Smithfield runner finihes 100-mile run
Nausea, vomiting, dehydration, altitude sickness, hypothermia, sprained ankles and heat stroke are just a few of the challenges Leland Barker, a 44-year-old Smithfield resident, faced on his road to victory in the Wasatch Front 100-mile Endurance Run.
Three hundred runners started the race with the goal to just get to the end. Barker’s goal was to win, and he did.
The course starts in Fruit Heights just north of the Great Salt Lake in Davis County. It runs through Summit County, Salt Lake County, Wasatch County and Utah County before finally returning to Wasatch County near Midway, Utah. Barker finished in 21:44:38. The closest competitor crossed the finish line 41 minutes later.
The race would be hard on a track but imagine running up and down dusty mountain trails against the wind and weather.
The race begins at 4,880 feet above sea level and finishes at 5,720 feet. The highest point is 10,450 feet at mile 78. The runners call it Point Supreme. The total in elevation gains throughout the course is 26,800 feet.
“I wanted to run in junior high but I had Osgood Slaughter disease and I had to wait until the pain went away,” Barker said.
He remembers noticing older people who couldn’t mobilize themselves.
“I never want to be like that,” Barker said.
In high school, Barker felt his health was good enough to run track so he gave it a shot. He realized the longer he ran, the better he placed and so he always looked for the longest race to run.
Since high school, he picked up the hobby of running marathons. So far he has run 12. His personal best is 2:34, which he ran in St. George, just four minutes short of qualifying for the Olympics.
He spent a year training hard to make the Olympic mark and missed it by five minutes. So he did what he had done in high school after not reaching the mark he wanted, he looked for longer distances to run.
Then he heard about the Wasatch Front 100-Mile Endurance Run.
“I thought people were crazy trying to run 100 miles,” Barker said.
He decided to do it anyway.
His first year, 1996, he finished in fourth place. He took a year off and then finished second in 1998. The next year he finally won the race and repeated the victory through this year – his fifth 100-mile run.
Barker said he trains hard as he prepares for a race. He spends 10 to 15 hours a week running.
He said he alternates between short and long runs during the week and alternates hard and easy weeks.
The biggest challenge in order to finish the race is resisting the urge to go out too fast because later in the race there is nothing left, he said.
Barker likes to take it real easy the first 10 to 15 miles and then he starts to pick up the pace a little. Toward the end, Barker describes the sensation of getting a feeling of overall awfulness.
“It takes a lot of planning,” Barker said.
Barker’s diet has to be a healthy one in order to keep a good electrolyte balance with the right amount of sodium and carbohydrates. If runners don’t have the right electrolyte balance they risk suffering from hyponatremia. The ailment causes muscles to quit working, he said.
Despite all of the challenges and risks, Barker loves running and plans on competing next year against Karl Meltzer, the course record holder.
Barker resides in Smithfield with his wife Karen and his seven children. He runs a fish farm called Mountain Valley Trout and is the race director of the Bear 100 Mile.