“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why I do it.”
This statement typified the honest demeanor Dean Karnazes quickly used to endear his New Haven audience to The North Face sponsored Never Stop Exploring series presentation. It was the first stop of the speaking tour, and there was a slightly unpolished edge to the event that only added to Dean’s down-to-earth, hold the frills attitude. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Karnazes, better known as Ultramarathon man, his quote referred to his running career that has included feats ranging from 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days to a recently set record of 262 miles of consecutive running. Dean, of course, could give reasons for why he’s chosen to run distances that sometimes even make drivers cringe, but his statement got to that deeper, meta-meaning behind the action. I think I know what he's hinting at, although I recognize the inappropriateness of comparing my own modest running accomplishments to his records. But I think that’s what struck me most about Dean—he’s just an average person who might not know when to say when and has chosen running as the outlet.
Over the course of the talk’s allotted hour, Dean told us about appearing on The Letterman Show, about noteable runners he encountered during the 50-50-50 adventure, and what he eats to fuel his calorie evaporating long runs (mainly pizza and recently Chinese takeout!). I had followed his blog during the 50-50-50, but Dean’s true charisma and humor doesn’t come across in his writing. One the more amusing stories, which included an even more amusing video, related the accident experienced by a distracted marathoner in Seattle who kept inquiring about football scores from The North Face staff spectating along the course. His distraction came to an abrupt end when he ran straight into a pole while looking over his shoulder in anticipation of being told the latest scores. He broke several ribs in the collision, but picked himself up right away and finished the marathon. “Watch out for the pole” is now Dean’s way of categorizing the unexpected events in life, especially when one loses focus.
Amazingly, Dean has never been injured. He attributes this to naturally good biomechanics and a lot of luck. If only we could all be so lucky! In a recent collaboration with The North Face he designed a running shoes that employs a quick lacing system. It was unclear whether it will be brought to mass market, but it seems to be worth watching out for. We’ll also all need to watch out for Dean in 2012. That year he intends to run a marathon in every country in the world, including Afghanistan and North Korea. I wish his logistics team the very best – they’ll have 365 days in which to fit in 270 countries!
This statement typified the honest demeanor Dean Karnazes quickly used to endear his New Haven audience to The North Face sponsored Never Stop Exploring series presentation. It was the first stop of the speaking tour, and there was a slightly unpolished edge to the event that only added to Dean’s down-to-earth, hold the frills attitude. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Karnazes, better known as Ultramarathon man, his quote referred to his running career that has included feats ranging from 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days to a recently set record of 262 miles of consecutive running. Dean, of course, could give reasons for why he’s chosen to run distances that sometimes even make drivers cringe, but his statement got to that deeper, meta-meaning behind the action. I think I know what he's hinting at, although I recognize the inappropriateness of comparing my own modest running accomplishments to his records. But I think that’s what struck me most about Dean—he’s just an average person who might not know when to say when and has chosen running as the outlet.
Over the course of the talk’s allotted hour, Dean told us about appearing on The Letterman Show, about noteable runners he encountered during the 50-50-50 adventure, and what he eats to fuel his calorie evaporating long runs (mainly pizza and recently Chinese takeout!). I had followed his blog during the 50-50-50, but Dean’s true charisma and humor doesn’t come across in his writing. One the more amusing stories, which included an even more amusing video, related the accident experienced by a distracted marathoner in Seattle who kept inquiring about football scores from The North Face staff spectating along the course. His distraction came to an abrupt end when he ran straight into a pole while looking over his shoulder in anticipation of being told the latest scores. He broke several ribs in the collision, but picked himself up right away and finished the marathon. “Watch out for the pole” is now Dean’s way of categorizing the unexpected events in life, especially when one loses focus.
Amazingly, Dean has never been injured. He attributes this to naturally good biomechanics and a lot of luck. If only we could all be so lucky! In a recent collaboration with The North Face he designed a running shoes that employs a quick lacing system. It was unclear whether it will be brought to mass market, but it seems to be worth watching out for. We’ll also all need to watch out for Dean in 2012. That year he intends to run a marathon in every country in the world, including Afghanistan and North Korea. I wish his logistics team the very best – they’ll have 365 days in which to fit in 270 countries!
In the end, I’m not sure it matters what form of compulsion drives us to run one mile or 300 miles (Dean’s next goal), but, whatever it is, I think it’s one of the best life affirming activities available.
Dean and five other North Face-sponsored athletes are still on tour. You can access the speaker series schedule here. I won’t be able to catch Diane Van Deren but I’d love to hear from someone who does!
Dean and five other North Face-sponsored athletes are still on tour. You can access the speaker series schedule here. I won’t be able to catch Diane Van Deren but I’d love to hear from someone who does!
2 comments:
Thanks for taking the time to write you thoughts, I really enjoyed them. I have a Google Alert set up for Dean, which is how I found your post.
Just found your blog and enjoy reading about other inspiring runners. I am traveling now from Oregon to Morocco for a years worth of adventure and sport. I came across a 125km ultra race through the High Atlas Mountains while we were trekking up Mt. Toubkal.
It was an incredible, inspiring race!
http://elephantcloud.net
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