Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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My running career started innocently enough with cross country my sophomore year of high school.  I was by no means a fantastic runner but enjoyed the social aspects and the community that is developed while running.  My running career was capped off with an all-regional 3200m time.  I wasn’t fast enough to walk on at Liberty so I kept in semi-good shape and finished my first marathon in November of 2007.  It was my first run beyond 14 miles and first workout in over three weeks.  At the finish line I swore I would never run another one!!

But like many things in life, as time goes on you forget how bad it hurts and the story grows better.  So a year later I ran it again and had a slightly better experience.

Both marathons were very spiritual events.  I found that as I pushed myself past my endurance limits, that God showed up.  So I signed up for an advanced running class at Liberty (yay electives!) to find more people to run with and for a more structured system for training.  I had no idea what I was getting into.  One of the class requirements was to run an ultramarathon.  I had to look up what an ultramarathon is.  An ultramarathon (ultra) is a foot race longer then 31 miles (50 kilometers).  So I signed up for a 50k in February called the Holiday Lake 50k.  Finished it and long story short… six months later found myself toeing the line of a 100 mile race called Grindstone.  In between February and October I had found an incredible community of friends, mentors and challenges.  I ran two other 50ks and a 12 hour race in preparation for Grindstone. I guess I should now mention the teacher of the running class who inspired all of this craziness.  His name is Dr. David Horton, he’s famous (sarcasm?).  Watch his trailer here:


In May, one of my friends Jaime (pronounced Hi-me) Azuaje and I had been toying with the idea of running Grindstone and the rest of a series of ultramarathons called The Beast Series.  Seeking counsel we asked Dr. Horton’s opinion.  He challenged “YOUR NOT TOUGH ENOUGH!! You won’t finish!”  He knows how to push my buttons. 

So on a cool October Friday night we found ourselves making hurried, final preperations for the race.  As the race started I found it very strange to think that I wouldn’t be back until the early morning of Sunday.  I’ll spare you all the details of the race, you can find those on my facebook race report.  Long story short… 31 hours and 55 minutes later I found myself back at the start line, but this time finishing.  I had conquered sleep deprivation, rocky trails, and mountain summits.  I had seen the sun set twice and rise once.  I had climbed 23,200′ and descended 23,200′.  I had seen a real bear and several animals that came from my imagination (sleep deprivation does funny things to your mind including cause hallucinations).  I had consumed well over 6000 calories of assorted foods.  I had been supported by some of my best friends and by the prayers of my worried mother and family.  I eventually hit the end of my reserves.  I had no energy left but it was God who picked me up. 








Since this race I’ve continued on.   I finished 2009 with 2700 miles for the year, 369 of which came in 7 races.  I say all of this just to show you a bit of who I am and what I’ve experienced.  I wish I could share with you the things I seen and felt.  Dreams smashed, dreams realized, hope, suffering, intimacy with God and friends.  Ultra running for days on end strips everything away.  It leaves you with only the things that matter.  As you stumble down the trail, your job, career path, grades, homework assignments or bank balanced don’t matter.  If your identity is not set firmly in Christ it can be a struggle.  I’ve learned to enjoy the suffering because it brings me closer to our creator.  It makes me dependent on Him in a very real way.  The journey is more important then the destination.  I write this to show you that you can do more then you think you can.  If you had told me a year before Grindstone that I’d finish a 100 mile race, I would have laughed in your face.  Where will you be in a years time?