5 Things We Can Learn From Jasmin Paris’s Incredible Outlying Performance at the Barkley Marathons
Photo: Howie Stern
He didn’t think a woman was capable of finishing his race. Coined, the toughest endurance event on the planet, since 1989 more than 1,000 people have attempted the Barkley Marathons. But in 35 years before last week only 17 people had ever finished it.
Brainchild of Gary 'Lazarus Lake' Cantrell, the Barkley Marathons has become known as 'the race that eats its young'. Held each year in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee, United States. The course, which varies from year to year but consists of roughly five 20+ mile loops with roughly 13,000ft of elevation gain per loop. Over the 100-mile course competitors will climb more than twice the height of Mount Everest and have 60 hours to reach the infamous yellow gate.
Then his tweet popped up: “Jasmin Paris finished loop five of the #BM100 in 59:58:21.”
She proved them wrong. I don’t need to tell you this but for anyone who doesn’t catch Barkley fever and gets sucked into the Twittersphere of Keith Dunns elusive updates at this time of year here goes.
Almost 7,000 people have climbed Mount Everest, almost 2,000 have swam the channel and over 1,000 have rowed across an ocean. But only 17 people have completed the Barkley Marathons. That’s how hard it is. And most years, no one finishes at all. In fact between 2018 and 2022 no one did finish.
Yet no woman had ever finished the four out of the five loops of the Barkley Marathons, let alone the entire thing. On Mar 22, 2024 Jasmin Paris made history and Howie Stern was there to capture the iconic moment she arrived at the yellow gate in a time of 59 hours, 58 minutes, and 21 seconds, just 99 seconds left before the 60-hour cutoff.
Since Paris’s incredible outlying performance last week there have been numerous stories and interviews from both mainstream and the usual publications. The BBC article about the race was the most-read story on the website that day - ahead of the stories about Kate Middleton’s cancer and the attack in Moscow.
Here are 5 things we can learn from Jasmin Paris’s incredible outlying performance at the Barkley Marathons:
1. Failure is part of the process
In January 2019, Jasmin Paris became the first person to cross the finish line in the 2019 Winter Spine Race. Widely regarded as Britain's Most Brutal endurance race, a 268 mile non-stop race along the iconic Pennine Way. She not only obliterated the women’s record, but she also took 12 hours off the overall record, winning outright — the first time for any woman in the history of this event.
It was after her 2019 debut at the Spine Race that she received an open invitation from the race director of the Barkley Marathons himself. It took her a little while to get onto the start line and in 2022 & 2023 Paris failed to complete the course. Despite her failed attempts she persisted and gained valuable experience in other factors that come into play in the Barkley such as map reading skills.
While a DNF (Did Not Finish) is not the type of outcome goal you want to be setting on race day the reality is, if you have been around for long enough the chances of a DNF increase in probability, statistically speaking of course.
Some ultramarathons historically have a higher DNF rate than others, partly due to the difficulty of the event itself like the Barkley Marathons, which I saw quoted to be a 98% failure rate. And partly because of a more relaxed set of entry requirements allowing lesser experienced athletes onto the start line like the Leadville 100.
Either way there are a multitude of reasons for a DNF and no matter how well you prepare for your ultramarathon, whether it’s your first or you’ve lost count, the reality is things rarely go to plan like they do in road marathons. But the purpose of training and my role as your Ultramarathon Coach is to help you try to mitigate as many of these issues as possible or alleviate them altogether.
Running ultramarathons is about putting it all on the start line, trusting the process and accepting the uncertainty that lies ahead. Maybe you’ll have to DNF. Or maybe the odds will be in your favour. The good races matter. Celebrate them. But the bad races are where the magic happens, where you learn, grow and dream bigger to come back stronger.
2. Curiosity is the foundation of motivation
Jasmin Paris shared that she ran the race to test the limits of her own human potential. Speaking to BBC News, she shared: "I did it for me and I'm super happy that I achieved what I set out to do after three years of trying."
In her more recent interview with iRunFar, she talks about how intrinsically motivated she was. She shared: “It was that hot, internal fire that was the primary driver. I went there with this intrinsic desire to see whether I could do it. That was definitely a component of it. It just couldn’t be the only thing. It wasn’t the only driver, and it wasn’t the kind of intrinsic desire that I had to do it."
RELATED: Self-Confidence: An Interview with Jasmin Paris About Her 2024 Barkley Marathons Finish
For most people, motivation evolves over time and let’s be real, not everyone feels motivated all the time, even the professional ultrarunners. Self-determination theory in Psychology theory that focuses on the quality of motivation. Asking yourself why you are doing a particular race or understanding the purpose of today's workout can help understand the quality of your motivation rather than focusing on the quantity.
It’s totally normal to not be buzzing to get out of the door for every training session and it’s important to recognize these moments in training and take note of them because if they persist it may be a sign that you’re overtraining or need to shake things up.
So when you’re working through a period of low motivation, stepping back to look at the bigger picture and attaching awareness to today’s workout on how it will help you achieve that goal or simply revisiting your curiosity on what initially drew you to try ultrarunning can be a powerful tool to go back to time and time again.
3. Fancy gear is overrated
If you read Jasmin Paris’s most recent interview with iRunFar you will have seen that she wore the same pair of patched up inov-8 Mudclaw G 260 shoes all three years she’s run the event. Similarly her Ultimate Direction pack was the PB Adventure Vest 3.0 circa 2016 which you also saw her wear in the 2023 edition of the Barkley Marathons.
As co-founder of The Green Runners Jasmin Paris in 2022 dropped all brand sponsorships to run the UTMB for The Green Runners and live up to her pledges for a fitter planet.
One key pillar that makes up The Green Runners ethos is ‘How You Kit-Up’. As runners we are constantly being bombarded with new kit by brands and runners on social media. But in reality, we probably already have more than enough kit to train and race effectively.
The Green Runner ethos encourages you to ask questions like, do you need it to run, or do you just want it? Do you already own something that serves the same purpose? If you genuinely need something, like a bag for your first ultra marathon or poles, can you borrow one until you know you’ll need one regularly?
And If you need to buy one yourself, have you checked online for second-hand kit? There are lots of hardly-used pairs of shoes, bags and other kit on eBay, Vinted and at ReRun Clothing. Brands such as OMM have launched initiatives in response to the need to reduce their environmental impact.
“The aim is to ensure no OMM products ever enter landfill.”
– Tom Williams, Managing Director
Through the RE:OMM project, you can extend the lifetime of your products with a professional repair, find quality running gear at accessible prices via the new Refurb Outlet and recycle your old OMM gear responsibly.
4. Confidence is quiet
In that same iRunFar interview Paris shared:
“Basically, I went into it with the inner certainty that I could do it. Obviously, I then had to take the steps to make that possible.
I think it all came down to that kind of self-belief that I could do it. Because in the last loop if you look at the timings, actually I should have said, well, you’re not going to make it, even from hours out. But somehow adrenaline took over and drove me.
And I never really lost the belief that I could make it until actually about the last kilometre. In summary, I just had a really strong feeling that I could do it this year. “
Albert Bandura defined self-efficacy as the “belief in one's capabilities to organise and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments”.
Sports Psychologist Dr Carla Meijen shares: “Self-efficacy represents a self-appraisal as to what an individual believes they can do, not what they will do (an intention), or what they have done (en experience).”
Each of us has a series of beliefs about ourselves, the world around us and our perceived capabilities. And these beliefs in our capabilities ultimately influence the goals we set for ourselves, the effort we put into a task and perhaps more importantly the perseverance we have to see it through when faced with obstacles or failures.
Jasmin Paris’s belief in her ability to finish the Barkley Marathons this year never wavered but looking at social media and listening to her interview with SheRACES founder Sophie Power at the National Running Show earlier this year, little did we know.
“So many other people are so big on social media and like, ‘me me me,’ and a trait you find among Barkley finishers is they’re not huge social media hounds, not big spotlight people. They’re very focused, driven, machine-like, and they go and execute. And a lot are very well educated, high achieving.”
5. Ultrarunning is not a solo sport
“How were there so many finishers? Not intentionally being a smartass, but it's because there were so many finishers. Working alone there might have been 1-2 if even that. You don't get to the top & stay there by knocking everyone else down. Pull them up w/ you. Then when you inevitably slip they're right there to catch you.”
To her Barkley friends who finished the full five loops that day, to her husband Conrad and her Coach Damian Hall, Jasmin Paris wasn’t alone in her incredible outlying performance at the Barkley Marathons, she had a stellar support network behind her every step of the way.
Something we’re seeing more of with professional ultra runners right now is the formal organisation and leveraging of elite training groups. Nearly every brand does some version of this but we’re seeing other teams such as ‘Hour 7’ and ‘Elite Trail Team’.
Whilst most normal ultrarunners don’t have the luxury of quitting their full-time job and joining an elite training group, it’s something I am seeing more of with the recreational competitive athletes I coach. More athletes are seeking holistic support, whether it’s from a Strength Coach, Sports Psychologist, Sports Dietitian or Physiotherapist to join their inner circle.
This is something I am bringing more of into my coaching practises too and in particular with my signature Breaking 250 programme. As part of the 12-month programme and community, you’ll receive additional support from my partner Physiotherapist and Strength Coach. There is also an opportunity to join our exclusive training retreat in the Lake District National Park where you’ll be invited to attend additional workshops from our Breaking 250 expert team on topics such as Stress Management and Nutrition.
RELATED: Learn more about joining Breaking 250 for 2025 — the next programme begins September 2024 for the Roving Race in September 2025
As Sophie Power shared “When a woman is the first across the line, or completes a challenge many men fail at - let’s just celebrate her incredible outlying achievement, rather than argue the start line was level.”