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John Kelly is a professional endurance athlete and now 2-time finisher of the Barkley Marathons.

In this conversation, we get his thoughts about the media attention and public perception surrounding Barkley, what draws the general public to our sport, his views on using intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation for high performance, creating the ideal Barkley athlete, and why he’s interested in going after the Appalachian Trail FKT in the future.

Timestamps:

(1:02) - why you have to be intrinsically motivated to finish Barkley
(6:42) - what John wrote in his application essay for Barkley
(9:23) - automated Twitter race narrations
(12:06) - changing ideas about how to prepare for Barkley
(19:26) - goldilocks zone of difficulty
(24:36) - why he returns to Barkley
(28:50) - mildly fulfilling successes versus stretch efforts
(32:16) - ideal Barkley athlete
(37:51) - why Barkley gets so much fanfare, why it appeals to the general public
(49:10) - addressing Barkley criticisms
(58:53) - Appalachian Trail FKT interest

Discounts:

Rabbit - use code Singletrack20 at checkout on their website (https://www.runinrabbit.com/discount/SINGLETRACK20) to get 20% off your next order
HVMN - use code Singletrack20 at checkout on their website (https://hvmn.com/SINGLETRACK20) to get 20% off your next order
Trails and Tarmac - get $120 off your first 3 months of coaching (https://trailsandtarmac.com/get-in-touch/)

Links:

Follow John on Instagram, Twitter, and Strava

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John Kelly | Ideal Barkley Athlete, Ultrarunning’s Public Appeal, Appalachian Trail FKT

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John Kelly | Ideal Barkley Athlete, Ultrarunning’s Public Appeal, Appalachian Trail FKT