Brad Feld

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Book Review: Ultramarathon Man

Mar 27, 2005
Category Books

Dean Karnazes, the writer and subject of Ultramarathon Man, is a wild man.  As the leader of Team Dean (which has a nice support crew consisting of his family, but only one athlete), Karnazes describes in great detail several of his ultramarathon feats (feets?) including his first Western States 100, a failed Badwater Ultramarathon, the first marathon at the South Pole (and one of two people to run around the world naked – try to figure that out), and his first (and the first) solo effort of The Relay (199 mile relay race from Calistoga to Santa Cruz). 

In the middle of the running stories and descriptions of his feet, his digestive challenges, his food intake (if you burn 600 calories an hour and you run for 48 hours, how do you manage to choke down 29,000 calories just to stay even? – see p. 280 of the book), he takes a crack at talking about how he does it, why he does it, what he eats, and whether or not he is sane.  His philosophy is good, the running stories are awesome, and the motivational lift (yeah – I’ll be running a lot this week) is huge.

If you are a marathoner, you’ll love this book.  If you want to be a marathoner, you need this book.  If you are a soul searcher, you’ll enjoy this book.

Thanks Team Dean for bringing us Dean.