Recently I've had the luck to come in to an a advanced reading copy of Karnazes new book due out in August. It is kind of funny because I had just found out about this book and added it to my wish list on Amazon and filed the thought away for the future. The next day someone aware of my running approached me and said, "Hey Brian, I've got this advanced copy about some guy who runs marathons. Thought you might like it so I held it aside." "Yeah, what's it called?" "Can't remember, but he ran 50 marathons or something like that."
My head perked up and finished her sentence: 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states. Unbelievable the luck I had.
So Karnazes account of this experience has some very good information in it. He of course went over the running he'd done to that point, as well the type of running that he had wanted to do, which led to the Endurance 50 challenge. This was right up my alley because I have become a huge fan of running as many marathons as possible. My body tends to recover easily so the urge to run more often has only grown with time.
So it amazes me to follow Karnazes trek from state to state with a marathon every day. He offers some gems of knowledge on various aspects, such as eating, hydration, recovery, pacing, conditions and on and on. With 50 marathons in a row there is plenty of fuel for the fire.
For the most part the chapters correspond to some aspect of running and how it related to that day's marathon, or sometimes two to three marathons a chapter. As would be expected, this couldn't go on for every chapter. Some chapters would reference that days marathon and the chapter would not mention more than a sentence or two, sometimes none, of the actual marathon, instead going off on a tangent about something entirely different.
What was amazing was to find in the appendix a doctor's evaluation of Karnazes' health from running all 50 marathons, and came to the basic conclusion that running that many all in a row had no adverse effects and that he indeed seemed to be getting stronger as each marathon went on. In fact his last of the 50 marathons in New York was his fastest, coming in at a little bit after 3 hours!
I whole heartedly recommend all runner's to get a hold of a copy and read this extraordinary account. Fascinating read.
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Hi Brian
That rattlesnake story is really a scary one because that could all to easily happen. If you were that far out on a run and had to make your way back... wow that is pretty scary stuff. Glad your ok though.
I think Karnazes is just about as cool as they come. I have his Ultramarathon Man book and have read it probably 5 times. He is someone I would truly like to meet.. already got a chance to meet one of my other idols Bart Yasso at this years Boston.
So when are you going to go JUST 26.2 so we can get you qualified for Boston?? Best of luck with the running my friend.
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