Even though I’m certainly not running at full tilt at the moment I still find myself wanting to read about running. A running friend still forwards me all the emails from my old marathon clinic, I occasionally pick up a copy of Runner’s World and I am devouring running books. Hopefully this will keep my head in the game for when I ready to get back into it next spring.
I recently finished Dean Karnazes’ Ultramarathon Man. This was an easy read which I managed to whip off in three nights. I'm sure many runners know who Dean is - the guy who runs all night, thinks nothing of running 100 km+ at a time. Dean starts off by giving background on how he got into running, how it changed his life and than focuses on describing a few of his ultramarathons. And while it certainly is interesting to read about the ins and outs of competing in a race like the Badwater Ultramarathon, a feat I can’t ever imagine undertaking, I wanted to know more about how he manages to train for something like this which isn’t really covered. I’m sure he truly is superhuman and there are some genetic explanations for his feats, but as someone who struggles with the day-to-day of training and all that it entails (i.e. what to eat, how to recover properly, how to cross-train, how to carve out enough time) I would have found it equally compelling to hear more about how he gets ready for these races. Nonetheless, I found the description of each of the ultramarathon races fascinating and Dean’s hour by hour or even minute by minute description of them was gripping. Finally it is always fun to hear about why a runner runs, Dean’s answer seems to evolve throughout his running career. For someone who loves to run and loves to read about the world of running this is a fun quick read about races most of us can only imagine doing!
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