As might be expected, these are mostly on Barkley. But there are a few on Kona thrown in too.
Barkley Articles
Esquire
This is a long-awaited feature on the 2017 Barkley Marathons in Esquire. The author, George Pendle, was a pleasure to speak with and is an extremely nice guy who I know wanted to to portray the race as accurately as possible. Overall, it’s a great article (unfortunately now behind a paywall). With today’s editing and sensationalized headlines, though, it should be no surprise what appears on the first page and the title that was chosen.
“Masochist’s Marathon” implies pleasure in the pain itself. The pleasure is in overcoming the obstacles that cause the pain. Despite an impressive amount of fact-checking, I believe the article also misquotes me just a bit (I don’t think I’ve said “daddy” since I was 3) to further cast me as the local yokel dark horse who somehow managed to finish (no one who knew anything about the race considered me a dark horse). But that doesn’t really matter, and the article is a very entertaining read. To paraphrase (not quote) laz, the world at large can never truly know what it’s like out there, and those that do (including myself) know what we did and why we did it.
https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/health/a55986/barkley-marathons/
Washington Post
Kelyn Soong wrote the kind of quality article you’d expect from The Washington Post, and I’m happy I got to chat with him to help him do it.
WBIR
Raishad came over to my parents’ house to interview me the day after the race. I’m still kind of in rough shape, and he probably caught me between naps, but it was awesome to get to talk to him and tell some of the story to the same news program that I grew up watching.
WATE
Of all the people I’ve talked to after the race, it’s still one of the coolest things to me to see the local media interest and to get to talk to them.
RunWashington
This is a great article with some unique, straight forward views into the race! Charlie Ban really did a thorough job and genuinely wanted to tell the story right.
https://www.runwashington.com/2017/04/10/barkley17
Ultrarunning Magazine
It was great to talk with Matt Flaherty not only about this year’s Barkley but some of the previous ones and what led me down that path.
Trail Runner Magazine
They may have stolen my initial title for my race report, 
but Ariella did a great job and the title worked better here anyway! It also forced me to come up with a title that I think was better for my race report.
“Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please. Only please, Brer laz, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.”
http://trailrunnermag.com/people/profiles/john-kelly-barkley-2017.html
iRunFar
My own full race report, hosted at iRunFar.
Blue Ridge Outdoors
A nice little feature done by Josh Patton, one of the talented photographers who was at Barkley.
innervoice.life
It was great to do an interview that really went beyond Barkley and got a bit deeper. Awesome pictures from a lot of talented people like Talbot Cox, Howie Stern, and Josh Patton Designs.
http://www.innervoice.life/john-kelly
Canadian Running
I feel like “Who is John Kelly?” is what people have asked at every Barkley for the past 3 years. Thank you very much to Canadian Running Magazine for helping to clear that up.
Slowtwitch
For the record I’ll always consider myself an ultrarunner who does triathlons, not vice versa, but I really enjoyed this interview and getting to look at Barkley from a bit of a different perspective.
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Interview/The_triathlete_who_conquered_Barkley_6298.html
aimx.ro
I’ve seen a lot of stories in other languages, but this is the first where I don’t even understand what I’m saying.
Barkley Podcasts
Ginger Runner Live
Ethan and Kimberley know Barkley better than any of the people who interviewed me, and it was a lot of fun to be on their show and take some live audience questions.
Slate – Hang Up and Listen
That time when two people in DC disagreed but then actually discussed like civilized human beings. Not all Barkley views are rainbows & unicorns, but enjoyed the chat! The Barkley portion starts at 34:52. The original segment in question was on the April 17 episode at 58:25.
https://slate.com/culture/2017/04/hang-up-and-listen-the-take-em-that-em-for-data-edition.html
Pace the Nation
I went to a road running store in my cycling kit to talk trail running. Maybe we can all get along.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-102-charles-barkley-john-kelly/id991180280?i=1000496118224
Bad Boy Running Podcast
This one was a bit different, and I wouldn’t have it any other way from our friends in the UK! It’s awesome to see so much support & interest there.
Babbittville Radio
It was great to chat Barkley and for a bit of a change a little triathlon with Ironman legend Bob Babbitt on Babbittville Radio.
So THIS is Fitness Podcast
I think this may have been my first post-Barkley podcast, and Darrell is a great guy that it was a pleasure to talk to.
Territorio Trail
I spoke with Neisa and Andrew from Territorio Trail on a beautiful day down at the reflecting pool in DC. I’m a little disappointed that my Spanish (my college minor) is too rusty for me to have an actual conversation in it, but probably better for most people here that it’s in English. 😉 They do an intro of me at about 41:30 (in Spanish), and then after a commercial / music break my interview (in English) starts at about 47 minutes.
Kona
Ginger Runner Live #185
This was a bit last minute, but the timing worked out perfectly to talk about Kona and my journey there from Barkley. It’s always great to chat with Ethan and Kim!
Tri-Oraklet Podcast
I had the opportunity recently to talk to Lasse Stengård Jensen (all the way from Denmark) about Kona, triathlon training and how it fits into life, and just a bit about Barkley too. I hope to meet Lasse in person next year if I have the chance to represent Team USA at the Long Course World Championship.
Canadian Running Magazine
Nice little write-up from Canadian Running Magazine on my run at the Ironman World Championship.
Triathlete Magazine
To be fair, this year’s Barkley involved a bit of (inadvertent) swimming as well. I enjoyed my chat with Sarah Barker for triathlete magazine, and appreciate the great job she did making sure things were accurate!