Over the weekend I stumbled upon a documentary on Netflix titled "The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young". While the name is what initially caught my attention, the description is what convinced me to actually sit down and watch it - "A famous prison escape sparks the idea for a cult-like race that has seen only 10 finishers in its first 25 years. This award-winning, oddly inspiring, and wildly funny documentary reveals the sports world’s most guarded secret." Only 10 finishers in 25 years. I asked myself how a race could be so difficult that only 10 people were able to finish it in the past 25 years; I just had to watch it to find out.
Without giving away too much (I highly recommend watching the documentary for yourself) I can tell you that the race itself is without a doubt, the most difficult endurance race I've ever heard of. It is a 130 mile (estimated because there is no real way to gauge the actual distance) race through the woods of Wartburg, Tennessee that consists of multiple elevation changes (rumored to be be equivalent to climbing and descending Mt. Everest... twice) and a time-limit of 60 hours to complete (meaning those who complete it do so on little to no sleep). If this all sounds a little crazy, it should. There are many ultra-marathons out there boasting 100 mile runs through various tough climates, but none that quite match the mysticism, difficulty and overall insane nature of the Barkley Marathons.
Judging by the title of my post, you may believe that I'm about to recommend you go out and sign up to this preposterous test of human will and spirit that disguises itself as a race; but that is not at all the case. While watching the documentary I realized a couple of things: the first being that there are people out there with much more discipline, determination, dedication and testicular fortitude than I will ever have, and the second (the reason I'm writing this post) being that I need to do something big before I die. It's far too easy to go through life in our comfort zone. Our happy little bubble of what we know and what we're used to. Sure we all try to improve ourselves - read a new book, get to the gym regularly, run a 5k or two, take a cooking class - anything to give ourselves a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. But how often do we go out and do something BIG? Something completely out of our comfort zone that requires massive amounts of effort. This "big thing" will be different for all of us. For someone who has never run more than a 5k, completing the Boston Marathon might do the trick. Whereas someone who's spent most of their life running marathons may need to look to something like the Barkley Marathons to "go big". The difficulty of your big adventure should only be judged through your own eyes and should only be compared to your own accomplishments. If you've never scaled a mountain before, you shouldn't be looking to tackle Everest on your first outing; but that doesn't mean you can't go after Pikes Peak.
The point of "doing something big" isn't to do something that only 10 people in history have ever done - accomplishments like that often require lifelong dedication and immense innate talent - instead shoot for something that maybe 1,000,000 people do each year (still only 0.34% of the US population). Something that isn't normal, something you won't encounter unless you go out of your way to find it. Something that'll require work, effort, time (and probably money), but that will create an experience, a memory, and a sense of accomplishment that you would never have been able to achieve otherwise. You're going to have to plan for it, and you're most definitely going to have to work towards it, but there's no better time to get started than now. Remember that taking the first step is often the most difficult thing to do, so go ahead and make the decision to get out of your comfort zone and commit to something. Endless possibilities, adventures, and challenges await you. It doesn't really matter which one you choose, just as long as you make sure you go big.
"Think big and don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done. Life's too short to think small." - Tim Ferris