Dean Karnazes is a phenomenon: frequent guest on television and radio shows; subject of numerous articles and magazine cover shots; regular columnist in Men's Health magazine; popular keynote speaker. Karnazes has been acclaimed in various magazines as perhaps "the fittest man in the world," "the ultimate running specimen," "the quintessential ultramarathoner," an "ultrarunning legend," and "the perfect beast." And it all was kicked off by his best-selling book, Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner.
Karnazes refers to himself as an ordinary person with no special talent, who has performed amazing feats simply by dint of high ambition and unwavering determination.
Karnazes' resolve is indisputable. But he underrates his inherent abilities. His book describes various endurance exploits accomplished as a child and youth, as well as the unusually quick progress he made when he seriously took up long distance running as an adult. These are signs of a person who has exceptional natural stamina. Determination (and even diligent training) alone would not be sufficient to produce his results as an endurance athlete.
Karnazes also has rare energy. He writes of frequently running much of the night during the weekends and then spending active days with his family. He says he often gets by on four hours of sleep per night for extended periods. He tells about running for almost 48 hours straight, covering 200 miles, and then devoting several hours to dash about an amusement park with his kids. Most people could not come close to matching his vitality, no matter how resolute they might be.
Karnazes indicates in his book that he found it more and more difficult to find organized events that supplied the challenge he sought. Thus, he started creating his own extreme events. In that vein, Karnazes' next big endeavor is to run 50 marathons in the 50 states in 50 consecutive days, beginning on September 17, 2006. The website promoting this venture states that Karnazes "will transcend preconceived notions of human endurance." And Karnazes has declared, "To my knowledge, no one has ever attempted this before."
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