Mr. Marketer is at it again...
He once was named one of Time magazine's "World's 100 Most Influential People."
His book "Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner" is on Sarah Palin's must-read list.
Now Dean Karnazes has bought into a frozen yogurt franchise that got its start in Redding.
Karnazes will open a U-Top It store in Marin County early next month.
The brainchild of Redding resident Jennifer Ketels, the first U-top It Frozen Yogurt opened in April 2009 in the Shasta Crossroads shopping center on Churn Creek Road.
Ketels, a former advertising and marketing executive who grew up in Orange County before moving to Redding, opened a second shop in the Placer Heights center on Redding's west side in August 2009.
Karnazes, who once completed 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, went to high school with Ketels and contacted his former classmate last fall about buying into the U-Top It name.
"He's a big deal in the fitness and running world," Ketels said. "Dean and I grew up next door to each other; he drove me to high school every day. ... Now he is like this celebrity — but he's just Dean to me."
Said Karnazes: "We stayed in touch on and off over the years, and I learned what she was doing and was really impressed with her operation."
So Karnazes, 47, asked Ketels if he could bring U-Top It to Marin County.
The marathon man signed an agreement with Ketels to open five, the first in San Anselmo on Feb. 5. Karnazes paid an initial licensing fee of $25,000 and 4 percent of his monthly gross sales will go to Ketels.
And Marin County is not the only area that's about to get a U-Top It.
Ketels signed a similar licensing agreement with a Washington group who will open a store in Covington, south of Seattle, on Feb. 28. The group also wants to open five stores.
Meanwhile, this will be Karnazes' first food retail business. Karnazes has a graduate degree in food science.
"I have been in the food industry for years, but never on the retail-store ownership side," Karnazes said.
So is Karnazes keeping that 50-marathon pace up? Almost.
Karnazes still competes around the world and did about two dozen marathons in 2010.
"I am not slowing down," Karnazes said.