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Dean Karnazes, the Ultramarathon Man, runs in the footsteps of Forrest Gump

Posted November 16th, 2006 at 4:00 PM by Jenna Sumara

Section: News & Results, Marathons

How do you go through 5 pairs of shoes, 18 pairs of socks and 3 toenails? Well, if you’re Dean Karnazes (aka: the Ultramarathon Man) you do it by running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. Karnazes has not only completed the feat, titled the Endurance 50, but is now also doing his best Forrest Gump impression; deciding to run home to San Francisco from New York City. Runnnn Deannnn, Runnnn!
forrest gump running beard.jpg
Karnazes, beleive it or not, is not the first person to pull off the 50 marathons in 50 days challenge. Although clearly uncommon, others (such as Sam Thompson) have done it as recently as a few months ago. However, no one has even come close to attaining the level of publicity and fanfare that Karnazes enjoyed over his 50 days. The Endurance 50 and Karnazes made countless headlines and received lucrative corporate sponsorships from Toyota, Northface and Runner’s World. These sponsorships helped him to raise more than $100,000 for Karno Kids; a foundation to benefit youth fitness programs that was founded by Karnezes.

After his first marathon, Karnezes stated the following about his philanthropy:

Karno Kids had an incredible show of generosity from race participants and spectators alike. From today’s run alone, over twenty-five kids can now enroll on scholarship to after-school running programs! If we keep up at this rate, we’ll have this country back in shape in no time.

Beginning his 50 day stint on September 17, 2006 at the Lewis and Clark Marathon in Missouri, Karnazes ran his first live marathon in a time of 3:50:52. Endurance 50 Dean karnazes Northface Since there weren’t 50 marathons scheduled for 50 consecutive days, Karnazes would essentially run mock marathons by following the course of each state’s major marathon; complete with people cheering him on from office buildings and along the course. He was joined by fans and other running enthusiasts who would come out and run along side of him to help Karnazes wrote on his blog:

The Endurance 50 is about inclusion and getting people out and participating, it’s about raising awareness about the importance of physical activity, so we’ll get everyone through it, regardless if it takes us all day to do so.

Karnazes ended his Endurance 50 on Sunday, November 5, 2006 at the ING New York City Marathon and left it all out on the course; posting his fastest time (3:00:30) of the 50 marathons. Karnazes even ran fast enough to finish just behind Lance Armstrong (2:59:36). Karnazes said he really thrived off of the support from the NYC crowd:

I definitely got a lot of energy from everyone cheering along the course and from other runners, I was talking to people for all 26.2 miles.

So, Karnanzes, you just ran over 1,300 miles, what are you going to do now? Well when he woke up on the 51st day and didn’t run a marathon, he just “didn’t feel very good” - He wanted to keep running. So on the morning of November 8th, he walked out of his NYC hotel, began running west and like Forrest Gump, he “just kept runnin.”

As of this morning, Karnanzes was in West Virginia. You can track his daily progress with the “Where’s Dean” Tracker and maybe, if you’re feeling the slightest bit adventurous, you can join him along the way, he welcomes the support.

Further reading: [Karno Kids], [Endurance 50], [

Sources: [Marathon Guide], [Trail Running Blog], [Dean’s Blog]

Picture from: [Endurance 50]