April 2021

One of the most treacherous races on the planet, the Barkley Marathons, known as "The Barkley," is a 100-mile long event with 120,000 feet of climbs and descents that takes place around the perimeter of Frozen Head State Park in the mountains of Tennessee. With only 60 hours to complete the race, runners are tasked with navigating through unenviable conditions, including temperature swings, rain, and even snow. Mary Carillo speaks with Lazarus Lake, who conceived the event after James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from a maximum-security prison in the same Tennessee mountains and only managed to travel eight miles in just under 60 hours before he was caught. "Laz," as he's known, mocked Ray, suggesting he could run 100 miles through the Tennessee mountains in that amount of time. And so the race was born.