terrible climbs out there. It’s like all the steepest parts of Rat Jaw and Leonard’s Buttslide and Big Hell and Little Hell and Checkmate Hill all smashed into one terrible hour to hour and a half of slow incredibly steep climbing. Laz’s favorite comment on it was from Jamil Coury, who said (paraphrasing third-hand here) “I climbed and I climbed and I climbed. I finally reached the trail and assumed I was halfway… until I pulled out the map and realized I had barely just started.”

After summitting Meatgrinder, it was about 2:00 on our watches, meaning we had just 40 minutes to get two more books and return to camp. It wasn’t going to happen. So the three of us, Katie, Kyle, and I jovially jogged down to book two. We picked our line up Checkmate and just started climbing. Each of us was in our own heads. We were making the final climb of our Barkley journey this year. Eventually we topped out on what looked like our target bench. Katie joked “the bench is one pitch higher.” I was like, nooo! until she revealed she was joking. But, as we traversed around, I started to notice that this wasn’t looking familiar. Turns out she was right! The bench was higher. In fact, it was two pitches higher! Note to self on Checkmate Hill: keep climbing until it looks familiar.

Somewhere back in camp, the time ticked past 26 hours and 40 minutes, meaning my time on loop two was up. We of course would continue to the final book. Little did I know, my wife and crew back in camp was talking shit about me:

Finally we arrived at book 1. Every section was taking forever now. We found Nicky and the two dudes who had been with her all day (not sure their names) standing on the road saying that they couldn’t find the book. I decided to go look for myself. I found it right where we got it about 27 hours earlier. It wasn’t obvious where it was from the clue though. We picked up everyones pages and made the final 200 foot ascent up and over Wrong Way Ridge. Katie disappeared to the left. Kyle and I descended the ridge. Eventually we met up on the road and jogged into the gate together.

Laz joked that he knew that each of us thought we could finish the Barkley, that there was some way, some perfect day, that could happen and we, lowly us, could finish this race. He was right of course.

Jim played me taps first. I stood there solemnly. Long ago, I had described myself on some social media platform as a “Future Barkley Marathons DNF.” This moment was my dream. A dream come true. Barkley had spoken to me. Barkley had called me. I had answered. I trained. I prepared. I believed. And now, I had failed.

Processing

If you had asked me immediately after my finish if I wanted to come back, I would have told you I never want to climb Meatgrinder again. So no, I don’t want to come back. Slowly, after getting some sleep, I iterated through my mistakes, the places where I had been inefficient, my big nutrition and mental breakdown during the interloopal. I added up the time I had wasted… it came close to 4 hours. If I could cut 4 hours, I could make a go at a fun run. Perhaps that’s worth coming back for.

But I’m forgetting all the cost of training. Karel Sabbe said after his finish this year:

The preparation is so intense: it mortgages your social life, you see your wife and child less.

I couldn’t agree more. I saw friends less. I interacted with my wife less. I relied on her to cook and clean and boost me when I was down. I ran for 15-20 hours a week, worked for 40 hours a week, strength trained for 4 hours a week, studied the map most nights, and recovered for the rest of the time. I abstained from alcohol for most of my training cycle, stopped drinking coffee for 3 weeks leading up to the race, and didn’t go on the group runs that I love for so much time. Gear purchases dominated my credit card bill the last few months.

I like to say that just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. Was this worth it? Yes. But it’s so much. It’s not sustainable. Not for me at least. I’ll need a long break. I don’t think I’ll sign up for anything else this year. (You’re saying “lol we’ll see about that.”)

But in the end, I see a possibility for a fun run. And I think that will draw me back. I know my mistakes. I know how to fix them. I learned details about the course that you can only learn out there. Those details will save me time next time. My judgement of myself at Barkley is not in my result, but in my response. I respond to the question with, yes, yes I’ll come back. I’ll try again.

Tally of Mistakes

  • Didn’t prepare for the mad dash start. It threw me off my game.
  • Mental headspace on Loop 1: I wasn’t motivated. I thought as early as on the second climb that I wouldn’t continue on a second loop. I thought that I didn’t want it. More needs to be done to keep the motivation into the first loop.
  • I didn’t follow my game plan. I had planned to trust myself and not others. Twice on the first loop I made mistakes by trusting others with navigation when my gut told me differently. This wasn’t my game plan. I need to trust myself.
  • Nutrition was bad. Burritos are out. They aren’t dense enough and take too much time to eat.
  • More nutrition needs to be available without digging into my pack. I need to rearrange things or make some pack adjustments.
  • Carry less. I took too many precautions against getting lost or getting cold. Neither happened. I need to carry less to move faster.
  • Eat on the last descent. Don’t wait to eat at camp. Transitions need to be prepared for.
  • Accept the suffering earlier. I had rejected the suffering throughout loop one. Once I achieved acceptance on loop two, I was in a way better headspace.
  • Take caffeine out on night loops. I didn’t have a caffeine refresher around halfway on loop two. That would have helped immensely.

Tally of Successes

  • Course knowledge. I studied the map for this race a ton and it worked. I knew book location descriptions by heart. My scouting had given me enough knowledge to manage every trail crossing well.
  • Navigation skills. I navigated down to the Beech tree perfectly at night on my first try. I think that can only be chalked up to being a good navigator, relying on my compass and knowledge of the mountain.
  • Fitness. In general, I was as fast as many other excellent runners out there at Barkley. Sub-elite for sure, but I’m never going to be as fast as the elite guys. Gotta be honest about that one. My big imposter syndrome feeling was around fitness, and I proved I can move with the midpack well at Barkley.
  • Gloves. I hemmed and hawed about which gloves to wear for so long. In the end, I chose to wear my winter biking gloves (Craft). This was definitely the right choice. I had plenty of dexterity, good warmth, and I didn’t overheat in them.
  • Compass. I bought a Silva Arc Jet thumb compass and had it shipped in from Europe. It was the best choice. It was accessible, accurate, and fast. I would warn others though, that it requires more skill to use, as it has no rotating bezel, no declination compensation, and no degree markings.
  • Map. I drew a really good map. Con-Tac paper worked well as a waterproofing material (thanks for the tip JC!). Only improvement I’d suggest is adding a highlighter to my set of ultra-fine sharpies.
  • Crew. My wife crewed me. She helped save me from the depths during that interloopal. She comforted me the night of the conch. I would love to have her back out there.

Tally of Thanks

I want to thank everyone who helped me along my journey.

  • My parents were a great help during race week. My mother made excellent chili and brownies that helped save me during my interloopal. And my father let me borrow a bunch of good camping gear and stay at their house.
  • JC saved me a campsite and brought my mattress down. He also was the one who told me about the new application date. He showed me around the park in 2021 during my first scouting trip. He constantly talked about Barkley for years. He shared course knowledge and tips in the months leading up to the race. Thanks JC!
  • Sherpa John Lacroix started and continues to direct the Niwot’s Challenge in Colorado. This race showed me that I have a knack for off-trail navigation. It allowed me to get a taste of what the Barkley involves in a closer environment.
  • Nickademus was an excellent coach for the last year. I am deeply thankful for his guidance and support, along with the heavy training that pushed me to new heights. I won’t forget the lessons I learned training this past year.
  • My PT, Michael (Red Hammer Rehab), was so integral to staying healthy this past year. I have learned a lot and I really appreciate his flexibility. I booked multiple appointments with less than 24 hours notice, and he was always happy to help troubleshoot a new issue.
  • My wife, who I married only 9 days before Barkley started, has been the best support a man could ask for. Her unwaivering support of me has allowed me to achieve higher and farther than was previously possible. She even alleviated the anxiety I had about getting my license plate and took care of that for me. I am so thankful for her and our relationship. I will be spending the next months trying to give her some semblance of the support she has given me during my training.
  • Thanks laz. Thanks for giving me a chance.

Final Thoughts

After I got some sleep, I was able to become a spectator of the race, seeing Aurelian, John, and Karel execute a spectacular feat of running history up close. I’m in awe of their performance and ability. It was truly an honor to witness.

I’m pretty sure a finish is beyond my abilities. But I have more to give than I gave this year. I’ll be back.