Dean Karnazes

Sorry, a guy like him can not run 300 miles per week. I wonder how many miles per day are actually walked.

You can follow his progress live (sort of) here, so at least it looks like he isn't kipping the country.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/dean/

I found Terry Fox much more inspiring.

just me wrote:

I found Terry Fox much more inspiring.

I find 99% of the runners in my community more inspiring. Dean is a media clown.

dang he's slow wrote:

You can follow his progress live (sort of) here, so at least it looks like he isn't kipping the country.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/dean/

"Kipping". Classic. It is now a verb.

Interesting to look at the map and realize that he is running a lot of miles through tornado country in the middle of springtime.

karnazes = taint wagon

Dont hate Dean cause you ain't Dean

He's not running across the country because he didn't start in the Pacific Ocean. He started in Disneyland. That's like saying you hiked the entire Appalachian Trail even if you skipped 20 miles of it. Sorry, but you didn't do it if you didn't do the whole thing.

is he Jewish?

He is talentless and just plain sucks.

He is pretty much just like all of us on this site but makes some money from it. Good for him.

In a lot of respects, ultra running is no different than any other industry. It is often the case that media darlings are not the most talented or accomplished. Hollywood and the music industry come to mind. Why should ultra running be any different?

Dean can pull this off because Ultra running is esoteric enough to make it difficult to compare a result against time and history.

I would argue that a Dean-like persona would have a tougher time becoming the face of more quantifiable sport like T&F.

letsrun darling Solinsky is slower than how many Kenyan teenagers?

Only one "teenager" last year.

Jefe in the CO wrote:

I would argue that a Dean-like persona would have a tougher time becoming the face of more quantifiable sport like T&F.

Dude, ultrarunning is one of the most quantifiable sports out there. There is a governing body which measures and certifies courses. Records clearly exist for 50 and 100 miles, 100 kilometers, and the most miles run in 24 hours, 48 hours, 6 days, etc. Sure trails get much of the attention now, but there are clear records for almost every distance/event in ultrarunning. And no, Dean K, has never come close. He knows it and his sponsors know it. However, he has never claimed records (which would clearly be lies), he only has claimed "feats" which are much more difficult to monitor. He is a decent endurance athlete, better than most, but a great promoter. He is not getting paid because he is the best ultrarunner, he is getting paid because he is the most marketable ultrarunner.

Point mostly taken. I can see what you're saying for some of what you've listed, up to a point but, most miles run in x days/weeks/years?

My observation was referring more to the sliding scale of Ultras; most miles run in 6 days, "World Records" for most 100 mile races run in a year, 50 States in 50 days and then the infamous; Sub 3 hour marathons in every State for a male over 50 years old (real or imaginary).

Ultras are tarnished by these constantly moving "feats" which lend themselves to media up sale opportunities by the likes of Dean.

About 8 in history have run faster, so probably not that many at the moment.

Precious Roy wrote:

"Kipping". Classic. It is now a verb.

Kipping was already a verb :(

Duff man!! wrote:

He is talentless and just plain sucks.

He is pretty much just like all of us on this site but makes some money from it. Good for him.

Talentless? HA!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe how little credit people give Dean

Is Dean a good runner? No.

Is he a good promoter? Yes.

Other "elites" could take note, if they want to make this sport popular (and make money off of it), it's going to take more than signing up for races (which they frequently don't even race in) and going through the motions.