She crossed the finish line with just 99 seconds to spare — and in doing so, made history.
Jasmin Paris, the British ultrarunner who became the first woman ever to complete the notoriously brutal Barkley Marathons, sat down for a Reddit AMA with the trail running community, and the responses she gave were as extraordinary as the race itself.
From gut-wrenching race-day doubt to 5:30am training runs and babies used as strength equipment, Paris pulled zero punches.
Here’s everything she revealed — and some of it will genuinely surprise you.
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The Barkley Finish That Had Everyone Screaming at Their Screens
If you were anywhere near trail running social media in 2024, you already know the moment.
Paris, competing in her third attempt at the Barkley Marathons — a 60-hour, roughly 100-mile Tennessee wilderness sufferfest so difficult that most years zero competitors finish — staggered to the gate with a margin so thin it barely existed.
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Fans wanted to know: did she actually realize how close it was?
With about 10 minutes to go I was suddenly unsure whether it was even possible. I suddenly faced the thought of having to come back and do it all over again. I think that’s what forced me to keep running, just moving my arms and legs.
She had promised herself she could walk once she hit the road. That promise evaporated fast.
When I got there I had less than 4 minutes left, and I had to keep running. When I hit the gate I wasn’t even sure I’d made it, but at that point it was irrelevant — my main feeling was relief, that I could stop and breathe.
Ninety-nine seconds. That’s all that separated her from having to return for a fourth attempt.
Years of Consistency Built the Barkley Result
For anyone expecting Paris to credit one secret training block or a single breakthrough workout, think again.
Her answer was far less glamorous — and far more instructive.
I think the most important thing was consistency, not just in terms of running, but also strength work and cross training. For Barkley, it was really a multi-year project for me.
She cycles to her veterinary lab for work and incorporates wild swimming into her routine. But perhaps the most telling detail? She deliberately stepped back from training for several months in late 2023 after recognizing signs of fatigue.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
That strategic rest, she says, was critical to her 2024 performance.
She’s Also a Mum of Three — Here’s How She Actually Makes It Work
Let’s put the full picture on the table: Jasmin Paris is not only a record-breaking ultrarunner.
She’s also a specialist veterinarian at the University of Edinburgh, a co-founder of environmental running group the Green Runners, and — perhaps most remarkably — a mother to three children aged eight, six, and eleven months.
When a fellow parent asked how she juggles all of it, her advice was disarmingly honest.
It’s really hard, so be kind to yourself — it’s not always possible to get out. But in general, I find it easiest to get out if I run early in the morning. I train at 5:30am, when the rest of the family is asleep.
Beyond the pre-dawn alarm, Paris has found creative workarounds that double as genuine training tools.
Hiking with a baby in a sling counts as progressive overload — the logic being that as the baby grows heavier, so does the training stimulus. Buggy runs double as a second session on high-volume days. And small children, she notes with clear amusement, make perfectly functional weights for strength training.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
What She Actually Eats During a 60-Hour Race
Gels, powders, and lab-engineered nutrition? Not really Paris’s style — at least not for the long stuff.
Her Barkley fuel strategy leaned heavily toward real food, the kind you’d recognize without reading a label.
On Barkley I had sandwiches, some pizza, frittata, dried fruits and nuts, sweets. For the long stuff I tend to use gels more as an additional tool, to top things up, rather than relying on them as a primary fuel source.
For shorter, faster efforts she’ll reach for gels or jelly baby sweets — a nod to her British fell-running roots. Day-to-day training nutrition keeps things equally straightforward: nuts, dried fruit, and cereal bars.
The Races She Still Wants to Run
Making history at Barkley hasn’t dimmed Paris’s appetite for new challenges.
Having completed the Swiss Alps 100 in 2024 — which earned her a Hardrock qualifying finish — she’s got her sights firmly set on one of ultrarunning’s most revered events.
I’d be keen to run Hardrock at some point. I think it would be really fun to run the PCT, and/or the Appalachian Trail too, although those would be big projects and would need to wait until the kids are bigger.
The Pacific Crest Trail stretches roughly 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada. The Appalachian Trail covers around 2,190 miles along the Eastern Seaboard. For most people, either would be a once-in-a-lifetime undertaking. For Paris, they’re simply items on a list.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Her Urgent Message to the Running Community
Beyond personal performance, Paris is increasingly vocal about running’s environmental footprint — something she tackled directly when asked about the Green Runners initiative she co-founded in 2022.
Her answer cut straight to the point: the single largest planetary cost most runners carry isn’t their shoes or their gear.
Travel to races is the single biggest cost for the planet. We need to reassess what races we run, and maybe target key dream races abroad, but choose other challenges at home.
She also called on the community to use its collective voice — specifically pushing back against fossil fuel sponsorship in the sport.
Paris grew up hiking the Peak District with her family before graduating to fell running as a young adult. Long before Barkley, she announced herself on the world stage by winning the 268-mile Montane Spine Race outright in 2019, breaking the overall course record by more than 12 hours.
History, it turns out, had been building for a while.
