Ultramarathon Man
Confessions Of An All-Night Runner
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4.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The inspiring journey of Dean Karnazes, an internationally recognized endurance athlete who has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits. Includes a new epilogue detailing his training and diet tips.
'[Karnazes'] spirited memoir . . . can help mere mortals who want to push past their perceived limits or simply jump-start their sedentary lives.' - Chicago Tribune
WHY DO YOU DO IT? HOW DO YOU DO IT? ARE YOU INSANE?
Dean Karnazes is an internationally recognised endurance athlete who has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits. In this remarkable memoir, he recounts the personal events that have led to him becoming an extraordinary athlete. The seeds of his talents were seen early - at the age of nine he rode his bike alone over fifty miles to his grandmother's house. As an adult, he's taken part in a marathon across Death Valley, a 200 mile, twelve-person relay race (which he ran solo, of course) and one of the biggest and most controversial challenges of all - the first marathon ever run to the South Pole.
In Ultramarathon Man, Dean recounts all these races and other unbelievable achievements. He introduces us to the sometimes bizarre emotional and psychological make-up of endurance runners, as well as the peculiar mores surrounding the subculture of ultra-endurance athleticism. The book is filled with fascinating characters and situations from the touching (how his running helped to pull his family back together) to the absurd (organising to meet the pizza delivery man on the highway during his run!).
Dean's story will amaze, fascinate and inspire even the most comfortable couch potatoes. And in a new epilogue, Karnazes answers the two questions he's most often asked: What, exactly, do you eat and How do you train to stay in such good shape?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Many would see running a marathon as the pinnacle of their athletic career; thrill-seeker Karnazes didn't just run a marathon, he ran the first marathon held at the South Pole. The conditions were extreme "breathing the superchilled air directly could freeze your trachea" yet he craved more. Also on his r sum : completing the Western States 100-mile endurance run and the Badwater 135-mile ultramarathon through Death Valley (which he won), as well as a 199-mile relay race... with only himself on his team. This running memoir (written without a coauthor) paints the picture of an insanely dedicated some may say just plain insane athlete. In high school, Karnazes ran cross-country track, but when his favorite coach retired, he quit the sport. Fifteen years later, on his 30th birthday (in 1992), on the verge of an early midlife crisis, he threw on his old shoes and ran 30 miles on a whim. The invigorating feeling compelled him to pursue the world of ultramarathons (any run longer than 26.2 miles). "Never," Karnazes writes, "are my senses more engaged than when the pain sets in." Yet his masochism is a reader's pleasure, and Karnazes's book is intriguing. Casual runners will find inspiration in Karnazes's determination; nonathletes will have the evidence once and for all that runners are indeed a strange breed.
