Ultramarathon Man Dean Karnazes

by Jedd Ferris

Dean Karnazes wants to run to with you. That’s why he helped The North Face create the 2007 Endurance Challenge Race Series, a five-event race series taking place in different states across the country that is challenging elite and novice runners alike to surpass their personal limits.

Of course Karnazes is all about convincing people they can step beyond conventional physical boundaries. Last year he completed the widely publicized Endurance 50, where he ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days, finishing at the New York City Marathon in November. He then decided to top it off with a cross-country Home Run from New York to his home in San Francisco, but after 1,300 miles he decided to call it quits in St. Louis, the site of the Endurance 50’s first marathon. The achievement, along with a best-selling autobiography Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner, have enabled Karnazes to become the sport of ultra running’s first worldwide celebrity, a feat that’s come with an appearance on Letterman and a place on Time’s list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People.

The ultra world, though, knows about Karnazes’ lengthy list of accomplishments, including his 11 Silver Buckle finishes at the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run and a 2004 win at the grueling Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile slog starting at 282 feet (85 m) below sea level in California’s Death Valley and running up to 8,360 feet at Whitney Portal. He was also one of only three people (the only wearing running shoes) to finish the inaugural South Pole Marathon in 2002. This past May he finished the 365-mile Summit-to-Syndey, a seven-day run that started at the base of Australia’s Mount Kosciusko. After cresting the country’s tallest peak, he then turned around and ran to the city.

Karnazes will be in Washington, D.C., on August 4 to kick off the Endurance Challenge. The first event in the series will feature 50-mile, 50K, half-marathon, and 10K running options, all predominantly on trails. Ahead of the event, he talked to BRO about the event’s purpose, juggling family and training, stopping the Home Run, and what he could possibly do next.

BRO: Why did you decide to offer a range of distances in the Endurance Challenge?

DK: I want this event to be about making people explore their limits. I am trying to get people to take on greater challenges and grow both as people and greater athletes. It’s designed to get people to symbolically step up to the next level. If you’ve run a 10K, try the half marathon. If you’ve run a 50K, try the 50-miler. That’s what it’s all about. I am going to run in as many of them as I can.

BRO: Besides the Endurance 50, where else do you like to run in the Southeast?

DK: I love running races on the East Coast. I won the Vermont 100 last year, and that was a really great experience. I’ve also done some trail running in the Carolinas near Greensboro, when I’ve been down to visit the VF Corporation, which owns The North Face. They have some great parks.

BRO: You just finished the Summit to Sydney run. How did that match up in your list of accomplishments?

DK: It was definitely one of the more difficult things that I’ve done-a really grueling endeavor. In planning the event I wasn’t aware of the terrain. I thought after summiting Mount Kosciusko it would be flat and mostly downhill to Sydney, but that wasn’t the case at all. I had to run across the Great Dividing Range twice, so I was climbing and descending mountains for most of the way. I was also supposed to be on roads for a lot of the route, but they have a strange definition of road in Australia. A lot of the fire roads were really rutted and washed out, so it was taxing to run on those surfaces. It was a real push to stay on the schedule that was set.

BRO: Is there always a desire to top the last one?

DK: I love new adventures. I don’t run to see if I can PR in my next marathon. People run for different reasons. I do like to run organized events, but I love running for pure passion in exploring and seeing new places and meeting new people.

BRO: You’ve managed to turn your recreational passion into a job. Could even running for a living ever get monotonous or become a strain?

DK: Since this has become my job, I can say that I really haven’t worked a day in my life. My wife keeps telling me I am working like crazy, but I don’t view it as work. When you’re doing what you love, you’re fulfilled. I don’t consider running for 24 hours and not sleeping as work.

But running and writing are very solo pursuits. A lot of runners including myself are very introverted. For me to get up in front of people and talk about the book for hours was originally very unnerving. Pushing my body comes easy, but the public stuff can be tough at times.

BRO: With your busy schedule traveling around the world doing book signings and lectures, how do you stay fit?

DK: I call myself an opportunistic runner. I take my shoes with me everywhere. If I have an hour break in my schedule, I am out the door and running. I don’t get a chance to train as much as I would like. For me to make a go of it, I have to go out on these book tours. I can’t make a living through running Western States. If you win the Vermont 100, you get a belt buckle. To put food on the table I have to sell books and promote the sport, and these are obligations I take seriously. Reality keeps me from training as much as I would like.

BRO: How do you manage training and family life? Give me a typical day when you’re home with the kids.

DK: When I’m home I get up around 4:00 a.m. and run a marathon before fixing breakfast and taking the kids to school. When I’m home it’s important for me to be there for them. Then I’ll usually get another run in before picking them up and spending the rest of the day with them. The sacrifice I’ve made is a social life. I don’t go out to dinner with people or have much social interaction anymore. I put my family first, and then it’s training.

BRO: Do you cross-train?

DK: I’ve never had a serious injury from running. I largely attribute that to cross training. If you focus on one specific sport, you build up those muscles for that one sport and the opposing muscles grow weaker, creating a lot of imbalances. I love to mountain bike and windsurf. Windsurfing is like doing lat pulls for three hours. It’s a really great upper body workout. I am also into rock climbing and surfing. I prefer to cross train with outside activities.

BRO: Any weights?

DK: I’m really not a big gym guy. A buddy of mine that I used to train with is a Navy Seal, so he showed me a push-up, sit-up, and pull-up routine that I follow, but I really don’t do much with weights.

BRO: Now that you’re a best-selling author, how do you plan to continue your writing career?

DK: I’m actually working on a book right now. It’s about the Endurance 50. It will be a lot different from the first book in that it will be 50 discrete stories. Some of the chapters will be prescriptive in how to prevent blisters through a tale of one of the marathons, and others will be purely inspirational chapters about some of the people that I met and ran with across the country. I met so many inspirational people that were coping with incredible loss, recovering alcoholics that were now runners, and people that had lost hundreds of pounds.

BRO: You inspire people to push their limits. However, during your Home Run, you decided to stop to spend more time with family. Are there some limits that should not be pushed?

DK: I think so, especially if it starts to feel labored and nagging or contrived and unnatural. I’ve turned down a lot of events that seemed too commercial or forced. On the Home Run I had this bizarre Forrest Gump moment where I was running in St. Louis, and I literally reached the start of the first of the 50 marathons [from the 50-State Challenge]. There was a group of people with me, and I remember it was a gorgeous Saturday. I got to that point and just stopped. Everyone looked at me, and I said, ‘I think I am going to go home now and be with my family.’

There was a silence, and then one guy finally spoke up and said, ‘You know what, you should go home.’ And suddenly the whole place started cheering and letting me know it was the right thing to do. That was how it ended.

BRO: You’re constantly pushing yourself. Do you ever reach a point where you’re satisfied, or do you constantly need a new challenge?

DK: There’s a constant urge for a new challenge. I feel like a kid. There are so many things that I want to do. My mentality is that I’m not trying to prove that I’m the best. It’s about involving others and getting other people active and motivated. I’m not saying people should run 50 marathons in a row, but come out and run with me for a 10K during one of my marathons. Thousands of people followed the 50-marathon challenge, and that was the most rewarding element. So now when I look at what’s next, I am scheming for ways to involve others.

BRO: So what is next on the list?

DK: I’d like to tell you the whole plan, but then I’d have to kill you (laughs). But really, next year I am planning another big event. It will be here in North America, and it will be somewhat comparable but a little bit different than the Endurance 50. I will be able to invite others to join me for as much or as little as they want. I can say that your readers will find it interesting, because of where they live. •

FAVES OF THE 50

What kept Dean going on his 50/50?

Food: “I ate 50 pounds of salmon. To me that’s the miracle recovery food, because of the high quality protein and the Omega-3 fatty acids.”

Inspirational Moment: “There were hundreds. In South Dakota I ran with a lady who was running her fiftieth marathon with me. She was 53 years old, and it turned out it was her fiftieth marathon since turning 50 and surviving cancer. After a grim prognosis and a double mastectomy, this woman said, ‘Not only am I going to live, but I am going to become a marathoner.’ That was incredible.”

Toughest Stretch: “In Hawaii it was one of those sticky hot days when the trade winds weren’t really blowing and there was no shade. Then I flew on a red eye and got very little sleep to run in Surprise, Arizona, where it was 103 degrees.”

Favorite Marathon: “Every one of them was memorable. I remember each and every step as though it was yesterday. Certainly coming around the final bend in New York City was a sweet moment.”

Shoes: “I went through five pairs of The North Face Arnuva 50-a shoe I helped design.”

Family: “My mom is a retired school teacher, so she road-schooled the kids. They were with us 43 of the 50 days. My son turned 9 on October 24 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He ran the last nine miles of the marathon with me to celebrate his birthday.”