If you have ever read the book "Ultramarathon Man" or heard of the Endurance 50 (running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days, then you know who Dean Karnazes is. Tonight, my daughter and I got a chance to meet him in person!
We got to Stetson University about an hour before the talk and he happened to be inside setting up. We came in, met him and had a chance to chat with him, just the two of us, for about 10-15 min. Then we let him get back to preparing while we wandered across campus to get a quick bite.
When we returned about 40 min later, the hall was beginning to fill up and Dean was out of the area. We should have gotten our book signed while we had him all to ourselves....and a few pictures too! But we were happy we got some time just to talk. My daughter told him what a fan she was and how she had started running. He told us about his son running 9 miles on his 9th birthday!
We still managed to get a great seat near the front and right at the center stairway. This proved strategic for getting the book signed later. He showed a clip of his interview on the David Letterman show, then talked about his running and how he got got started. He then addressed questions he is typically asked and then opened the floor up for 30 minutes of open questions. It was great. Interesting facts we learned:
- Dean's resting heart rate is 38 bpm
- His favorite race was the 35th marathon in his 50-50-50 on his son's birthday when he ran the last 9 miles of the race with his son
- Longest continuous running distance is 350 miles
- Favorite ultra race is the Western States 100 miler
- Last year he went through about 40 pairs of running shoes
- In preparation for the 50-50-50 he ran 4 100 mile races and 8 marathons
After the questions we were first in line for the book signing!!!
We had a great time!
9 comments:
Wow, that's awesome! Thanks for the stats on him. Forty pairs of running shoes? Yikes!! That's puttin' in some miles.
I'm so jealous!
I thought about heading to Stetson to see him, but I just couldn't make it work...
What an inspiration Dean is!
And way to go - keeping that little runner girl of yours engaged!
I should have gone but was tied up wrapping up a project that was due today. Glad you both got a chance to meet him. I hope he has a shoe sponsor!
I forget the brand but he has a special laceless shoe they made for him and is now out on the market. You just turn a knob on the back of the shoe to tighten it up.
WOW!!!!! That is awesome! What a great experience.
38 beats per minute - holy cow! What good notes you took - I am impressed.
I didn't take notes....that is from memory :-)
How freeky - about 10 minutes ago I just got through the first half of his book telling the story how he nearly went blind running the Western States 100... and there he is...
What an honor! I wonder if he listens to podcasts?
awesome! how cool is that?
but no audio for the podcast... :P
Dean is pretty amazing. He's a testament to what humans can do when they put their minds and hearts to it. Very inspiring.
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