Dean Karnazes - Ultra Marathoner
- By Doug Kurtis
Free Press Columnist

I'm not sure what I expected when I sat down with Dean Karnazes at the Dearborn Inn last month.   His publicist was kind enough to send me his book, Ultra Marathon Man, Confessions of an All Night Runner, but I didn't have a chance to look through it before we met.  

I did know that Karnazes had been on the cover of Runner's World and Marathon & Beyond. Both made him look more like a rugged soccer player than a runner. I also knew that he was becoming known for his inconceivable ability to run for hours and hours, actually days at a time.


Mont Blanc run

What I discovered was a very fit, handsome man, intelligent and with charm that seemed genuine.   I could see why David Letterman, NPR and a numerous magazines like Time and Esquire were interviewing him.   And why Borders brought him in town to begin promoting his book that went on the shelves a few weeks ago.

His story takes you down a whole different path than your typical distance runner.   Sometimes you wonder if you're reading fiction. Karnazes has taken a turn that some of us only wish we could make and others might see as sheer insanity.

His journey really began on his 30th birthday. He had contemplated breaking out of the corporate world routine.   So he left his friends behind at a bar in San Francisco and headed on foot for Half Moon Bay some 30 miles away.   By morning, he called his wife to pick him up at Seven-Eleven, just not the one down the street.

The running bug got to him bad.   So bad, that after finishing his first ultra marathon, he ended up an uncontrollable spasmodic mess and puked all over the dashboard of his new corporate lease car.   Today, he's known for training with a cell phone and credit card in hand, asking a local pizza place to deliver on some obscure corner during his runs.

In his book, often dictated into a recorder during his workouts, Karnazes explains the singularity of his purpose that he couldn't experience in the business world. While he's running he finds himself totally engaged in the experience.   "The simplicity of running is liberating and the purest form of expression" he exposes.

His discovery for tolerating pain and running all night without sleep made for some interesting stories to share.

Completing the Western States 100 mile race over rugged mountainous terrain, making Boston Marathon's heartbreak hills look like a walk in the park, was for Karnazes an exploration into the possibility of self. "I realized when I crossed the finish line that I had learned more about myself in the past 21 hours than I had accumulated in a lifetime."

"Completing Badwater (and eventually wining in 2004) the 135 mile trek across Death Valley to Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States didn't satiate my desire for adventure it fed it", said Karnazas.  

Running has given him time for contemplation and made him a bit of a philosopher too. He writes, "Most dreams die a slow death. They're conceived in a moment of passion, with the prospect of endless possibility, but often languish and are not pursued with the same heartfelt intensity as when first born.   People who've let their own dreams die become pessimists and cynics. They feel the time and devotion spent on their dreams was wasted. The emotional scars last forever."

After the Western States experience Karnazes found his demeanor grew more carefree, as if the important things in life became clearer and everything took on a new meaning. "My outlook became more expansive; my shortcomings less significant", he writes. And his dreams became more extreme. He later became the first man to run a marathon to the South Pole. He learned to literally dream on the run.   Sleeping for 30 seconds at a time while running for 262 miles straight without a break. Next up, he's shooting for a 300 mile run this fall.   Want to learn more about Karnazas.   Go to www.ultramarathonman.com.

Contact Doug Kurtis at Detroit Free Press, 600 W. Fort St. Detroit, 48226