{"id":2466546,"date":"2018-10-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/uncategorized\/bigs-backyard-ultra-existential-torture\/"},"modified":"2022-05-12T12:59:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T18:59:05","slug":"bigs-backyard-ultra-existential-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/running\/bigs-backyard-ultra-existential-torture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Existential Torture of a Race with No End"},"content":{"rendered":"

In \u201cThe Myth of Sisyphus<\/a>,\u201d the philosopher Albert Camus argues that the best way to endure the absurdity of life is to consciously embrace it. I mean no disrespect to the brooding Frenchman, but, as far as actionable advice goes, this isn\u2019t particularly helpful. Just try and apply it the next time you\u2019re suffering through a half-marathon. If you\u2019re like me, you\u2019ll probably discover that, while it\u2019s easy enough to convince yourself that what you\u2019re doing is utterly meaningless, it doesn\u2019t make pushing the boulder any less agonizing. Thankfully, the half-marathoner always knows his punishment is finite. After 13.1 miles, he can stop running and go worry about something else.<\/p>\n

But what about a race that doesn\u2019t have a\u00a0finish and is Sisyphean by design? At Big\u2019s Backyard Ultra<\/a>,\u00a0which wrapped up earlier this week, participants don\u2019t even have the luxury of knowing how much further they have to go. The race just putters on until only one runner remains. Fittingly, the mastermind behind this psycho torture is none other than Gary \u201cLazarus Lake\u201d Cantrell, creator of the infamous Barkley Marathons<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Big\u2019s Backyard, the rules are straightforward. At the start, all competitors run a 4.1667-mile loop on Cantrell\u2019s property in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. Everyone who successfully completes this loop in under sixty minutes stays in the race. Exactly one hour after the initial start, the process repeats itself. The winner is the person who successfully completes the most laps, i.e. is the last to quit. This year that distinction went to Johan Steene of Sweden, who hung on for a record-setting 68 laps (283.3356 miles) <\/b>and 55 hours and 23 minutes of running, narrowly outlasting 2018 Western States champ Courtney Dauwalter<\/a> who called it after lap 67. (In order for Steene to claim victory, he still needed to run one more lap on his own.) Since there is no official course distance, only Steene gets listed as an official finisher. Everyone else is a DNF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At Big\u2019s Backyard, speed is less of an asset than sheer stubbornness.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

\u201cIf you run from A to B, you know that each step takes you closer to the finish. Here, there\u2019s not a preset distance, so it\u2019s so much easier to give up,\u201d Steene says. \u201cIf you stop believing you can win for one second, then you will quit because it won\u2019t be worth the effort anymore.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite her \u201cDNF,\u201d Dauwalter was upbeat about her performance. Reached by phone, she said that, as a challenge that\u2019s as much psychological as it is physical, Big\u2019s Backyard would hopefully help her become even more resilient in traditional ultra races.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so crazy. Like a time warp, basically,\u201d she said of her experience, while adding that she definitely plans to do it again. \u201cThe format helps you find your own limit and, for me, my limit on that day was 279 miles. Next time, I\u2019m thinking to try and push that line a little further back.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

The race format flips the script on traditional endurance competition. Since most runners are able to complete a four-mile loop in under an hour with relative ease\u2014and since the only thing that matters is how many loops one is willing to run\u2014at Big\u2019s Backyard, speed is less of an asset than sheer stubbornness. The race description on UltraSignup.com<\/a> bears this out: Have you ever thought that you could not be beaten, if only the faster runners were unable to run away and leave you? This is your chance to find out. Every surviving runner will be tied for the lead, every hour.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As if that didn\u2019t sound sinister enough, every participant at Big\u2019s must wear a tracking device around their ankle. The race also includes \u201cjeerleaders<\/a>,\u201d spectators who are tasked with taunting runners by reminding them of their misery and telling them to give up. Apparently, Cantrell likes to get in on the fun. (I\u2019m sure he\u2019s a swell guy once you get to know him.)<\/p>\n

Of course, Big\u2019s Backyard\u2014which began in 2012 and gets its name from Cantrell\u2019s pet pitbull\u2014isn\u2019t the only ultra that borders on the perverse. Every summer, in the Queens borough of New York City, a dozen or so runners attempt to circle a single half-mile block 5,649 times in what is known as the Self-Transcendence 3,100-mile Race<\/a>. The current record stands at 40 days, nine hours, six minutes, and 21 seconds, held by Finland\u2019s Ashprihanal Aalto. Compared to such biblical proportions, Big\u2019s might seem like a low-key commitment, though at least the Queens runners know how many laps they have to go. (Also they get to sleep for several hours every night during the race.)<\/p>\n

What are we to make of these spectacles on the fringes of the ultra scene? On the one hand, events like Big\u2019s and the Self-Transcendence Race obviously represent a formidable athletic challenge. But feats of extreme endurance tend to become farcical<\/a> when they fall outside a shared consensus of what\u2019s considered worth doing. Just like Aalto\u2019s \u201cworld record\u201d for running 3,100 miles, Steene\u2019s 68 laps at Big\u2019s Backyard is simultaneously a massive achievement and completely meaningless\u2014even within the relatively niche world of endurance sports. \u00a0<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t meant as a knock on these zany, outlier races. But perhaps more than with mainstream pursuits like the marathon, an event like Big\u2019s requires surrounding oneself with other like-minded souls to sustain the illusion of purpose. After her 67th four-mile loop, Dauwalter conceded defeat and congratulated Steene. Rather than a glorious victory lap, Steene told me that his final solo lap was the \u201cworst one of all,\u201d marked not by elation, but by a strange despair. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she told me that she\u2019d had enough and that now I had to go and win it, I didn\u2019t feel joy,\u201d Steene says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you win a race that you\u2019ve put so much effort into, you would like to be able to just scream out and be joyful. But the only thing I felt was that I wanted\u00a0her to come out onto the course with me so we could continue together. I don\u2019t even think I said anything to her, but I just shook her hand, took off, and felt a kind of emptiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camus would be so proud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt was so crazy. Like a time warp, basically.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23631,"featured_media":2359246,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"uuid":"836f01be7cc678c7c55df265ceea6070","footnotes":""},"categories":[2552],"tags":[2682,2613,3006],"byline":[1213],"ad_cat":[],"legacy-category":[],"class_list":["post-2466546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-running","tag-marathon","tag-running","tag-ultrarunning","cluster-in-stride","byline-martin-fritz-huber"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Existential Torture of a Race with No End","url":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/running\/bigs-backyard-ultra-existential-torture\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/running\/bigs-backyard-ultra-existential-torture\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/26\/run-for-ultra_h.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/26\/run-for-ultra_h.jpg"},"articleSection":"Running","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"mmirhashem"}],"creator":["mmirhashem"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online","logo":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/favicon-194x194-1.png"},"keywords":["marathon","running","ultrarunning"],"dateCreated":"2018-10-26T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2018-10-26T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2022-05-12T18:59:05Z"},"rendered":"