Not Your Average Weekend Warrior

How do you go through 5 pairs of shoes, 18 pairs of socks and 3 toenails? Well if you’re Dean Karnazes, aka Ultramarathon Man, you do it by running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days.

I was having a difficult time thinking of a new, original blog discussion pertaining to the movie “O”, and since this is an open topic, I decided to blog about one of my favorite books, UltraMarathon man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner. I had the pleasure of randomly and accidentally coming across this book. Needless to say, I came away completely amazed and inspired.

Dean Karnazes, the writer and subject of Ultramarathon Man, is a wild man. He is a rock star in the world of ultra marathons. He is the leader of Team Dean (which has a nice support crew consisting of his family, but only one athlete). The man’s a machine. He runs marathons as training jogs. He eats pizza and drinks Coke while out running to keep his energy up. He has run 50 marathons in 50 days and how he finds time to juggle his position as president of a health food company and be a Dad in a family of four is beyond me.

Dean seems as determined to push the human body to its limits as Nelson Mandela was in pushing human equality and freedom in South Africa. Just think, for this 50/50 challenge he wakes up after four hours of sleep, and runs a 26.2 mile race. Next day, 26.2 miles. Day after that? You bet, another 26.2 miles. Repeat for 50 days straight. His 50^th marathon of the challenge was the prestigious NYC marathon. In addition, Dean has completed a 199 relay race solo. He once ran 350 miles nonstop. He ran 10 marathons in 24 hours on a treadmill in Times Square. He won the 135 mile Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley’s 130 degree temperature. He ran a marathon in South Pole in 40 below weather.

Incredible, you say? Possibly insane, you say? With a laugh, he often admits to being a little crazy. And you might be saying, well, what does any of this extremism have to do with my life, I’m not much of a runner? His message throughout his books and his film speaks to anyone regardless of athletic ability or talent. He just encourages people to get off the couch and exercise. When asked about the film, Dean says, “This movie is about more than running. It’s about pushing oneself to be the best that one can be. To take the next step and go for something.”

Basically, I’m a big fan and great admirer of the Ultramarathon Man.