Barrett Kroll is a certified badass! His powerful limp to the finish of the Ozark Trail 100 is one of the most inspiring moments I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve summoned that image many times when I don’t feel like taking another step, and it’s always given me the strength to take one more.

Week 1

4/1 - Barrett starts off with an aggressive 10 miles.
4/2 - He grows his early lead with another 8, and I’m still recovering from my final push with Peter.
4/4 - The Tour de Everything’s Canceled starts. It’s a 21 stage race. I sign up, think I’m unbreakable, and go out like an asshole running the first three stages as fast as I can. Barrett crushes the Tour by completing all 21 stages with impressively fast finishes.

Week 2

4/9 - I learn I am breakable, decide to give myself more rest, and take my first penalty in the Tour.
4/10 - Barrett grows his lead to 27 miles, the biggest variance for the month.

Week 3

4/13 - We both enjoy a rest day in the Tour. Barrett leads by 25 miles.
4/17 - I take my third Tour penalty. Barrett runs three times.
4/18 - Biggest run in the Tour - 25 miles.
4/19 - I start making my move by running 9 miles more than the Tour stage for that day.

Week 4

4/22 - Barrett sees me gaining and begins to add regular mileage to his Tour runs.
4/25 - I run 14 miles with Gilbert and Taylor during their 50 miler and make solid ground in closing the gap.
4/26 - Last day of the Tour, and I close the gap. Both Barrett and I cross 200 miles. Barrett is at 210.8, and I’m at 210.7.

Week 5

4/27 - I take one last rest day, and Barrett resumes the lead by 6 miles.
4/28 - Barrett gets landlocked with work schedule and family priorities, and I take the lead by 7 miles.
4/29 - Barrett fights back with a 20-mile day. He breaks his previous monthly mileage record of 222. I see his mileage while on my run and keep going, managing to tie up our total mileage again.
4/30 - Barrett runs 6 miles morning, afternoon and night. I run 20 out at Wyco on one of the most beautiful nights of the year, so far. I finish around 10:30 with howls from fellow wolf packers Bob, Casey, Gilbert and Scott.

FINAL NUMBERS

Barrett ran 256.2 miles with 14,261 feet of elevation in 39 hours and 40 minutes.
I ran 258.4 miles with 20,060 feet of elevation in 48 hours and 18 minutes. It took me 10 hours longer to run just 2 miles farther. Barrett is fast!
Barrett led for 26 days, we tied for 2, and I led for 2.
I win by the narrowest margin yet, 2.2 miles.

My strategy from the beginning was inspired by Ali’s Rope-a-dope. Settle in to a defensive posture, take his punches, and stay close in mileage so that I have plenty of energy and strength to hunt him down at the end. I was impressed by how much Barrett still had to give at the end. He ran hard and consistent throughout the Tour, and still pushed me those last 4 days. The dude ran a mid-week 20-mile day back-to-back with an 18-mile day, all on top of working hard and being an incredible dad to three young kids.