Another year, same result - different reason.

Last year I finished 1 Barkley 20 mile loop in 15 hours 55 minutes and this
year I finished 1 loop in 16:10.  I found nine of nine books last year and
ten of ten this year.  Just a small course adjustment this year compared to
last.  This year I was stronger going into the race.  I reached the Garden
Spot (~ 8 miles and near the first of 2 water drops in 3:47.  Last year I
reached that spot in about 5 hours.  Last year I also cramped in my calves
shortly after the first candyass climb while running downhill on real trail
less than 1.8 miles into the race.  This year I did not cramp until just
past the first water drop.  I think a combination of faster pace (my heart
rate was 135-148 the first 8 miles - I should have been running slower at a
120-130 bpm heart rate - but I did not at that point want to risk getting
lost by falling behind those I was with) and inadequate sodium to that
point led to the cramping this year.  Had I strictly run my pace, (heart
rate 120-130) I would probably not have cramped at all.  I took too long to
fill my water bottles this year at the first water drop and the course
knowledgeable runners I was with at that point left ahead of me and virgin
John Price and we were soon thereafter very lost.  Due to our navigational
errors it took us almost 2.5 hours to reach the next book, only 0.5 miles
away if one followed the course correctly.  We then spent way too much time
checking our maps, compasses and course instructions to have any hope of
finishing 1 loop in time to start loop 2 (13 hours 20 minutes).

I camped with a couple runners from Hungary.  One of them had finished 2
Barkley loops 6 years ago and the other was a virgin.  I'm not sure which
one, but one of them soon after reaching the first real trail downhill
section along the north boundary trail tripped and punctured his leg to the
bone on a stick.  His race was over after completing 1.5 miles.

At Pig's Head crossing this year I saw Pete Ireland sitting along the side
of the road (highway 116).  He was waiting for a ride back to camp from
someone.  Last year he and Matt Mahoney finished one loop with me.
Somewhere early in the race he badly bruised his thigh and he struggled
mightily to get that far.  He knew he no longer had the legs to climb
Ratjaw or Big Hell, coming up shortly.  John Price decided to quit and
return with Pete at that point.  I was surprised because John seemed fairly
strong during our climb of Testicle Spectacle a little earlier.  Rich
Limacher and a couple others were with me at that point.  We worked our way
up to the easy grassy old jeep road leading slightly down towards Ratjaw.
I ran on ahead, trying to make up some time.  The other 3 must have walked,
because I did not see them again until back at camp Sunday morning I
learned they quit at the top of Ratjaw.

As I approached the 2nd water drop at the top of Ratjaw I saw Stu Gleman
and virgin Steve Durbin leaving the water drop.  Stu said he was going to
walk down the jeep road and I would probably see them again shortly.  After
refilling my one remaining 1 quart water bottle and pouring in some
sugar-salt mix I drank it all down and refilled it again.  I had lost my
2nd water bottle during one of the butt slides when I put it into a
shoulder bag I was using.  I forgot to zip it shut.  Big mistake.  So not
wanting to cover the last 7 miles of the course on a single 32 ounce water
bottle, I decided to carry one of the gallon water jugs from the water drop
with me to the finish.  I took one still half full and added 2 sugar-salt
packets.  So I left that water drop alone with 96 ounces of sweet fluid.

Shortly I caught up to Steve and Stu.  Not real confident anymore in my
navigational ability and knowing I would not have time to finish under the
time limit anyway, I decided to walk with them. We came to a multiple
choice direction point and Stu knew without question which way to go.  He
now lives in the area and he said he has covered parts of the course before
at night, no visible moon and no flashlight.  So navigation was not Stu's
problem.  But now at age 63, he is quite a bit over weight and under
trained for such idiocy as the Barkley, so he was really running out of
gas.  We got to the next book in the Needles Eye and he told me to take off
down zipline, that he knew I could go much faster than him.  Steve stayed
with Stu and I pushed down as fast as I felt comfortable.  Zipline is a saw
briar infested bushwacking downhill (loops 1 & 2 at least - loops 3 and 4
are a steep climb) with lots of big rocks near the bottom.  One is supposed
to go to the confluence of 2 streams and cross the confluence and find the
9th book.  So I knew if I came to a stream on my left, and if I followed it
until another stream from my right joined it. I would not be lost.  It got
dark on me about halfway down (a 1680 foot drop in 3/4 of a mile).  I found
a stream and continued down either in the stream or very close to it.  It
was slippery with very large rocks I needed to sometimes sit on and
carefully slide down to the next foot plant, trying not to break a leg.  I
finally got to the confluence and just as I was ready to cross it, along
comes Stu and Steve who had obviously found an easier way down.  Stu
questioned me on how I came down and congratulated me on running the course
"correctly" and he said he and Steve had "cheated".  He knew right where
the 9th book was.  I decided to let him lead us up Big Hell, figuring even
though I certainly could move faster by myself, that I most likely would
not reach book 10 at the top any quicker.  Stu only had a small penlight
along.  I let him use my strong hand held light.  I still wore a good
headlamp.  Every 100 yards of so of climbing (1680 foot climb in 3/4 of a
mile), Stu had to stop and sit or lie down a couple minutes.  It was a very
slow climb.  I don't think Steve was much better, because each time Stu
stopped to rest, Steve sat down as well.  Steve said he was having trouble
with his Camelback and that his water bottles were empty.  I filled one of
his water bottles from the gallon jug I was carrying.  I also gave Stu one
of the Pearson's salted nut rolls I still had left.  Shortly after eating
the candy, Stu said he didn't think he was going to die anymore.  At one
point before that while sitting, Stu explained in very detailed terms how
to finish the race from there, in case he could not continue.  At another
point he said his legs were no longer working and he could not stay
vertical.  Eventually though, Stu lead us directly to book 10 - no
searching required.  Even in the dark and with a bushwacking trail, he was
able to stay on the "beaten path" made by previous runners that day most of
the climb.

Once getting the last book there was maybe another .25 mile of
navigationally challenged course before one got to a 3 mile candyass
switchback trail down to the park road and a .5 mile road section to the
camp.  Stu lead us to the candyass trail.  Then he gave me my hand held
flash light back and he told me to take off.  Even then he said if the
trail seems to end simply look back and I would see the switchback to
continue on.  I jogged in from there in about an hour and about 1.5 hours
later Stu and Steve entered camp, the last unofficial full single loop
finishers of the Barkley this year.

Unlike last year, when Dan Baglione was lost on the course for 32 hours
having only found the first book, no one, much to race director Gary
Cantrell's pleasure, came in after 17.5 hours this year unless they were on
their 2nd loop.

One runner, Brian Robinson, finished loop 1 in 8:15 and started his 3rd
loop just under 19 hours into the race.  I left camp for home before he
finished his 3rd loop, which I later learned he finished in 31 hours.  He
also finished a 4th loop in 47 hours 47 minutes.  He left camp to start the
legendary 5th loop with 13 minutes to spare.  Only 6 people in the 20 some
year history of the Barkley have ever finished all 5 loops.  He got a few
miles into his 5th loop before quitting.  A truly valiant endurance effort.
Last year no one finished the 3 loop "Fun Run" under its 40 hour cutoff.
This year 4 of the 35 participants finished 3 loops under 36 hours, the
time limit to allow one to continue to try and finish the 100 miles in its
60 hour limit.  With an unmarked course featuring 11000 feet of uphill and
11000 feet of downhill per 20  mile loop, about 1/3 of which is candyass
trail, 1/3 is real trail (hasn't been improved in 50 years) and 1/3 is
bushwacking, the Barkley is arguably the toughest 100 mile race in the
world.

This year I left Seagate at 3:00 PM Wednesday.  I arrived at camp at 5:30
PM Thursday.  I took a 2 hour bushwacking hike up to Castle Rock peak on
Bird Mountain and returned straight down on Thursday evening, rather than
use the candyass switchback trail, so as to test how my new Inov8 Terroc
shoes felt.  They felt good, so I wore them during the race rather than the
Vasque Velocity shoes I had been wearing on trail races the last couple
years.  I did not have any toe blisters or lost toenails this year.  I lost
the big toenail of my left foot last year, due to foot slippage on the
steep downhills.  The Inov8 shoes are very flexible so with the Injini
toesocks I also wore, my toes held up very well this year.  I did though
have hot spots on the balls and heels of both feet.  As I recall I had that
problem last year as well.  I need to experiment with some padding I can
attach to my feet for this race.  The bottoms of my feet looked much better
than they felt.  I expected to see huge blisters, but did not.

The official Barkley shirt this year, a technical teeshirt, featured a
picture of a rattlesnake in a leafy wooded setting and the words "The Best
Thing about the Barkley Marathons is the Petting Zoo".  You gotta love
it...Sue Thompson who finished one loop and quit at the Garden Spot during
her 2nd loop said she saw a rattlesnake during the race Saturday.  I did
not see any.

Gary Cantrel started Friday evening with 6 cases of donated chicken
leg-thighs.  He cooked half a case for the Friday evening potluck  and he
continued to throw chicken on the wood fueled grill as requested throughout
the duration of the race.  They tasted great, especially after finishing a
loop.  This year I brought down a gallon can of peaches and one of pears
for the potluck.  I dumped the fruit together into a large plastic
container and used the gallon cans to cook some whole wheat elbows and some
wild rice-whole rice-barley blend to go with cold prego spaghetti sauce.
Someone else heated a gallon of baked beans.  There was potato salad,
brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  With the chicken, a good feast.

It was hot and sunny (about 80°F) Saturday afternoon and about 3:00 AM
Sunday it started to rain off and on.  It was raining fairly hard when I
left for home about 9:30 Sunday morning.  It would be getting tough for
those still on the course.  I got safely home about 2:30 PM Monday, having
stopped at Treasure Island Casino Buffet to chow down big time just before
getting home.

According to my heart rate monitor I burned 7800 calories during the 1
loop.  I consumed about 2800 calories (two 250 cal salted nut rolls, 2
sprouted grain tortillas with peanut butter and strawberry jam, 2 similar
tortillas with turkey and fat-free mayo, 64 ounces of Gatorade and about
7/3 cups of sugar and 7/4 teaspoons of salt.)  The race provides water at
miles 8 and 13, so one needs to carry from the start any calories they plan
to consume during a loop, as well as any gear for cold wet weather than can
happen during a loop taking 8-20 hours to complete.

Next year I am going to have to arrive a couple days earlier and each day
"learn" half the course so I don't have to waste so much time navigating
and getting lost.  Then I can also go the whole way at my pace, not needing
to rely on others to help me find the way.  Others are either too fast or
too slow.

This year the full field of 35 started the race, although it took the full
wait list of 25 from December 26 to ensure 35 starters, as for various
reasons many of those initially selected dropped before the race started,
some less than a week before the start.  Dan Baglione, just there for the
atmosphere, not planning to run had made for himself two special teeshirts.
One had a Barkley picture and the words "Banned from the Barkley" printed
on it, while the other had a picture and the words "Beware Barkley Bandit".

When it comes to the Barkley people either love it or hate it (and
sometimes both at the same time), but no one is ambivalent about it.

Allan R Holtz