Even the swiftest of athletes, be they club runners or Olympians, require rest. The boundaries of running are scientifically determined by our bodies. Our body’s rapid threshold dictates the distance we can run without a break, and when we exceed it, running becomes unpleasant. We have all experienced our hearts pounding, a burning sensation, and our lungs gasping for air when our muscles fatigue.
However, there is one man who defies these physiological norms of performance. His name is Dean Karnazes, the man who can run indefinitely.
Dean Karnazes hails from California and is an ultramarathon runner, meaning he can run in footraces longer than 42.195 kilometers without taking any breaks.
Karnazes has conquered some of the most challenging endurance events around the world. This includes running infinite marathons and embarking on a journey to the South Pole in -25 degrees Celsius temperatures, all without experiencing muscle burn or cramps.
Even when he runs 100 miles in one go, his feet remain pain-free. Karnazes himself attests to this fact.
From a medical standpoint, Karnazes is an anomaly. During exercise, our bodies convert glucose to energy, resulting in the production of lactic acid. As lactic acid levels rise, we eventually reach our lactate threshold, where running becomes unpleasant, muscles fatigue, and cramps set in.
But for Karnazes, his body never sends these signals. He possesses a unique ability to flush out lactic acid while exercising.
“At a certain level of intensity, I feel like I can go a long way without getting tired. No matter how hard I push, my muscles never seize up. It’s quite an advantage when I plan to undertake a long-distance run.”
Dean Karnazes was born on August 23, 1962, in Inglewood, California. His parents, Nick and Fran, had Greek roots, and he had two siblings named Kraig and Pary. His father worked as a field naturalist in the Orange County Department of Education.
Karnazes initially took up running as a form of fun during his kindergarten days when he ran from home to school. As he grew older, he started exploring different routes between his home and school, venturing into uncharted territory. He began participating in and organizing running events. By the age of eleven, he had already climbed Mount Whitney (the highest mountain in the contiguous US) and hiked rim-to-rim across the Grand Canyon. He even cycled 40 miles for the sheer joy of it, without informing his parents.
In junior high school, Karnazes met a track coach named Jack McTavish, whose guidance led him to win his first one-mile championship.
In high school, under the coaching of Benner Cummings, Karnazes joined the cross country team in 1976. He ran his first endurance event that year. While others could only complete 10-15 laps, Dean ran 105 laps in six hours. He was also recognized as the “Most Inspirational” team member. However, Karnazes and his coach had compatibility issues, which led him to abstain from running for fifteen years.
After a fifteen-year hiatus from training, many individuals would struggle to achieve notable distances. However, Karnazes did not stop until he reached 30 miles.
“Elite distance runners may show some improvement in their ability to clear lactic acid from their system due to the ‘training effect,’ but that only goes so far,” he says. “The rest, as I am told, is left up to heredity. They say the best thing you can do as a long-distance runner is to choose your parents well!”
Throughout his career, Dean Karnazes has primarily focused on running and endurance events. Although he did participate in a swimming event at one point, his achievements in running are most noteworthy. Here are some of Karnazes’s notable accomplishments:
- Completed 50 marathons in all 50 states in 50 consecutive days in 2006
- Finished a marathon to the South Pole in -13 °F without snowshoes in 2002
- Ran 350 miles in 80 hours and 44 minutes without sleep in 2005
- Raced a 200-mile relay race solo, alongside teams of twelve, ten times
- Winner of the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile race across Death Valley, in 2003 and 2004
- Ran 3,000 miles from Disneyland to New York City in 75 days, averaging 40 to 50 miles per day in 2011
Dean Karnazes’s impressive achievements come as no surprise.