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How The Barkley Tamed Me!By Jon BarkerWhere do I start?After training my head off for severalmonths I got sick with the flutwo weeks before the race; I meanin bed for two days, missing workflu - not a cold. Felt worse thanLeptospirosis, flu... you get the picture...So, I’m not blaming my failure totallyon that but some weird stuffhappened and I think this is classicBarkley stuff: I was still feelingweak and hazy the Saturday beforethe race and debating bailingon it but couldn’t pull the triggerand decided to stress my brain outabout the whole thing instead. NowI don’t know if the Barkley Gremlinswere at work or too much Nyquilmixed with too much Dayquilbut I got in a real funk. I have noidea what depression feels like andI hope I never do but this felt awful.I had no sense of taste or smelleither.Photos by Peter JollesSo come Friday, I was feeling alot better. Funk 99% gone, still notmuch taste or smell but feeling fairlystrong and spirits were good...Loop one: moving well. A bigbunch of us stuck together (includingAndrew Thompson, the AT recordholder) through most of it. Anold AR pal Greg Eason who hadthree looped it in the past was thereand I stuck with him and he gaveme some instruction to the idiosyncrasiesof the route while we weremoving. I thought it was sinkingin... Towards the end of the fist loopI fall off the pack a little and did thelast 5 or 6 miles by myself then aguy called Joe Decker catches upwith me (www.joe-decker.com)and we stick together coming in offthe first loop. A quick word aboutthe terrain; certainly not criminalbut very tough, steep, hands digginginto the dirt steep. RockyAdventure World Magazine is a GreenZine 41