John Kelly

That 3 loop "Fun Run" hurt more than my last two 5 loop finishes. Yes, the course was harder - about 10% more vert, bringing it to ~15K feet per loop. The weather was tougher too - 77F / 25C is toasty for Barkley (2 nights earlier had 4 inches of rain w/ a tornado watch, 1 night later had snow flurries 🤷‍♂️). But I also made a lot of mistakes. It's actually pretty intriguing, it being back to something I'm not sure I'm capable of doing. But the best measure of difficulty isn't whether I, or anyone else, can finish. The race is meant to have goals that are out of reach but maybe possible for the full spectrum of participants. When only 10 people finish 1 loop, and only 4 finish 2... then yeah, maybe it was a bit difficult. The course, and the runners, will continue to recalibrate. And the weather will continue being unpredictable. Rigid pre-race goals are great for motivation & prep, but for post-race evaluation they often fail to account for the actual circumstances. After each of my events I now distill my satisfaction down to two seemingly simple questions: 1. Did I do my best? 2. Was it (or would it have been) worth it? The answer to both questions should be the same. This time they were both yes. Possibly the greatest thing ultrarunning has given me is simply the ability to honestly answer both of those questions. It requires knowing what my best is, and what my best takes. Far too often people have no idea what they're capable of and think "I gave it my all" when it was really just "I experienced mild discomfort." What our best is isn't nearly as important as simply being able to actually give it & having something in life that's worth it. Thank you so much to the race, my family and other support including crew @maggatronruns , for another opportunity to do this. 🙏 I'll post loop synopses here in the coming days, then eventually the usual overly detailed report. And why is "Creep" playing with this post? Because that's what was stuck in my head for three loops. Enjoy. If you have 39 hours and 50 minutes straight to think about it, a lot of the lyrics also make sense for Barkley. 😂 📷 @searchingforzocherman

A few days ago a bunch of my friends came & ran around the woods of Tennessee tearing pages out of books for the Barkley Marathons. The 5 of us here gathered 75 each. Jasmin Paris had the kind of performance that makes this arbitrary adventure have meaning so far beyond this yellow gate. I don't think anything at Barkley will ever top it. I wrote back in 2018 (link in bio) that a woman could finish Barkley. But being possible & actually happening are two entirely different things, and I didn't know if I would ever see it. Jasmin had all the right ingredients - incredible strength & speed, an unstoppable quiet resolve, master navigation, & amazing support from her husband Konrad. She failed in 2022 & 2023, but nevertheless, she persisted & gained valuable experience. When the giant group of 16 in the lead half way around loop 1 started to spread out, she was not amongst the 6 of us back to camp first. Nevertheless, she persisted & caught us going up Rat Jaw in the afternoon sun. She seemed to start to struggle getting enough food down. Nevertheless, she persisted & kept pace with me, @ihorverys , & @ultra_damo until nearly the end of loop 3. She hit another low point & slipped back - something that at that point would have made it extremely easy to give up hope of a finish. Nevertheless, she persisted & joined @derajslc & Greig for the daunting & critical loop 4. When we crossed paths on loop 5 & I did the math in my head, the odds for her were very bad. After I finished & heard how far behind she was at the fire tower, the question was how long over the cutoff she would unfortunately be. Nevertheless, she persisted. As the last few minutes of hope disappeared, my oldest son was the 1st to spot her moving through the woods towards camp. Someone dismissed it as just a kid saying things. When she emerged, Jared & I started frantically looking between each other, our watches, & her willing her broken body up the road. @garyrobbins , who has the most heart breaking near finish at Barkley & returned this year to crew me, stood behind us. My daughters were there watching. Thank you Jasmin, for showing them what I never fully could. 📸 @howiesternphoto

“Born and bred in the briar patch, that’s me,” laughed Brer Rabbit. “I told you not to throw me there. In all the world, that’s the place I love best!” With a lippity clip, he hopped away. In 2017 as I climbed Chimney Top, my final summit in the Barkley Marathons & the mountain that stood outside my childhood bedroom window, there was nothing but fog, both surrounding me & in my head. This year I got to enjoy a beautiful sunset on that final climb. Before descending to camp for my 2nd finish, I sat at the top to take in the view and count my last set of pages at the same spot I sat with my dad in this photo over 30 years ago. It was a special year all around, with many strong performances. @aurelien_sanchez_ had an absolutely masterful race on his very 1st attempt to become finisher #16. Seeing @karelsabbe come in just under the wire as #17 was incredible, and such a well-deserved outcome. Jasmin Paris had the best Barkley by a woman ever, and I know there is even more she is capable of. @Ultra_Damo became just the 19th person to ever start loop 5. There are many more, each with their tales of adventure to tell. Thank you to everyone for the support, and I hope some of what we get to discover out there is a shared experience. Or, if we're all just a bunch of idiots running around in the woods, that at least it's entertaining. 🙂 📷#2: @howiesternphoto . . . #bm100 #barkley #adventure #morgancounty #frozenhead #tennessee #brerrabbit #briarpatch #foryourmountain #selfpropelled #accesstheinaccessible #yoursecondskin #gotailwind #exploreperfection #fuelbetter

Sometimes to fully appreciate something we have to try to see it through someone else's eyes. This is one of my favorite Barkley photos, my daughter looking up in wonder at @jasminparis_fellrunner after she became the 1st woman finisher ever. I knew as very few people do what Jasmin had just done. All my 6 year old understood was that she looked like her & had done the "impossible." That mattered more than any numbers I could put on it. So I had to stop myself when the geeky data scientist in me started trying to quantify @rachel__entrekin 's incredible course record at Cocodona. What matters much more is intangible. She did what so many people thought was impossible. What so many assumed she couldn't just by looking at her. And thanks to that, fewer people will make the perilous mistake of underestimating my daughters. But don't reduce this to the same types of population level comparisons, bad science, or sweeping generalizations that were just disproved. It was an extraordinary accomplishment by an extraordinary individual. This isn't about calculating the odds. It's about defying them. It's not about determining what's probable. It's about determining what's possible. When Jasmin & I crossed paths on loop 5 at #bm100, in my head I ran the numbers & thought, "dang, this isn't looking good." Out loud, I gave her every bit of positive encouragement my own exhausted body could manage. I didn't share those numbers with her until after she shattered them. Don't let anyone define your limits for you. Don't assume what they are. Go find them yourself. Everything that's ever been done is a floor, not a ceiling. Go turn some ceilings into floors. Then toss down a rope. Thank you Rachel, for pulling us all higher. I've never met Rachel, experienced @cocodona250 (I'm not a desert person), or been a woman (although my parents thought I would be & planned to name me Jennifer). I wrote this 4 days ago & didn't post it because this or any other commentary is a bit of a waste if you don't also go listen to what @rachel__entrekin has to say. If I accomplish anything here, it's for someone else to do that. 📷 @harveylewisultrarunner 🎥 @maggatronruns

BREAKING: @jessilailkelly has never seen Rocky. This is on me. I've failed her as a husband, partner, and friend. But at least it's not like she's never seen the original Star Wars or Indiana Jones. I mean, surely not... #ultrarunning #trailrunning #trainingwithkids #westernstates #foryourmountain

Last week I mentioned the Profile Trail on Grandfather Mountain still being closed. This video, from the 2024 @tanawha_adventures Grand-further Mountain Run, might be some of the last footage from Profile before Hurricane Helene. 🎥 Foster Ramsey #trailrunning #downhill #eastcoast #grandfathermountain #foryourmountain

More things to try to be more effective with the training time I have. 1. Heat suit 2. Gut training / nutrition improvements 3. The Flash ⚡ #ultrarunning #westernstates #heattraining #highcarb

And of course everything has been a team effort. Without @jessilailkelly no part of it would have been possible - from going all-in on a startup to now enjoying some of the payoff. #ultrarunning #timeoff #roi #fulltimeliving #knowyourenough

Part 2 of 2. A typical Monday. Part 1 (my home office & training setup) was posted at the same time, but Instagram told me reels should be less than 3 minutes. 🤷‍♂️ I also sped these up by 20%, because I talk real slow y'all. #hometraınıng #westernstates #ultrarunning #foryourmountain

Part 1 of 2. My home office & training setup. Part 2 (a typical Monday) was posted at the same time, but Instagram told me reels should be less than 3 minutes. 🤷‍♂️ I also sped these up by 20%, because I talk real slow y'all. #hometraınıng #westernstates #ultrarunning #foryourmountain

Back on the Appalachian Trail! Sort of. Checking out a detour between Damascus and the Grayson Highlands for @_will.peterson ahead of his self-supported FKT attempt. Beautiful day in a beautiful place. #appalachiantrail #damascus #fastestknowntime #helenerecovery #foryourmountain

The Expert Influencer paradox (I just made that up, I think). Most people know about the Dunning-Kruger effect, the phenomenon where the more someone knows, the more they realize they don't know. This is how we get novices speaking as authorities and experts hesitant to say anything. I've noticed a corrolary in my own life - the more experience I'm gaining, the less time I have to talk about it. Meanwhile, influencers & gurus are somehow posting elaborate content constantly. That's not to say there aren't people who can do both. There are the teachers & coaches - people who have devoted themselves to learning for the purpose of passing the knowledge to others. There are the mountaintop sages - people who have gathered a lifetime of wisdom and now have the time to share it. And there are people who have just fully devoted their lives to something, eliminating other major time commitments. None of those things have ever been me (yet). The more I have to say, the less time I have to say it. After Barkley I posted that I'd focus more on training, while trying to not wreck family time. So that's what I've been doing. The thing that got wrecked was Instagram time. I've increased cross training & dreadmill time, actually started doing strength & mobility, continued to work on nutrition (turns out I had h pylori, which could explain some of my stomach issues going back many years), and am still trying to figure out my lingering leg problem from the Appalachian Trail (latest theory is peroneal nerve entrapment). And importantly, continuing to work on my pizza skills. So I haven't posted about those things; I've been busy doing them instead... or doing things with my family. I haven't even fully unpacked my Barkley gear yet, now almost two months later. Hopefully there's at least not any muddy & sweaty stuff left still festering in a bag. 😬 One day maybe I'll have time for both doing and saying, or move into that retired sage category. For now I'll stay focused on the doing. Or watching my kids doing (so, many, spring, activities 😮‍💨). And occasionally opening Instagram so I can post about not posting. 😂 📷 1 Tom Rivers, 2 @realboonestudios