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SwimRun in North Cackylacky USA

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Marcus Barton

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this..” was the only quote that came to mind going into the SwimRun NC race.  Despite my best efforts to be prepared, with previewing the course, training pretty consistent and everything else I could do, it only took a sprinkling of real life to get in the way and attempt to derail things.  Life can be funny that way, throwing you curve balls and all.  Heck, sometimes it can be downright cruel.

Right after the SwimRun VA race in Richmond, VA, I headed home to be with Mom as she went into surgery.  I won’t go into too much detail, but I HAD to be there, because it’s family.  You know how that goes.  Even though sleeping in a hospital chair off and on over the next 10 days (not to mention all the driving) and the stress of worry put up a huge brick wall approaching the final days before the race, I don’t regret it for a millisecond.  Quality time was spent with all of my family, and frankly, sometimes that has to take a precedence over everything else.

So, as we all gathered at the Green Heron Ale House for the race briefing, the butterflies began to start.  There was nothing I could do now but give it my best shot.

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SwimRunNC, if you read their website, was the brainchild of Jan Kriska and Jeff Beckelhimer.  Although this is true, Herbert Krabel had his paws in on it, too.  With those three minds together

Continue reading →

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Adapt and Overcome – USAT OffRoad National Championships

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Marcus Barton

One of the beauties of racing an XTERRA race is the fact that anything can change on a moments notice.  The majority of XTERRA racers just go with the flow and make the most of it while citing it as a fun aspect of this sport.  The same goes for the majority of XTERRA race directors.  Case in point:

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I couldn’t have put it better myself.  More about the course changes in a bit.

Before the rains, the course was in beautiful shape.  Racers began showing up about mid-week in order to get some time on the course.  I had the opportunity and managed to snap a few photos in the process.

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As you can see it’s a fairly rocky course with loose pea-sized gravel over Continue reading →

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Cold Water and Wetsuit Running – OtillO Swimrun World Championships

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Marcus Barton

For those of you that haven’t been following the blog or my Facebook page, we set out to do ÖTILLÖ which is touted to be one of the toughest races on the planet.  It’s a swimrun race that consists of traversing 26 islands in Sweden, swimming a total of 6 miles in the Archipelago and running 42 miles across the islands.  To give you a quick synopsis, check out this map (all lengths are in meters):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0qM3w3mSgI

Dan prepared me the best he could, and frankly, I felt I had made huge strides in my fitness. Cheryl Reinke also worked hard and helped me to make big improvements to my swim. By the time we hit Sweden, they had done as much as they could. I’m thankful to both of them for really taking the time to invest in someone who can’t possibly repay them.

We took our better halves and boarded the flight for Stockholm. To say I was a bit nervous was an understatement. It was nervousness, excitement and anxiousness all balled up in one tiny package.  Once we got to Stockholm, we parted Continue reading →

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One long swim and run coming right up!

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Marcus Barton

What are you doing this weekend? If you’re bored, you can check out Dan and I racing as a team in ÖtillÖ.

No, it’s not a relay, but instead we have to stay together for the entire race. Basically, we will start on an island, run to the water, swim to the next island, run across it, rinse, repeat. When we’re done, we’ll have covered 26 islands, around 6 miles of swimming and 41 miles of running. Just a guestimate.

The race starts Sunday night at midnight Eastern time (6am Sweden time). If you’re a night owl or if you plan on throwing a few late-night brews back for the holiday, you can watch the live video feed at www.otillo.se. You can also track us live via the athlete tracking since we’ll be carrying a GPS unit. Dan and I are Team 23. Sara McLarty and Misty Becerra, good friends, training mates and XTERRA warriors are racing as well as Team 110.

Even if you’re not a late-nighter, you early birds can catch us on the site as we’ll probably still be racing when most of east coasters (in the U.S.) are waking up.

Also check out my Facebook page (link on the right) as Alba will be posting pics to my page.

Of course, there’ll be a lengthy race report coming, I’m sure. I have a reputation to live up to. Right, James?

#weswimrun #otillo15 #GUforit #inov8 #timexfactoryteam

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Rockman–No One Will Ever Believe It

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Marcus Barton

We were about half of a mile into a 1.2 mile swim across the fjord in 56 degree water when my legs began to shake and shiver. This was swim number seven of the day with two more after it. We were just a little under 7 hours into the race and I was beginning to tire a bit. I had lost Dan’s draft so I resorted to sighting since I couldn’t see his shoes or bubble trail anymore. As I looked up, through the rain, the power station we were swimming to didn’t look any closer. “Damnit. we’re not even halfway there yet and I’m shivering,” I thought. Just about that time, Dan stops, turns around, looks at me and says…

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Photo credit: Matti Rapila Andersson

Wait a second. I’m getting ahead of myself. First off, I know it’s been three weeks since this race. I must apologize at my slack-assedness. However, it’s been, work, train, eat, spend time with the family and somewhere in there squeeze in some time to sleep. I know, I know. Waaaah. You have no place for whiners.

Second, in order to even begin to talk about the “impossible” race, as dubbed by the locals that live along the fjord we raced, I have to give you the backstory of how I got pulled into this race to give you some context. Here comes a flashback… Continue reading →

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Hairy Rocks and Jungle Heat – XTERRA East Championship

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Marcus Barton

Richmond definitely lives up to the “most unique terrain” statements floating around.  Hairy rocks, hand-over-hand climbs, hopping from boulder to boulder and some real kooky spectators dressed up in some wild costumes.  This makes it one of the most fun races on the circuit, but combined with the typical heat, it also makes it one of the toughest.  This brings me to a conversation that I seem to be having more and more.  “Why do you do it?” is usually part of this conversation.

“You don’t get paid for it?”

“Are there prizes?”

These are couple of the typical questions that are asked by someone completely puzzled by the concept of training for weeks and weeks, around work schedules, around family events, and all the other things that are typically vying for your time to compete in a race where you don’t get “something” in return.

“Only the pros get paid if they do good enough,” is usually my answer to one of the questions.  Then I have to go into how the majority of the racers are not pro and are competing with other racers within their division or age group.  With XTERRA, you get points based upon your placement within your division.  These points are used within a season-long points series (more on XTERRA’s site) and at the regional races, you’re also competing for slots to the World Championship in Hawaii.  But outside of these slots and points, why does the typical “age grouper” do it?  We’ll get back to that in a bit.  In the meantime, let’s take a look at one age-grouper’s race at the XTERRA East Championship.

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First off.  Richmond is a funky town.  Not like 70’s disco kind of funky, but funky as in you never know what you’ll see.  Like this ingenious contraption.  It’s a bumper on the back of Continue reading →

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Root Beer Swimming and Big Green Guys – XTERRA Myrtle Beach

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Marcus Barton

The water was dark, almost black. It looked like coffee or soda that had been sitting in a cup until it was flat. You could peer through the first inch or so and see a brown tint towards the surface, but the deeper you looked, the darker it got.

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Of the five or six pontoon boats that ferried us out towards the ocean for the swim start, I was on the first one along with XTERRA fam, Josh Schaffer, Jim Dandro, Sam Chalk, and power couple, Jim and Tanya Houghton among others. I jumped into the canal for a quick warmup and someone shouted from another boat, “How’s the water, Marcus?” I have no idea why, but I responded with, “It’s like chocolate milk.”

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I stuck my face in the water and looked down to where I thought my feet were, but I saw Continue reading →

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