Dean Karnazes, the writer and subject of Ultramarathon Man, is a wild man. As the leader of Team Dean (which has a nice support crew consisting of his family, but only one athlete), Karnazes describes in great detail several of his ultramarathon feats (feets?) including his first Western States 100, a failed Badwater Ultramarathon, the first marathon at the South Pole (and one of two people to run around the world naked – try to figure that out), and his first (and the first) solo effort of The Relay (199 mile relay race from Calistoga to Santa Cruz).
In the middle of the running stories and descriptions of his feet, his digestive challenges, his food intake (if you burn 600 calories an hour and you run for 48 hours, how do you manage to choke down 29,000 calories just to stay even? – see p. 280 of the book), he takes a crack at talking about how he does it, why he does it, what he eats, and whether or not he is sane. His philosophy is good, the running stories are awesome, and the motivational lift (yeah – I’ll be running a lot this week) is huge.
If you are a marathoner, you’ll love this book. If you want to be a marathoner, you need this book. If you are a soul searcher, you’ll enjoy this book.
Thanks Team Dean for bringing us Dean.
Posted in: BooksCOMMENTS (3)
60 minutes ran a feature last night on such athletes...the rise of the woman athlete in these competitions is also interesting.
This must be the same guy that was on 60 Minutes last night. Did you catch that at all? The story was also about the woman that won the Badwater at least two years in a row over the favored male competitor. Very good story. Thanks for the book recommendation.
If you're into the ultra marathon you have to check out this blog...
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