Look, the guy is a very respectable ultrarunner. He won the Vermont 100 this year and is in the top 10 at Western States consistently. The problem is not what he has achieved or can achieve. The problem is that he is less than forthright regarding exactly how his accomplishments stack up. He exerts claims to having the longest non-stop run at ~300 miles and he acts as if 26.2 a day for 50 days is notable. Unfortuantely, many have done that and more: Folks who have actually raced (not just run) across the US averaging 50 miles a day at 8:00 to 9:00 pace for 64 days; Krugilov (sp?) the guy who won Trans Australia averaging just over 7:00 min. miles for about 45 a day for 65 days; the guy who just averaged 73 miles a day for 41 days to win the 3100 mile in NY this summer. Horton and other AT and PCT legends. You want a legend, you want true excellence, then start with Korous. Google some of these folks and while you're at it look for others like Ray Krolewicz, Park Barner, Al Howie, John Geesler. These folks run to find the limits and enjoy the process.
No, Dean is a decent runners who excels at markeing. Many are impressed because they are ignorant of ultr-endurance sporting achievement. Obviously, you can fool many of the people most of the time. 50-50-50 is not extreme in the least for even a moderately sturdy ultrarunner; 300 miles has easily been bettered in a single bout.
AND you will NEVER EVER catch Dean mention that any of the names mentioned above (and many others) have done far more than he has and quite more frequently. He is a pretty good US ultrarunnner...way far from world class. Others have done as much for charity in similar ways, and not had to shade the truth so much. Dean has sturck it rich largely on looks and white lies.
It really makes it difficult to care about what are, in actuality, some very decent ultrarunning accomplishments.
Some cake, way too much icing.