None of the 40 runners who attempted to finish the 100-mile Barkley Marathons in the mountains of eastern Tennessee completed the race, the first time since 2007 that the endurance test had no finishers. "The mountains won," said Gary Cantrell, who created the event in 1986. "I was pleased with the outcome. It's a competition between the humans and the mountains."

In 30 years, 14 out of about 1,100 runners have completed the race. With a finisher rate of about one percent, the Barkley has been labeled by many as the world's hardest race.

Along with a handout that includes race directions, participants are only allowed to use a map and compass to find their way. There are no medical aid stations on the course, which covers more than twice the elevation gain of Mount Everest over the full 100 miles (or five 20-mile treks around the course).

Nicki Rehn, a 40-year-old Australian who is an assistant professor of education in Canada, completed 1½ out of the five 20-mile laps this year before succumbing. "You don't come here to be victorious, you come here to be humiliated," she said. "It's lonely out there. It's eerie. You have to be comfortable being inside your own head. Everyone comes back pretty broken."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) It takes perseverance to run the race that God has set before us; (2) To finish the race of life we need to fix our eyes on Jesus who successfully completed the course; (3) It is easy to get lost, confused, or weary in the Christian life—or just life in general— and the length of it can break us down.