Karno

Lately, I have been getting my materials from my local Alachua County Library system via the Internet, doing searches and placing items on hold. Then, when notified that they are available, I drive down to my nearest branch library to check them out. The other day, though, I departed from my usual routine and randomly browsed around the library. And I found an interesting book about long-distance running.

Did I say "long-distance"? I meant "ultra-long distance", for the book I checked out (and ultimately read) is titled Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner, by Dean Karnazes. Affectionately called "Karno" by his friends, Karnazes is a study in extremes, as the book's title would suggest. A pretty avid runner throughout his childhood, Karnazes gave it up at age fifteen and didn't resume running until he was thirty. Then abruptedly, after a full, eventful day at the office and a subsequent night out with his friends (and much alcoholic imbibing), Kanazes went home, impulsively stripped down his clothing to his briefs and tee shirt, slipped on some ratty old sneakers in his garage, and began running down the street. He kept running and running until he ended up covering thirty miles!

This was the turning point for Dean Karnazes, for afterward he became an extreme fanatic for running extremely long running races. Since then he has run a 100 mile race up and down California mountains, a 130 mile race that wound through Death Valley and up Mount Whitney, a 26.2 mile marathon to the South Pole, and more recently, a 199 mile relay through west-central California, with him running ALL of the relay positions solo. Among other feats.

Karno is no doubt what I would call a "true believer": someone who has found his calling in life and has thrown himself fully into it. Yet he realizes that with his running, he is an extreme example and that others need to choose and pursue their own paths. In fact, he has used his running success as a springboard for motivational speaking, as well as landing him a position as a fitness columnist in Men's Health magazine.

I don't believe that everyone's bodies are the same, so I would never try to literally emulate what Dean Karnazes has done. But he has taught me some things in his book:

--On long-distance runs, I need to continually rehydrate myself and replenish my salts. On the very long runs, eating fast-burning carbohydrates is also a must. In the past, I have always played the stoic and not refueled until the run was over. No more!

--Although Karnazes would eat fast-burning food while running, away from the road he adhered to a diet of lean meats, vegetables, nuts, fruits, and low-glycemic carbohydrates. I need to follow his example. Karno claimed to have only 4.8% body fat. I could lose forty pounds and still not be anywhere near that level (not that I necessarily want that anyway).

--At any given moment, it is easy to find all sorts of excuses to avoid exercise, especially that strenuous exercise that can make a truly positive difference in my life. But the body is marvelous in its capacity to repair and strengthen itself, and I should trust it to do just that.

--Karno did his running in the context of a positive social environment, with his family and friends behind him. That to me doesn't necessarily mean that everyone has to be my cheerleader, but it is important to make sure that others aren't suffering on account of me overdoing it with my running.

--Physical pain is not always a bad thing to be numbed away; it can develop character and self-understanding if overcome and is often a symptom of positive change.

--Karnazes ran whenever he could find the opportunity to run. Likewise, I should not limit myself by placing needless restrictions on my endeavors.

--Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Dean Karnazes revealed his own personally-arrived at conclusion that life is much more than just being able to survive. Sometimes you have to push things to the edge to achieve that quality of experience that gives a life greater meaning.

No way am I going to literally follow Karno's example and run ultramarathons. But I have stepped up my running of late and, who knows, I may be running in some longer distance races in the not-too-distant future.