 – Customer review on 24/01/2008
Ultra Marathon Man, by Dean Karnazes, written about himself and his passion and ability to run long distances, such as running 199 miles in just over 48 hours, with no rest. It is brilliantly written, in a very humorous style, but still portrays the difficulty of running distances of over 100 miles, regularly. I thought this book was absolutely brilliant, and after starting it, found it almost impossible to put down, and since finishing it, I have re-read parts of it time after time, and still enjoy it as though it was my first time reading it.
Dean was brilliant cross country runner at school, but, at the age of 15, after his favourite coach quit, he quit also. 15 years latter, on the verge of a mid-life crisis, he stripped to his Jockey shorts and ran 30 miles through the night, telling humorously of the run that got him back into the sport. While running he eats, and in this book he recalls some funny conversations with others, who struggled to understand what he was doing. Talking to a pizza delivery man - ‘ “How long do you think it will take?”
“Twenty, thirty minutes. Are you in some kind of rush?”
“ No rush really, I’ll be out here a while...then I’ll meet you at the corner of highway 116 and Arnold Drive”... “What colour’s your car?”
“I’m not in a car,” I said. “But I’ll be easy to spot. I’m the only one out here running.”
“Running?” There was a brief moment of silence. “ Is someone chasing you?”’
As well as the good times, Dean tells of the bad times, and shows his perseverance and determination. His coach said to him “If it felt good,” He said ..., “you didn’t push hard enough. It’s supposed to hurt like hell.” And Dean claims he still lives by these words today. ‘I put my had down, ignored the pain and started back up the rise’ he writes, ‘“Yeah” I said nonchalantly, trying not to alarm her. “ Please grab your insurance card. I might need to stop by the hospital on the way home”’. Dean also talks about how running is just following his heart ‘I felt like this spot was precisely where I belonged...never mind that I was half naked, in the middle of nowhere, and nearly incapable of taking another step forward. That was inconsequential, I was happy-entirely content just standing here. I had listened to my heart, and this is where it had lead me’. He says ‘Most dreams die a slow death. They’re conceived in a moment of passion, with the prospect of endless possibility, but often languish and are not pursued with the same heartfelt intensity as when they were born’.
This was a brilliant book and I would highly recommend it to everyone. I felt that Dean Karnazes wrote some important things that can be gotten from this book, although unlike some other biographies, he doesn’t try to shove them in you face. I would say that this book is better than many of the biographies I have read and, despite being a cyclist, I enjoyed it more than Lance Armstrongs’ books.
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