The Barkley Marathons Make the Boston Marathon Look Easy

The Barkley Marathons, held annually in Tennessee, are enough to make even the most seasoned athlete weak in the knees.

Just so we're all on the same page, let's start by defining a marathon. A marathon is a long-distance footrace of 26.2 miles. You know, like our beloved Boston Marathon. The Barkley Marathons (notice the "s" there; that makes it plural) is a 100-mile footrace. It consists of five 20+ mile loops of an off-trail course in Frozen Head State Park in Morgan County, Tennessee. The race takes place annually in late March or early April.

Another way the Barkley Marathons differs from your average marathon is that there's a strict time limit. You have sixty hours to finish the five loops. That's a lot on a body. A runner would have to make note of their pace on the first lap, then figure out how much rest they can get away with over the sixty-hour window. And that's not the only bit of mental gymnastics runners have to do.

The course itself is unmarked, with no aid stations; just a pair of watering stations. Instead of aid stations and signage, there are books. Anywhere between 9 and 14 books are stashed along the course route, and runners are required to tear out the page that corresponds with their bib number, which changes after every loop they complete. You see where this is going, right? Barkley is an endurance race that pushes both body and mind to their absolute limit.

So who the hell is running this insane race? And who's finishing it? The answer to both questions is "not many people." The Barkley is not advertised, so you've got to be a heavy-hitter on the ultramarathon circuit to be in the know. Registration is limited to 40 runners, all of whom must submit an essay titled "Why I Should be Allowed to Run in the Barkley" and complete various other subject-to-change registration requirements. But hey, the registration fee is only $1.60!

Those (un)lucky enough to be chosen have to be on their toes on race day.  The Barkley can start any time between midnight and noon. A conch shell is blown one hour before race time to give runners time to prepare. The race is officially underway when race director and co-founder Gary "Lazarus Lake" Cantrell lights a cigarette.

The Barkley was first run in 1986. As of 2023, the full, five-loop race has only been completed 21 times by 17 runners. But hey, a record THREE runners finished in 2023, so perhaps there's a trend forming? You can learn more about the Barkley and see who's finished it here. And if your interest is really piqued, check out the documentary below.

I found a few Marathon Monday photos from years past, so I thought I'd share them. And tell a few stories while I'm at it.

I grew up north of Boston and went to college in the city, but it wasn't until I moved away and came back home again that I started my love affair with Marathon Monday. When I took over as midday host at WBCN in 2003, I also took over the tradition of BCN's annual Marathon Monday live broadcast. Every year, we'd set up shop at MIT's Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house right outside Kenmore Square.

Phi Sig treated us right. They'd yield their common room so I'd have a quiet place to broadcast...and so I could keep tabs on the Red Sox game on their gigantic TV. Meanwhile, the brothers would set up on the sidewalk with a dunk tank, giant grill, and cold beverages (non-alcoholic, of course). We'd cheer the runners as they passed through Kenmore Square. Mr. Butch would hold court in the park. And one year, BCN Promotions Guru Chris Rucker fell asleep on the couch. Classic Rucker move.

When BCN went off the air in the summer of '09, I eventually landed back at WFNX, where I had started my radio career. After a couple of years off, I came back into action on Marathon Monday 2012. FNX Promotions Kingpin Mike Snow and I took the T down to Boylston St. and did an impromptu bar crawl. No sponsors, just me armed with my iPhone. I recorded breaks on the voice memo app and sent them back to the studio for the board op to play on air. Cutting edge tech for 2012!

Then came 2013. I told my story on my radio show the day after it happened. My alma mater, Northeastern University, has the audio archived. I'll leave it at that.

2014 was something else. If you were in the city for Marathon Monday that year, you know what a cathartic, triumphant experience it was. I returned to Forum on Boylston St. with my team from RadioBDC, anchored the live broadcast, and in doing so capped off a decade of Marathon Monday events. There's no better day to be out in the city; there's no vibe like it in Boston. I hope my Marathon Monday photos capture a bit of that.