The Endurance Artist - by Jared Beasley (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"Gripping. I could barely put it down! Laz emerges as a much more compassionate and complex character, his story is utterly fascinating."--Lord Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley, 13th Bishop of Newcastle and Member of the House of Lords, ultrarunning enthusiast

"If you're a runner--you'll devour it. If you're not a runner--you'll devour it. Beasley finally delivers the tale so many of us have waited to read, a book as rambunctious, bloody and--yes, beautiful--as its subjects."--Chris Solomon, contributing editor at Outside magazine, writer for The New York Times, National Geographic " "

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.

Beasley's first book In Search of Al Howie was published by Rocky Mountain Books, a piece of ultrarunning history that earned rave reviews. It was awarded the Kirkus star for literary merit and selected for their list of best books of the year. "A quirky, captivating biography," wrote Kirkus. "If the author described a smoke-filled bar, they'd smell it." Adventure Journal added, "This moving biography will leave you yearning for a recent yet distant unplugged era in human-powered adventure." Beasley has since published over 50 features on the sport of ultrarunning in major newspapers and magazines.