Book Review — Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes

“Exercise is for people who can’t handle drugs and alcohol.”

I first came across Dean Karnazes when I heard him interviewed, unfortunately, the interviewer focused on his ability to eat a pizza whilst running — which is not really Dean’s most impressive achievement (and features in the first few pages of this book demonstrating a lack of research by the interviewer).

After being a competitive trail runner in his early teens, Karnazes gave up running after his trail coach retired and the track alternative didn’t impress. 15 years later, on the night of his 30th birthday, he rediscovered his love for running with a 30 mile, through the night epic that left him pretty much broken. And so started the ultra-endurance career of one of the most unusual athletes of the modern age. The book covers his early life, the death of his sister on her 18th birthday and his initial failure to come to terms with it. His rise through the corporate ranks and his subsequent ‘early mid-life crisis’ that drove him back to running.

Dean Karnazes (Karno to his friends), tells his story in a compelling and vivid way. His passion for running and his utter belief in himself, his way of life, and of course a significant amount of ego come through in the book. The description of the physiological effects of the Western States 100 and his subsequent 200+ mile runs are pretty amazing.

The book is very easy to read despite being littered with quotes about running that are thinly veiled comments about the author’s own view of himself, my personal favourite was “Pain was my weapon of choice.”

I found this book very easy to read, in fact, it reminded me of reading “It’s not about the bike” by Lance Armstrong for the first time, let’s hope that Karnazes’ story turns out better than Armstrong’s.

I would recommend this for anyone who has enjoyed Slaying the Dragon by Michael Johnson, It’s not about the bike by Lance Armstrong, Racing into the dark by David Miller, and really any autobiography that focuses on the self-inflicted hardships of pursuing a goal that to others seems pointless.