Endurance Artist: Talk and signing with Jared Beasley

On Thursday, December 4, we're excited to be joined by journalist Jared Beasley, author of the new book The Endurance Artist, a narrative nonfiction exploration of prolific and eccentric endurance race designer Lazarus Lake, his creations, and the seemingly everyday folks who braved them.

Jared has profiled Lazarus Lake for the New York Times and the Guardian, and in his new book he dives deeper into the enigmatic recluse known for the Barkley Marathons, among other long-distance endurance footraces. The Endurance Artist paints a portrait of the architect in full: aimless hippie, hospital orderly, and volunteer coach who took the simple idea that failure has to hurt and turned it into an art form.

We'll be cohosting this event with Commonhouse and the Park Circle Pacers. You can participate in the Pacers' Thursday fun run and still catch the talk with the author. Lace up your running shoes and bring your curiosity for a packed evening!

About the Book

A rare look into an enigmatic accountant from the Tennessee backwoods who morphs into Lazarus Lake, the world’s most notorious race maker.

The Endurance Artist is an all-access pass to the world’s most grueling races and the mastermind behind them.

Gary Cantrell, better known by the nom de guerre Lazarus Lake, has been described as a “hillbilly genius” and the “Leonardo di Vinci of pain.” His Barkley Marathons is considered the most difficult ultramarathon ever devised, a fight club in the wilderness run in secret. With books hidden in the woods, a cigarette-start, and elevation gain that amounts to summiting Mount Everest twice, the Barkley defies convention. Big’s Backyard Ultra pushes human beings to their absolute limit on a four-mile loop that is run every hour starting on the hour until there is just one runner standing—most recently, a high school teacher who ran 450 miles without sleep.

Author Jared Beasley uncovers the world of a recluse hell-bent on rewriting the rules to reveal a life reimagined and failure reinvented. Laz calls into question our obsession with winning and fairness, success and failure, and whether these ideas handicap potential.

About the Author

Jared Beasley is an author and journalist who never expected to find himself embedded in the world of ultrarunning. A former actor with a degree in theatre and literature from The University of Alabama, he brings a human perspective to a sport that is at times rife with danger and denial. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Canadian Running, Outside, and he has a monthly column in Ultrarunning Magazine, "Detours of the Lost and Found." Two of his articles made Runner’s World’s top ten stories of the year in 2020. He’s been a featured guest on several podcasts, including Ultrarunner, Author’s Stories, Bad Boy Running, and The Shakeout Podcast.