Lunch with Dean

So I had lunch today with Dean Karnazes. Well, me and about 50 other people, but he was at the table next to me- I didn't actually speak to him personally. He came to a luncheon at Chapman that I was invited to and he was the speaker for the afternoon. For those of you who don't know who he is, Dean wrote a book called "Ultra Marathon Man," and he's an endurance runner who runs Ultra Marathons (which are marathons longer than the average 26.2 milers...they're more like 100) And he's crazy! But in a very good way. This guy's ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. He's ran for three days straight without sleeping before. He just runs. Everywhere. I guess when he finished running the last of his 50 marathons in a row which was in New York (which he did in 3 hours no prob), he had to get home (which was 1300 miles away). So he ran home.

One of my favorite things he talked about was how he eats while he's running. Often he's alone, and he always carries a cell phone and a credit card. If he's not close to any food places, he'll call and order a pizza (not sliced). He'll tell them where he'll be on the road at what time, and they'll deliver it to him. He'll then roll up the pizza and eat it the whole thing kinda like one big log. (Is it weird that I want to try this some time?)

He was telling us today how he doesn't own a car because he just runs everywhere. And to hear him talk about it today was so fun. He wasn't ever bragging or anything. He just likes to run.

I think we always think about how our lives will turn out. Dean talked about how people probably don't think he's very bright because he spends his time doing something so simple and rudimentary- running. He went on to tell us how he was valedictorian in college at Cal Poly SLO. So obviously the guy was smart and was perfectly capable of doing more with his life than running- but why? He found something he loves doing. And he does it! I hope we all find that.

I have to admire the guy. You could just tell he was doing what he loved to do. I want to read his book during my trip this summer. It's going on Mandy's Bike and Build reading list. All of you should join me and we can talk about it later. :)