In about the middle of the session, a question was posed about the amazing stories of Lazarus Lake and the mundane, normal human stories of Gary Cantrell. This was at a book signing in Nashville last week, with about 200 people sitting rapt with attention. The question was made to Jared Beasley, whose book “The Endurance Artist” debuts Tuesday.
Book signing. Author. Subject. Moderator. Kinda routine, in the book world. The author hopes for interest to boost sales. The crowd, however, couldn’t have cared less if bug-eyed space aliens were on stage flanking Cantrell. They came to see and hear Laz, buy his book and have him scrawl something witty or sphinx-like or Laz-like inside the cover.
Who did the audience get to see and hear that night last week? Gary Cantrell or Lazarus Lake? Who did Beasley spend five years writing about? Who did he research and talk with friends, relatives, athletes, others? Who did Beasley quiz on the phone, watch at Frozen Head State Park, in Bell Buckle, on the road riding and TransCon walking and hotel room musing? Was it Gary Cantrell or Lazarus Lake that Beasley hoped to sway with the supposed cachet of a New York Times assignment, which became far more than he expected?
“When I answer emails and go to decide my name, I look to see who they wrote to,” Cantrell said, smiling broadly. He was as expected: white button-up shirt, jeans, Hokas, cap, beard, glasses, two ink pens and a pack of smokes in his shirt pocket, and a Dr Pepper.
The crowd laughed. Still, though, it wasn’t really an answer. Beasley couldn’t answer, either. Neither does his book, which is officially titled, “The Endurance Artist: Lazarus Lake, the Barkley & a Race with No End.”
“There’s no simple answer to that,” Beasley said. “There are people who have known Laz for 40 years who believe there is a difference between Gary and Laz, and there are other people who believe there is no difference. And if you ask him, you’re going to get just what he gave you right there.
“I have an enormous amount of respect for readers. Readers are really discerning people. They like to dig into things, and they like to figure out things for themselves. So, I felt like it was my job with the book not to tell them one way or the other, but to give them all the evidence and let them decide for themselves about that.”
Is he Gary or Laz?
Yes.
Author and Artist
Beasley is an award-winning author from Westchester, New York, with numerous credits in The New York Times, The Guardian, Runner’s World, Ultrarunning, Trail Runner and others. He is no stranger to running and sports, having been a middle school MVP basketball player and foot-to-asphalt pounder for years.
He is from north Alabama, with family from Limestone and Morgan counties. Beasley attended school in Decatur through ninth grade before transferring to Hartselle High School. His brother teaches guitar at the Huntsville Institute of Music. As a fellow Hartselle High alumnus, he and I traded stories about people we knew, teachers and such. One teacher, Anne Ledbetter, a true gem, encouraged Beasley to pursue his interests in acting and had him read the Shakespeare assignments in class. He earned a degree in theater and literature from the University of Alabama before going to New York to trod the boards. He then transitioned into writing, also a longtime passion.
Beasley came to write The Endurance Artist partly because of the 2015 spring Delano 12-hour race in Decatur. It’s a timed event with a certified one-mile loop. Participants run, jog, walk or saunter around the loop as much as they want within the 12 hours. It was there on an icy-turned-muddy Saturday morning years ago that Beasley, dropping after 48 loops, saw the late Dewayne Satterfield of Huntsville blow by for another loop. Satterfield already was ahead by three loops, and winning.
Satterfield didn’t have to go out again, but he did. Beasley pondered this unnecessary — to him — lap on a cold, muddy track when the win was in the bag. Race director Jon Elmore mused that “it’s just Dewayne being Dewayne.” But it was, eventually, something Beasley gleaned from talking with Cantrell, that if you have time to do one more loop then why quit? Why give in? Of course it’s cold, or hot, or rainy, or icy, or whatever. Why quit? Do one more loop.
That day at Delano, though, Beasley wasn’t sure. But he knew something was there. He dived into the extreme ultrarunning scene, which of course includes the spring Barkley Marathons and autumn Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra. He watched the Barkley documentary. He learned about Al Howie. The drive that pushed Howie, the subject of Beasley’s 2019 award-winning book, was maybe on another level with this Laz guy and the people who did his crazy events.
No Spoilers
I could rip some juicy spoiler nuggets from The Endurance Artist that might make you say, “Dammit, c’mon man” if you read the book. I won’t do that. Just as Beasley believes it’s not his place to decide and announce who is Gary and who is Laz, it’s not mine to ruin your reading of these juicy little nuggets. Besides, you should buy the book because it’s pretty damned good.
Beasley does a wonderful job of probing the Gary-Laz mystery. He spent hundreds of hours interviewing family members, old friends, old running buddies and others. He waits out the rabbit holes and side trails Cantrell veers into, maybe hearing a new thread to pick at later, and steers him back to the main question. Cantrell admits he’s not like everyone else and never has been. He started running 59 years ago in Memphis and thought he was the only one until he saw another guy, chased him down and discovered a group of about a dozen.
OK, a couple of soft nuggets.
— Cantrell’s first marathon in Bedford County cost runners 25 cents to enter. They ran 26 miles on the course he charted, including some south-central Tennessee hills probably not unlike those of Strolling Jim 41 or its late marathon or half-marathon. But there was no finish after 26 miles of the Two Bit Marathon. The runners were confused and then mad as hell when they had to do three more miles to the finish. Why 29 miles, they demanded? Why not, Cantrell replied.
— He likes electronica and industrial grunge music, Dr Pepper, cigarettes, pizza, dark chocolate and dogs, among other things.
— Running legend Harvey Lewis is a quintessential Danny.
Beasley dives into the iconic Backyard and Barkley events. The Backyard, Oct. 18 this year, attracts teams from around the world. The Barkley Marathon crushes souls of the best with its terrain, rules, weather and 60-hour time limit. Yet, sometimes it engages the running world in a truly electric moment, as when Jasmin Paris in 2024 became the first woman ever to finish. She did it with 99 seconds to spare.
After Paris touched the yellow gate at Frozen Head State Park to finish her fifth Barkley loop, she collapsed against the gate’s stone pillar. Photographers surged to snap iconic images. The four men who finished before her were momentarily forgotten. Cheers and tears flowed.
Social media erupted in joy for the #smalleuropeanwoman who exemplified what Cantrell firmly believes: You’re capable of doing more than you think you can.
Laz Enjoys It All
It’s hard to beat a good story about a winner. But there always is a loser, or failure, or heartache.
Agony and ecstacy. Victory, defeat. Champagne or beer. In running, it’s a person against the elements and the mind. Who can handle the mountain or road? Who can do one more loop? Can you outlast that man or woman? Can you beat back the inner voice suggesting to quit? Who wants to do one more loop, even with a race win in hand in the icy slush or summer heat?
Lazarus Lake is said to be a purveyor of pain and master of mental mayhem. He is. But it still gets to him. All of it. It’s what The Endurance Artist helps reveal.
“I get emotional over sports. I’m fascinated with the humans, the human mind, the infinite variety of things,” Cantrell said in Nashville. “One thing, after 30 years of coaching, you would start another season and somewhere along the way, something happened. Every time you think you’ve seen it all, you see something else.
“There’s something always ready to happen that you’ve never seen before, and there’s just … yeah, there’s heartbreak and there’s joy, and for some reason, they both make me cry.”
Is that Gary Cantrell or Lazarus Lake crying?
Yes, it is.
Buy the Book
Purchase The Endurance Artist (295 pages, 80/20 Books) at Barnes & Noble and in paperback or e-book online at barnesandnoble.com or at 80/20 Books.
For other book signing dates and information, go here.
