Dean Karnazes has done it all in the world of ultra running.
From completing 50 marathons in 50 states over 50 consecutive days, to running 525 kilometers in central Asia along the Silk Road as an United States athlete ambassador on a sports diplomatic mission, the Kentfield resident has reached pinnacles most athletes can only dream of.
Never before though has Karnazes, author of five novels, chronicled his whole running journey in one book. Certain races or moments in his life have been written about but not the sum of it all.
“A Runner’s High: My Life In Motion” is an attempt at that, to encapsulate the career and life of Karnazes as he makes a thirteenth attempt at the famed Western States 100-mile endurance race.
Karnazes’ first foray into the writing world came in 2005 with “Ultramarathon Man,” which was a New York Times bestseller.
“It was kind of a coming-of-age book,” Karnazes said. “The first book is about running Western States, it’s the first time I ran it. And then this book — I thought, 25 years later, I’m still just as passionate as ever and still loving it. It’s getting harder, I’m getting older, and I thought I would just kind of write a book about that. And as well as, you know, I’ve changed. I’m gone from a single guy to all of sudden being a parent, watching my parents get old. So it’s kind of a life story as well.
“I’ve never been so reflective. This is the first time I’ve glanced back and assessed where things are at, and where they’re going. It’s the first time I’ve given a glimpse to a bigger audience how my life has been. My life has been a little bit atypical. I’m not like your normal worker guy. I’ve done some things that I think are pretty intriguing, so this is the first time I’ve really told those stories.”
Karnazes has traveled a long way, literally and figuratively, in his ultra running career — which started 28 years ago at the bar Paragon (it is closed now) located in the Marina in San Francisco.
At midnight, after drinking with friends for his 30th birthday, Karnazes told the group
that he was leaving to go run 30 miles. Just like that. Karnazes walked out the bar, threw off his pants into a nearby alleyway, and took off in his silk boxer shorts.
That morning — after a brief pit spot in Daly City that featured Karnazes walking
through a Taco Bell drive-thru and eating six tacos as he ran through the city — he rolled into Half Moon Bay at around 6:45 a.m.
Outside of a 7-Eleven, Karnazes used a pay phone to call his wife, Julie, to pick him up. And thus marked the beginning of what became one of the most illustrious ultra running careers in the history of the sport.
Since he started ultra running, that has been Karnazes’ full-time job. He has lived off sponsorships and made a career as a writer. Karnazes has covered a lot of ground in previous novels: he chronicled his running of the Australian Outback and Antarctica in “Run!,” wrote about his crossing of the United States in 50 days in “50/50,” and recreated the 153-mile race in Greece that inspired the marathon in “The Road to Sparta.”
“After I got a book deal for this fifth book, I was like, ‘What do I write about?’,” Karnazes said. “And I thought, you know what, tell the story about longevity. About staying in the game, because it’s very rare for someone to still be competitive in their fifties in most sports.”
The book is deeper than that, though. Of course there are detailed race diaries from Karnazes, who is able to vividly paint the picture for the reader as he traverses through the Sierra Nevadas.
But Karnazes also reveals a peek into his personal life as he pays respects to running and to those who have helped him during his travels.
“It’s a love letter to my family, my parents, as well as to the sport I love,” said Karnazes.
The expanse of the book should be noted. While the book is anchored around the
Western States race, located in California, Karnazes takes the reader on a truly global journey. At one point, readers are alongside Karnazes as he stares at an Iron Man-esque like Soviet cosmonaut space suit that is for sale — in a Kyrgyzstan department store.
“A Runner’s High: My Life In Motion” is a compelling probe into the psyche of one of
the world’s most decorated endurance athletes. The novel is multilayered: the writing digs into what exactly it means to be an ultra runner, serves as a tribute to the sport and acts as a diary of introspection into Karnazes on a deeply intimate level.
Readers get to know Karnazes as a person — from his role as a son, husband and father. It also reveals a vulnerability to Karnazes as he grapples with his standing in ultra running history, showing that even the most successful athletes still struggle with self-doubt.
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