headers 2 - Dean Karnazes

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MARATHONS NOT CHALLENGING ENOUGH? TRAIN WITH
A MAN WHO HAS RUN FOR THREE DAYS—WITHOUT SLEEP
000
F H M J U N E 2 0 0 5
more solid than a typical anorexic
marathoner. His greatest gift, though,
may be his feet, which hit the ground
perfectly level, allowing him to run
punishing distances injury-free.
Karnazes has come to dominate
the world of ultramarathons, aka
events that stretch longer than
26.2 miles. Usually much longer. The
staple events for most ultrarunners
are 100 to 150 miles, but Karnazes
has left those races behind. Now
he enters multi-day relays that are
designed to be completed by teams
of people—and runs the whole course
himself. Without stopping. And then
he adds on more distance.
Dean Karnazes, and his massive calves,
leave home for a 70-mile “training run”
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ILLUS TR ATIONS: PETER LIDDIARD; THANKS TO THE FAIRMONT SONOMA
MISSION INN & SPA; FIND MORE INFO AT WWW.SONOMAMISSIONINN.COM
START
t’s 8 p.m. on a Friday in San
Francisco and 42-year-old
Dean Karnazes is preparing for
a jog. To Sonoma. For those
unfamiliar with California
geography, that’s a run of
70 miles, or roughly two and a half
marathons. It’ll take him 11 hours to
complete, but for Karnazes, who has
run 200 miles seven times in his life,
it’s just another workout. “My 70-mile
runs are training runs,” he says.
The training pays off. Last fall
Karnazes completed his longest run
ever—262 miles, the equivalent of
10 marathons. He ran for 72 hours
straight. “I ran without sleep. It was
psycho,” he says while tightening
his shoelaces outside his home.
“It rained for 22 hours. On that
third night I was soaking wet and
on the verge of hypothermia. I
wasn’t even thinking about what
was going to happen the next 10
feet. Every step was just survival.”
Despite the hell of 262, he’s
training to go even farther. “I think
300 miles is within reach,” he says.
“And I don’t think I’ll stop there.”
Tonight, cold rain dumps into the
50-degree air, as Karnazes—clad in
running shorts and a windbreaker—
makes for the Golden Gate Bridge. At
5-foot-10 and 156 pounds, he’s far
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BY ANDREW VONTZ
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
PATRIK GIARDINO
F H M J U N E 2 0 0 5
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Karnazes hits the Golden Gate Bridge
(above); he later grabs the pizza he
had delivered roadside (right)
Hill
Ave
Once across the Golden Gate,
Karnazes clicks off seven-minute,
30-second miles like a metronome.
Although he ran in high school,
Karnazes had abandoned the sport
until the night of his 30th birthday.
That evening, he realized that
although he was raking in dough as
a marketer, he felt empty. “I looked
around and thought, ‘What am I doing
getting drunk at a bar? There has to be
BY HIMSELF,
DEAN
COMPLETES
MULTI-DAY
RACES
DESIGNED
FOR RELAY
TEAMS
After his first 50-mile
race, Karnazes vomited
all over his Lexus
‘RUN, KARNAZES, RUN!’
more than this game.’” He stumbled
out of the bar and started running.
“I ran for 30 miles,” he says. “I was
wearing some silk jockey briefs and
crosstrainers I use for gardening.
When I finished, everything hurt—my
chest, my arms, there were rashes up
and down my legs. I felt really happy.”
Longer distances were next and
Karnazes soon entered—and won—
a 50-mile race. After finishing, he
crawled into his Lexus LS400. “I
projectile-vomited all over the steering
column,” he says. “I was baptized in
my own bile. It felt glorious.”
Pounding through the darkened
town of Sausalito, Karnazes dashes
into a convenience store to buy a bag
of trail mix. “I’m not really burning
the calories yet,” he says. “I’m kind
of cold and want to really get into it.”
He nibbles the trail mix on the move.
On his long runs, Karnazes shovels
in junk food like a couch potato with
a tape worm. “My diet is usually really
good, but that goes out the window
when I’m actually racing,” he says.
“If you try to eat natural foods, you
end up getting full but you don’t get
enough calories. Whereas if you eat
a Pringle, you’re just getting pure
calories. It’s like jet fuel.”
At 18 miles into the run, Karnazes
pulls out his cell phone and dials the
closest Round Table Pizza. It’s time for
more quick calories. “Round Table will
deliver a pizza, even if it’s not to your
residence,” he explains. “Domino’s
Pizza gets really anal and asks a lot
more questions. With Round Table, I
estimate where I’ll be in 30 minutes
and just give them a street address.”
Half an hour later, the pizza guy
stands in front of a grocery store with
a warm pepperoni pie. Slowing down
long enough to pay, Karnazes hits
the road with the pizza box in one
hand and a hot slice in the other.
“When I’m running 200 miles, I
usually have my family follow me in
a support car with food and water,”
Karnazes says. The crew also keeps a
list of Round Table Pizza joints handy.
“I didn’t think my body could take
the punishment on my first 200miler,” he continues. “On some hills,
you’re climbing up 2,500 feet from
sea level, so if you can do 25-minute
miles, you’re doing pretty good.”
He grows so weary, Karnazes has
even fallen asleep while running.
“Once, at 4 a.m. on my second night
of a race, I woke up and there was
a car honking at me. I’d been
Follow Dean's refreshing 70-mile jog
SAUSALITO
8:45 p.m. MILE 8
Snack time! Karnazes grabs trail
mix and a drink from a convenience store, and he’s out the door.
DEAN'S HOUSE
8 p.m. MILE 0
Karnazes wishes the kids
goodnight, laces up and
jogs down his front steps.
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F H M J U N E 2 0 0 5
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
8:15 p.m. MILE 4
The bridge is closed to
pedestrians, so Dean
thumbs a ride across.
SAN ANSELMO
10:30 p.m. MILE 20
Dean gets roadside pizza
delivery and scarfs down
five slices while running.
Adobe Rd
Ely Blvd
ULTRAMARATHONS
‘FINISHING
THE 262MILE RUN
FELT LIKE
BEING IN
A TRAIN
ACCIDENT
COUPLED
WITH THE
WORST
HANGOVER’
was so intense that I just felt like
saying, ‘It’s unbearable.’ But then,
I’d think, ‘If you quit, that’s going
to be even more unbearable.’ At that
point, it becomes a mental battle.”
And that’s the point Karnazes
relishes. “I like seeing how far the
human body can be pushed,” he says.
“You learn a lot about yourself.
Running is very symbolic of life
lessons. How do you respond when
you hit a wall? Do you pack it up, or
do you push through and keep going?”
Dawn breaks as Karnazes climbs a
steep mountain road near Sonoma.
He’s nearing the end of his route.
“Finishing the 262-mile run felt like
being in a train accident coupled with
the worst hangover I’d ever had in my
life,” he recalls. “I was destroyed. But
it was my son’s 7th birthday, so after
I finished the event, he said, ‘Dad,
look, I have tickets to the boardwalk!’
So I rallied to celebrate his birthday.”
Then the next day, Karnazes went
to work. “After the long runs, I feel
e St
sleep-running out into the middle
of the road. I must have covered a
couple hundred feet while asleep.”
Well into marathon No. 2,
Karnazes hasn’t slacked his pace.
“The hardest part at this point is
stopping,” he explains. “You get cold
and it’s hard to restart the engine.”
Given the need for motion, he
pulls down the front of his shorts and
pees while running. “I learned this in
a race,” he says. “I saw these squiggle
marks in the dirt and thought, ‘Somebody emptied their water bottle.’
That makes no sense. Then I came
upon a guy and saw exactly what
he was doing. After that, I said,
‘Enough stopping on the trailside.’”
As the night progresses, Karnazes
finally admits to a soreness in his
quads—but it’s nothing compared to
a 262-miler. “Then my pain receptors
were working overtime, so my whole
body hurt,” he says. “I touched the
tip of my nose, and even that hurt like
hell. There were points when the pain
Grov
Karnazes stops at
convenience stores
to pound such junk
food as chips and
apple fritters
bad for a week, but after two days,
this mental euphoria takes over,” he
says. “The pain’s still there, but I get
this runner’s high, which I imagine is
like heroin—although I’ve never tried
heroin. The high can last three weeks.”
At 7:30 a.m., Dean charges onto
the grounds of the luxurious Fairmont
Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa. In
anticipation of his arrival, the staff
has set up a finish line. As he breaks
through, Karnazes looks, talks and
runs just as he did nearly 12 hours
earlier. “My eyes are a little dry from
the wind, but I feel fine,” he says.
The staff is awed by his performance. “You just ran 70 miles?” one
employee asks. “Why do you do that?”
It’s a good question, and Karnazes
gives it real thought a few moments
later. “To me, life is about struggle. If
I’m not pushing myself, then I’m not
happy,” he says. “People think if we
had every damn comfort available to
us—if we removed all the struggle—
we’d be happy. I think there’s a lot of
miserable people out there, and one
of the reasons is, there’s no struggle.
They’re taken care of every day. But
I think there’s a lot of happiness in
suffering.” He turns to head to the
spa’s showers, before adding, “I
wouldn’t mind running back to San
Francisco if I had the time.” FHM
FINISH
For more about Dean Karnazes, check
out his book, Ultramarathon Man:
Confessions of an All-Night Runner.
The spa sets up
its own finish line
‘RUN, KARNAZES, RUN!’
LUCAS VALLEY ROAD
12:35 a.m. MILE 35
A car nearly hits Karnazes.
SAN GERONIMO
11:50 p.m. MILE 30
After a three-mile climb, Dean
descends into the Ewok forest
shown in Return of the Jedi.
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F H M J U N E 2 0 0 5
PETALUMA
SONOMA
5:00 a.m. MILE 52
6:20 a.m. MILE 60
With marathon two done,
Dean steps into 7-Eleven for
coffee and an apple fritter.
Another car nearly hits
Dean. The driver then asks
for an autograph.
MISSION INN & SPA
7:15 a.m. MILE 70
Karnazes finishes and
regrets only that he doesn’t
have time to run back.