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| L-Michael W., R- Dean Karnazes |
On May 6 I ran a 5K race at The North Face Endurance Challenge in Bear Mountain, NY. The event had races of various distances, some up to 50 MILES!
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Running 50 miles in one day sounds pretty extreme, impossible and crazy to me but once you hear about what Dean Karnazes- The Ultra Marathon Man has done it will sound like a walk in the park. I first heard about Dean while reading Outside Magazine a few years back.
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| Dean kicking off the race with a quick speech |
Dean is an ultra marathon runner and has also written two books. A ultra marathon is a running race longer than a traditional marathon which is 26.2 miles. Dean has ran many races over 100 miles, one as far as 350 miles without stopping. He recently ran across the United States- 3,000 miles in 75 days. Another amazing feat was running 50 marathons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days.
While waiting for the 5K race to start, I had a chance to chat with Dean for a couple of minutes. A man speaking with him before me was practically brought to tears from getting a chance to meet him. He said how Dean’s book really inspired him and brought him out of depression after the events of 9/11.
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Dean is a very friendly guy and I figured that he would be a great jumper considering some of his athletic feats he has accomplished. I told him how I jump for photos around the world and asked him to join me. He asked me how high and showed me with his hands that he could only jump a few inches. I was a bit surprised that he couldn’t jump a few feet in the air!
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| Pre-Race with the family |
The North Face Endurance Race was a really fun event but I was not prepared for it. The trail was pretty rocky, muddy and steep in some sections. Since my son Lucas was born, I haven’t been running as frequently as I’d like. Hopefully I’ll do better in my next race.
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| Crossing the finish line |
Find out more about Dean Karnazes on his site Ultra Marathon Man
