A few months back, I started reading a book, Ultra Man, and learned a lot about a crazy runner named Dean Karnazes. I recalled seeing a clip about him and was amazed by his athletic ability and pure dedication. On a whim, the man ran 30 miles on his 30th birthday after an entire day's celebration. He hadn't run in 15 years and decided to head out in gardening shoes and his boxers. After finishing this book, I read another of his and began following him online. Shortly thereafter, he launched his latest endeavor, Running Across America with Regis and Kelly.
It didn't take me long to figure out that he would be passing through my "area" and I would potentially have an opportunity to run with him. I kept the idea in the back of my mind for a few months, but as April approached and I had read more about his journey, I realized that this was something else I just had to do.
Dean was scheduled to go through Altamont, IL (about 1.5 hours southwest of Champaign) today and will be in Indianapolis (about 1.5 hours east of Champaign) on Saturday. Since Tony works Saturdays, logistically it was actually easier for me to take a day off of work to meet him today. I also knew I would have a better chance of being closer to him if I went to a small town, as opposed to trying in a larger city. I had mentioned this opportunity to my friend, Mary, when we were running on Sunday and she jumped at the chance to go.
Here we are shortly after arriving to Altamont. We are a bit giddy and were a little star struck (even though most people have no idea who Dean Karnazes is).
Dean has been running across the US since mid February and today marks his 49th consecutive day of running at least 40 miles. He has a few scheduled events, like the one today, where he runs with the community. Prior to the run, he addresses the crowd each time and today was no different.
There were a lot of students from the Altamont schools, but only a few of them actually ran the whole 5k. This gave us plenty of time to run near Dean and he was nice enough to entertain our questions.
Mary initiated conversation first and asked him what advice he would give to first time marathoners. He noted that it was going to hurt and to not pay attention to the mile markers. Mary was nice enough to introduce me to Dean and he even called me by name then. I told him I was a big fan and asked him what was next for him. He joked and remarked that he would be trying 50 marathons in 50 states with 50 pizzas. Then he provided his real answer of running a marathon in every country. We gave other fans some face time and tried to avoid running into small children who don't know race etiquette, but snuck in a few more questions later on. Mary asked who he looked up to. He stated that he really admires Ann Treson (sp?) and told us a little bit about her success as a phenomenal ultra runner who beats out everyone, including males.
We made it into the group shot, which should appear on his running blog at Regis and Kelly's website. It was a great time and I'm glad I did it.
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