Run THE Race
Various news outlets report:
On Friday, March 22 [2024], Jasmin Paris became the first woman to ever complete the infamous Barkley Marathons. The 40-year-old mother from Scotland completed the 100-plus mile race in 59 hours, 58 minutes and 21 seconds. That left just one minute and 39 seconds to spare when she hit the yellow gate.
Few people who start the race ever finish it, with some years seeing no finishers at all! In fact, only 20 runners have ever fully completed the course!
So what is the Barkley Marathons and why is it considered the toughest and quirkiest race in the world?
The race began by former ultra-runner Gary Cantrell, better known as ‘Lazarus Lake,’ and his friend, Karl ‘Raw Dog’ Henn in 1986. To Henn, Cantrell had mocked the seemingly unathletic escape of James Earl Ray, the assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who covered only 12 miles during his 60 hours on the run, saying, 'I could do at least 100 miles in that time.'
It was from that joke and Lake’s twisted sense of humor that the Barkley Marathons were born. Originally the race was approximately 55 miles with 25,000 ft of elevation gain, but was later extended in 1989 to 100 miles. [5 20-mile loops]
The race has been run every year since, and as described above, has become even more challenging over time.
The race can start anytime between midnight and noon on race day with a one-hour warning from the sound of a conch shell. Later, the lighting of a ceremonial cigarette marks the race’s official beginning. The 20-mile loop covers the exact horizontal distance and does not take into account changes in elevation, indirect paths or getting lost. One of the other quirky dimensions of the race is that runners are required to find 9 -14 books around the state park and take out page numbers that correspond to their changing bib number each round. They must return the pages to Lake every lap to prove they didn’t take any shortcuts.
Upon Paris' historic victory she said, “At the end every fiber of my body was screaming to stop. I didn’t even know if I touched the gate. I just gave it everything to get there and then collapsed, gasping for air.”
While one can't imagine the kind of training Jasmin had to go through to run 100 miles, the quirky nature of this race reminds one that not every race matters equally.
As the old saying goes, "The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat." Yet we are called in scripture to keep running! Endure to the end! For a great prize awaits those who do!
In 2 Timothy 4:6-8, Paul says, "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."
The race Paul trained for was THE race that mattered! It was one of eternal significance, and he calls us to run the same race as well.
Run the Race
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s sports minister publicly apologized Wednesday and ordered that the chairwoman of the national track and field federation be suspended after a seemingly untrained female sprinter represented the African country at the World University Games in China and took more than 20 seconds to finish a 100-meter race.
The minister reported that they did not know how the woman, 20-year-old Nasra Abukar Ali, was selected to compete in the women’s 100 at the student games in Chengd. She very quickly fell behind, and finished more than 10 seconds behind the winner (in a 100 meter race, that is an eternity!).
Some charged nepotism, some charged incompetence, but all cried foul, claiming the perfomrance posed a serious embarrassment to all serious Somali athletes, as well as being damaging to Somalia’s reputation on the world stage at large.
Video of the race was shared in a tweet criticizing Ali’s participation, and calling for the head of Somalia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports to immediately step down. The video has since gone viral, with nearly 70 million views to date.
Scripture likens the Christian life to running a race, and in doing so cautions that we should not take our participation in that race lightly, but rather train and discipline ourselves to perform well.
That said, some of us will train harder than others, some will quit the race, but yet others will finally limp across the finish line, albeit well behind the rest of the pack.
Ali was not prepared for the race she had entered, but to her credit, she did finish the race. Perhaps it is her goal to keep running, keep training, improving her fitness and her time. Or, perhaps she entered the race with no other motive than to mock the process. We can’t know.
What we can know, though, is for those of us sincerely called by God into the Christian life, we are called to “run with endurance, the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, ESV).
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. Do your best to come to me soon” (2 Timothy 4:7-9, ESV).
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24, ESV).
Determined to Run
Jim Thorpe, born May 28, 1888, in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, has been acclaimed as one of the most accomplished “all-around” athletes in history. In fact, in 1950 he was selected by American sportswriters and broadcasters as the greatest American athlete of the early 20th century.
He was predominantly of American Indian descent and attended Indian schools growing up. Financially poor and underprivileged by any standards, he was every bit rich in athletic prowess. He played it all – baseball, football, basketball, boxing, lacrosse, swimming, hockey, and most famously, track and field.
Strong as a bull and fast as lightning, Thorpe competed in the Stockholm Olympics of 1912 in both the Pentathlon and the Decathlon. But just before he was set to take the field he discovered someone had stolen his shoes. Undeterred, he searched for another pair.
What he found was not a "pair," but rather two different sized, different styled shoes discarded in a trash can. To make the larger of the two shoes fit, he had to wear extra socks.
Dressed in his pauperish, mismatched replacements, he humbly took to the field and won Gold Medals in both competitions.
God has set a race before you. He’s challenged you to ready yourself. Even so, unexpected obstacles can (and will) present themselves. It will take tenacity, courage, creativity, and maybe even a good dose of humility to stay the course.
What is YOUR excuse for not running with endurance the race which God has set before you?
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us …” Heb 12:1 (ESV