Dean "Karno" Karnazes has expanded the limits of human endurance and along the way has inspired countless others to be the best that they can be. An internationally recognized endurance athlete, Dean has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits. He has raced and competed on all seven continents.
Learn more about Dean Karnazes.
Let me be the first to welcome our newest endurance runner to join The North Face Athelte Team. Tsuyoshi is one of the most famous trail runners in Japan. Click here to learn more about this multifaceted athlete. I'm proud to welcome him. He's one extraordinary dude!
Hey there,
I was listening to NPR on the way home the other night and it was The World from the BBC, which is the British news, and guess who they featured--Diane Van Deren, my ultra friend! It was crazy. They did a multi-part interview and feature of her. It was a really well-done piece. Just thought you'd be interested. Read all about Diane's story!
All the best,
Dean
Choosing the right clothing and footwear is an integral part of successfully completing Badwater, the upcoming Endurance Challenge in Washington, D.C. or any race where intense sun is going to be a constant factor. The need for comfort and breathablility needs to be balanced with the need for UV protection. Although I coat myself with sunblock, I still look for clothing that provides at least SPF 15. With footwear, it’s critical that the sizing and fit be perfect. If you start with a shoe that has even the slightest rub, it can be exacerbated over the miles into multi-dimensional blistering (isn’t that a pretty picture). I prefer a shoe with liberal forefoot spacing, like the new Sentinel Boa, coming in Spring 2010.
- Dean Karnazes
I’m a firm believer in ice baths. So following any race in high temperatures, fill your tub with water and ice. Then, immerse your lower torso in the frozen slurry. How long do you soak for? I always tell people, “stay in until your voice goes up a few octaves.” (more laughter)
- Dean Karnazes
This year’s Badwater will remain etched in my mind. Let’s just say there are good years, and there are bad years; this wasn’t a good year. As far a performance goes, I didn’t have a very good race. In fact, it was my slowest finish ever. Some fairly serious personal matters arose in my family the week of the race, so my head just wasn’t 100% in the game this year.
Badwater commands total focus, no matter how many times you’ve completed the race in the past, and I suffered greatly out there this time. At mile 90, I wanted to quit. My crew was tremendously supportive however, and they remained committed to getting me to the finish line. I was chafing and blistering badly (see posting on 8/20; laughter), so I did something unprecedented: I stripped naked to my shoes and socks. One of my crew courageously volunteered to do the same (name withheld to protect the innocent). We ran naked through the desert for a stretch and it provided a great bit of levity that got us through it.
- Dean Karnazes
When I know there’s still a long road ahead and many miles to go, I carry a plant-mister and fill it with ice water. I spray myself as I run. If the ice inside melts, when you go to spray yourself you see the water being emitted, but it literally evaporates before reaching you, even though you’re holding it just a few feet away!
- Dean Karnazes
You take all of the precautionary measures - such as good wicking socks, ample application of Body Glide (in places the sun don’t shine), well ventilated technical clothing, etc… - but when the heat is extreme, sometimes nothing works and you just push through the pain and discomfort to the best of your ability (more laughter).
- Dean Karnazes
Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, we don’t get a lot of heat, so I have to really customize the way I train and prepare. This includes regular sessions of Bikram Yoga and frequenting the local health club sauna, where I do sets of push-ups and sit-ups inside. I also go for training runs in the middle of the day wearing my North Face puffy down jacket and Apex pants. Sure, you get a lot of strange looks (rightly so), but it’s what you have to do to survive a place like Badwater.
- Dean Karnazes
In mid-July I completed my 8th Badwater Ultramarathon through Death Valley. Sure, it’s hot, but it’s a dry heat (laughter). My ultimate goal is to complete both the Badwater Ultramarathon and the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run ten times apiece, a feat that has never been accomplished before (probably for good reason). I’ve already finished Western States 10+ times, so a couple more Badwater’s is all that’s left.
- Dean Karnazes
In hindsight, we were fortunate to make it to Antarctica. Our boat had a hole pierced through the steel hull by an iceberg. Thankfully, repair efforts were successful and we were able to get to the frozen continent.
Once there, the running on Antarctica was absolutely spectacular. We ran past thousands of penguins in some of the most stunning and unique settings imaginable, turquoise ice formations and huge frozen glaciers as the backdrop.
The 4 Stages of running we were able to complete went by fairly quickly, the soft snow and restricted timeline for getting back onboard the boat making these stages rather compact endeavors. During the first three stages, I was plagued by vertigo and lightheadedness to the likes I’ve never experienced before (presumably a byproduct of the seasickness medication I’d taken on the boat journey over from Argentina). By the fourth stage, my legs were feeling less wobbly. I was really looking forward to Stage 5, the infamous ‘long stage.’ But it was not to be. Severe weather hit the night prior and we were forced to discontinue the racing after Stage 4, which was a bit of a disappointment.
But in Antarctica, you get what you can take. We were incredibly lucky to be able to hold the event at all. When the weather turns bad down here, survival is top of mind.
As far as results go, we held a small ceremony on the boat during the passage home. Paul Liebenberg, of South Africa, had the most cumulative mileage logged after 4 Stages of racing and was thus declared the winner of The Last Desert race in Antarctica. It was a pretty close race after four stages of running—just a few miles separated the top handful of competitors—but I was very glad to see Paul come out on top. He had worked so hard throughout the year to be able to complete the 4 Deserts series, he really deserved a win.
As for my performance, I managed to bag the coveted 4 Deserts Series Championship crown, my overall performance during the deserts races throughout 2008 putting me in first place. There will be an awards dinner held in San Francisco for winning this title. I’m honored to have captured this award as it was a lengthy and hard-fought battle that required consistent performance stage after grueling stage, across a multitude of climates, terrains, environments and settings. You really couldn’t have a bad race, there was just no margin for error.
That said, the 55-hour boat ride back to Argentina from Antarctica was an endurance event which paralleled any stage. The Drake Passage is one of the most treacherous waterways on earth, and it shined in all its glory for us. There are distinct bands of winds across the world’s latitudes. The equator has the ‘trade winds,’ which are fairly consistent and moderate. Moving out from the equator toward the tropics, you have the notorious ‘doldrums’ in which the wind may be nonexistent for days or weeks at a time. The doldrums are sometimes referred to as the “horse latitudes” because early sailors used to push their horses overboard with a tether line attached so that they could tow their boat out of this windless confinement. Moving further out toward the world’s poles, you have distinct latitudinal bands of wind that become progressively more intense the closer you get to the poles. First it’s the ‘roaring forties,’ then the ‘furious fifties,’ and finally the ‘screaming sixties.’ Explorers to Antarctica had a saying, “Beyond 50 degrees south there is no law, Beyond 60 degrees south there is no God.”
The wind on the boat ride home howled as if coming from an enraged Cyclopes, whipping the ocean into a frothy torrent of white and kicking up massive swells of mythical proportions. Only, there was no mythology involved, those gigantic liquid mountains outside our portholes were real. We made the crossing on a modern research vessel with all the latest technology; still, it was a harrowing experience. I couldn’t imagine what the early explorers a century ago must have gone through. During that heroic era, it’s been said that ships were made of wood and men of steel. I couldn’t agree more.
Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest, place on earth (the coldest temperature ever recorded, negative 126.8 F, was recorded on Antarctica). Because the cold receives much of the attention, the katabatic winds are sometimes overlooked. They shouldn’t be. Routinely they gust to near hurricane strength, literally flattening everything in their path. When the katabatic winds kick in, it’s time to run for cover. And after Stage 4, that’s precisely what we did.
It’s just that a boat isn’t exactly the ideal place to seek refuge. For the past two days, there’s been lots of moaning and sounds of anguish onboard as we tossed about violently like a cork in a washing machine. All of us on the ship can run, but riding out a storm in a small vessel is a different story. Never have I been so happy to place my foot on solid ground. If they ask for my suggestion on where to hold the awards banquet in San Francisco, I’m definitely not recommending a harbor cruise.
For those of you who have followed my progress throughout the year, it’s been a tremendous ride which I am both relieved and saddened to see come to a conclusion. The 4 Deserts races have been grueling, arduous, and incredibly rewarding. If you’ve ever considered a race of this format (i.e., 250 km, six-stage, self-supported), I would say give it a try, you’ll never forget the experience. Racing the Planet (the organization which hosts the 4 Deserts events) does a superb job; I have been extremely impressed with how well these races have been coordinated in some of the most remote and exotic places on earth. As exhausted as I am after completing all four races this year, I’m already eying a couple of the new deserts they’re planning on adding in Africa and Australia. Who says all good things must come to an end?
From the airport in Tierra de Fuego, Dean Karnazes heading home.
Be well.
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