The Endurance Artist: Lazarus Lake, the Barkley & a Race with No End by Beasley, Jared

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.

Author: Jared Beasley
Publisher: 80/20 Publishing
Published: 09/16/2025
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 8.95h x 6.18w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9798990795822

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.