Ultra-Marathon Man

A rather dull, wet, wet day. Home studying for the kids in the morning so I drew this portrait of one of my heroes, the ultra-marathon runner Dean Karnazes. While Valerie was at her track and field club this afternoon, I took Arthur to the Water Science Museum in Kobe. That was fun. I took a few photos there but they were rather abstract and uninspiring (my fault for trying to be arty), so I'm using the photo I took of my portrait.

This list of Karnazes' achievements (thank you, Wikipedia) should give you some idea of why I admire this man so much.

Ran 350 miles (560 km) in 80 hours and 44 minutes without sleep in 2005.

Single-handedly completed "The Relay", a 199-mile (320 km) run from Calistoga to Santa Cruz, eleven times.

Ran a marathon to the South Pole in ?13 °F (?25 °C) temperatures without snowshoes in 2002.

Ran 50 marathons in all 50 states in 50 consecutive days in 2006.

Other athletic achievements include:

Winner, Badwater Ultramarathon (135 miles (217 km) across Death Valley in 120 °F (49 °C) temperatures), 2004 (with five other top-10 finishes from 2000-2008.)

Winner, Vermont Trail 100 Mile Endurance Run, 2006.

Overall Winner, 4 Deserts Race Series, 2008.

American Ultrarunning Team, World Championships, 2005, 2008.

148 miles (238 km) in 24 hours on a treadmill, 2004.

Eleven-time 100-Mile/1 Day Silver Buckleholder at the Western States Endurance Run[12] (i.e., better than ten twenty-four-hour finishes), 1995-2006.

Ran 3,000 miles (4,800 km) across the United States from Disneyland to New York City in 75 days, running 40 to 50 miles per day, 2011.

Swimming across the San Francisco Bay.