Dean Karnazes, or the “Marathon Madman” as I like to call him, has set a pretty big goal to tackle 50 full marathons in 50 states in a time span of 50 consecutive days in the North Face Endurance 50. Yeah — whoa! The objective is to transcend preconceived human notions about endurance and to inspire people to test their own personal limits. Interested parties can sign up to run the races with Dean and receive a rather gnarly set of goods for doing it, including a limited edition Endurance 50 t-shirt, but this isn’t about goods and t-shirts.
Let’s talk about the big picture — is fifty 26.2 miles in a row just a bit much? I’m testing my personal limits by running my first marathon this October in Detroit, but the sound of this whole Endurance 50 stuff makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and hold onto my knees real tight. Guess I have no real interest in wearing down my joints in such a short amount of time, but what I’m basically trying to find out is who out there agrees? Even if Mr. Karnazes follows all the rules to ensure for a smooth recovery, is it worth it? We’re all built differently, but reading about this just makes me feel achy all over and all I gotta say is good luck!
I asked this same question over at Gadling, but I’m going to ask you here now. What do you think, marathon runners? “Go-Dean-Go! or No-Dean-No!”
Author by Adrienne Wilson
