Life and the Barkley Marathon

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching a movie called the Barkley Marathon on Netflix. I felt that the film dragged on too long for such a simple message, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

The film is about the Barkley Marathon held in Tennessee where participants try to complete five 20-mile loops through the wild bush under a certain time limit. It is quite an intense experience with participants’ legs covered in scratches and their feet completely mangled by the end. They also have some particular quirks that I quite enjoyed, like having to hand in a number plate from your state or country and giving things like T-shirts, flannel shirts, socks etc. on top of the $1.60 entry fee (the guy’s obviously not in it for the money). But also they play a song on the horn* whenever a participant pulls out, which is actually quite common.

Well, at one part of the film they talk to one participant about why anyone would do such a mentally and physically-challenging race and his answer was surprisingly similar to my own when it comes to simply doing stuff.

Like me, the participant had lost his father suddenly right before retirement. The story was that you don’t know when you’re going to die, so you might as well do stuff. It’s the same realisation I have had and since then I have been trying to do stuff just for the sake of it, and always look for new things to try.

Honestly, I think with enough preparation I could complete that marathon, but I think I’ll stick to Yamabushi training instead. That I know I can do.

ENJOYED THIS? HAVE MORE.

MOUNTAINS OF WISDOM

Subscribe to my yamabushi newsletter

RECENT BLOG POSTS

black and white photo of clocks
Long-term Decisions
blank paper with pen and coffee cup on wood table
It’s not the coffee.
painting of a boxer on wall
Fit for purpose

YAMABUSHI BLOG POSTS

You can do a better job of indoctrinating people if you let them learn at their own pace
man person flying arm
Accept and Dance

RANDOM POSTS

authentic chochin japanese paper lams hanging on old shrine
Dealing with quirks in other languages
Make yourself the default option
Cut your losses and forget about it
Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Get In Touch

Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan 

tim@timbunting.com

Share this:

Like this:

Like Loading...
Scroll to Top
%d