Running With Dean Karnazes

Dean and his family are riding in style. Hope that bus has a massage table, lots of ice, and a drawer full of ibuprofen.

On September 17, the world's most famous ultramarathoner, Dean Karnazes, kicked off his "50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days" North Face Endurance 50 tour by running the Lewis & Clark Marathon in St. Charles, Missouri, along the Katy Trail, a rail-to-trail conversion on the Missouri River. It was warm and muggy at the 7:00 A.M. start.

Before the race began, the race P.A. announcer asked Dean, who wore a white visor and white singlet with the number "001" on his back, to say a few words to the 3,800 or so runners assembled at the starting line.

Dean explained that he's running to promote fitness in America, especially among our children. "But I don't need to give that message to you all," he noted. "This is a really fit crowd."

"What will the hardest part of part of these 50 days be?" the announcer asked.

"All the driving," he said. "I hate it. I'd rather be out running."

I didn't see Dean on the marathon course until after I'd taken the first of my two lengthy bathroom breaks (tough day for my stomach) at about mile 7. As I tried to make up some time by weaving past runners on the path, I came up behind him and another guy who appeared to be a friend. The two were chatting about Dean's book and the details for the 50 days. I noticed that Dean's legs were incredibly muscular. Makes sense for a guy who once ran 350 miles without stopping. All the time he spends running in the sun had added a reddish tint to the top of his dark hair, and he appeared to be about 5-foot-8. When their conversation hit a lull, I moved up next to them.

"I respect what you're doing, Dean."

"Thanks, man," he said, quickly changing the subject to ask a few questions about me and my own running program. I told him about running 40 miles on my 40th birthday and he urged me to one day go for 50 on 50.

"I just read your book." (Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner)

"Oh, sorry to hear that," he said.

"No, it was good."

"Hey, you remember my friend, Topher, from the book? This is him."

Topher and I shook hands without breaking our pace. Turns out he's loving life as director for The North Face's operations in Europe, living in Venice, Italy. He said he wanted to run Dean's first marathon with him and would try to return for the Chicago Marathon. "North Face sponsors an ultra trail run in Mont Blanc, France, that runs through France, Italy, and Switzerland," he said. "Awesome time — thousands of runners. You should check it out." Got ya.

"I feel like you're still writing your book, Dean," I blurted out.

Dean shot me a puzzled look. Oh, crap. Was my brain working well enough to even explain what I had meant? Did I even know? But that's honestly what I thought as I read the book — that Dean's ability and drive are going to carry him to many more accomplishments worthy of another book. Yet clearly my message was lost in translation.

"I mean it seems like you've got a lot of ahead of you," I said. "I'm looking forward to reading about what you're still going to do with all this."

"OK...thanks."

"Where are you running tomorrow?

"Memphis."

Ouch, I thought. A marathon in downtown Memphis on a Monday morning? Good luck with that. At that point in the race I was still feeling good, so I told Dean I was taking off.

"Alright. Keep on motoring, John. And keep adding to your own book of life."

I gave him a wave and bolted ahead, thinking that was cool.

A bit later, during mile 13, Dean and Topher cruised past when I stopped to take a swig of Accelerade from a bottle I had planted along the trail.

I asked if I could pace off them for a while.

"No problem," Dean said.

"Is this run today even a challenge for you?" I asked.

Long pause.

"Tell the truth, Dean," I said. "It's OK."

Topher laughed and then Dean finally spoke a few carefully measured words: "Oh, yeah ... I mean you don't just go out and run a marathon without trying. It's never easy."

"How do you avoid injuries? You just have great biomechanics?"

Dean shook his head and looked pained by my question. Topher gently pointed out they liked to avoid that topic. Good one, dude — you just jinxed the world's most famous ultramarathoner in marathon number one of 50. It suddenly struck me that Dean was an extremely focused and somewhat introverted guy. Though he had been more than polite and happy to talk to every runner who had approached him, he wasn't here to make small talk with me and he wasn't taking this marathon lightly. Time to shut up and leave the man alone.

"If we keep this pace we'll finish in the 3:50s, Karno," Topher said.

Not long after Topher said that, mile 16 went by in 7:45 — a full minute faster than that pace. When I saw that split on my watch and began to feel the onset of more stomach problems, I let them go. I wasn't going to be hanging with Dean through the finish on this day. Maybe I'll see him again in New York City in 49 days.

Dean "Karno" Karnazes: Activated. He ended up running a 3:51. I have no doubt he'll run all 50: 1,310 miles in 50 days.