51: Park Barner – The Human Metronome

Ultrarunning History

By Davy Crockett Park Barner of Pennsylvania was one of the greatest American ultrarunners of the 1970s. He was the first competitive American ultrarunner to become broadly known outside the ultrarunning community. He was shy, disarmingly humble and a man of few words. He avoided the spotlight, never was a self-promoter, and was known for his relentless metronome pace rather than speed. Barner won, and he won often. At one time he held the world record for the 24-hour run and other ultra-distance American records. But he said that he didn’t really need trophies or wins to feel satisfied. To him, running was something he enjoyed doing. He said, “It makes me feel good. I sort of feel like a kid.” Of Barner, it was written, “He had a unique depth of constitutional strength and resiliency. The stories of his ‘outside the box’ exploits are nearly as impressive as those of his greatest races and have contributed to his almost mythical status in the history of the sport. He was called, “The Lonely Machine,” “The American Record,” “The Human Treadmill,” and “The Human Metronome” for his even-paced racing. In 1974, one who knew him well wrote, “What Park has done is merely to shatter the existing standards of what the human body is physiologically capable of doing. He is establishing himself as a living legend in the ultra-distance events.” During the oil crisis of 1979, it was written about him, “Park Barner is the guy with the answer to gasoline prices.” Today few runners have heard about Park Barner. Here is his story. Early Years Park Barner Sr. Park Ivan Barner Jr. was born January 13, 1944. His father, Park Ivan Barner Sr. (1922-1992) was an electrical technician and in military service when Park was born, He soon went away to serve with the Army in World War II while Park was only an infant. Their Barner ancestors were farmers who lived in Pennsylvania for six generations and had immigrated from Switzerland in the mid-1700s. They settled in the beautiful farm area that is known as the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) region, near Harrisburg, along the Susquehanna River. Park Barner was on the track team in high school and ran the mile. His best time was 5:45 in school and he never ran a mile faster than 5:19 in his lifetime. In his 1961 high school yearbook, it was written about him, “If you need to know any scores in sports and don’t feel like looking them up, Just ask Park, who is also interested in collecting coins and stamps. His school activities include art editor for the yearbook, Choir, and track.” Barner became a serious bowler and during the early 60s bowled about 200 games per month. His ability was nearly at pro-bowler status. He served in the Army, in Germany, during the late 1960s. While there, he watched a movie that inspired him to start running. He said, “I remember coming home and getting out a piece of paper and drawing a track on it and writing the word ‘run’ in big letters. I went right out and ran three miles.” He took part in some running and race-walking events, sometimes competing in 2-3 events on one weekend. Fort Devens After returning to the United States in 1968, he was stationed at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. One evening after a ball game he decided to walk the 38 miles back to the base. He went through the night and finished at 10:00 a.m. in the morning. Soon after, he started running seriously at the age of 24. Barner said, “nothing special got me going into running. It’s just wanting to run farther and farther all the time. Running just made me feel better.” In 1969 after spending four years in the army, as he was getting ready for civilian life, he was told by an Army doctor looking at his aching knees, “You’d better forget about running.” But Barner had been dreaming about running the Boston Marathon and after he got out of the Army, he started to seriously train. Three months later he finished Boston slowly, in 5:16. He said,