One step at a time

Ultramarathon runner Dean Karnazes gave up a comfortable corporate marketing job to pursue his passion. His journey has taken him all over the world: He’s raced on all seven continents, at least twice. This Costco member now shares the habits that have kept him ultra-active—and ultra-healthy.

On a recent sunny afternoon, Dean Karnazes powers up a trail on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California.

This is—literally—a walk in the park for the 59-year-old Costco member, a renowned runner of ultramarathons, races that can stretch 50 to 100 miles or longer and take anywhere from several hours to several days to complete—with the runners resting at the end of each day.

Some longer marathons allow runners to bring along a crew for moral and practical support. While most traditional marathons are run on roads, ultramarathons are run over challenging terrain, such as mountains, forests and deserts.

Karnazes took on his first long one, the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run on California’s Sierra Nevada trails, in 1994. Twenty-eight years later, he’s still going. In the first part of this year, he was set to cover 321.8 miles in 63 days at seven events, traveling as far as Patagonia, Argentina, for a 100-miler.

Karnazes once said that running an ultramarathon is easy—all you have to do is not stop. He hasn’t yet: “I still love it,” he says.

Amazing accomplishments

Karnazes, who is married, with two adult children, says he’s probably logged more than 100,000 lifetime miles—or about four times around the Earth. He won the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon in California’s Death Valley in 2004. He ran 350 continuous miles in just over 80 hours in 2005, and, a year later, conquered 50 marathons, in all 50 U.S. states, in 50 consecutive days. Those types of achievements put him on the list of Time magazine’s top 100 most influential people in the world in 2006. Men’s Fitness magazine hailed him as one of the fittest men on the planet. Karnazes has claimed an ESPN ESPY award, twice carried the Olympic torch, earned the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition Lifetime Achievement Award and helped raise millions of dollars for charity. His image has appeared on a cereal box (Nature’s Path) and his words were printed on a Starbucks cup: “Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.”

For all he’s accomplished, Karnazes says his focus is on moving forward. “I don’t think about [past accomplishments] too much,” he says. “It seems like it’s in the past. It was done, it was great, but I never stop exploring.”

Good habits, a dogged attitude and the spirit of his ancestors have helped keep him going, Karnazes says, adding that despite being closer to 60 than 50, he feels 35.

The epiphany

Born in 1962 in Los Angeles to Nick and Fran Karnazes, Dean ran track, but stopped after his freshman year in high school when his team won the league title. “I decided that was as far as my running career could take me, so I quit,” he says.

His obsession was suddenly renewed the night of his 30th birthday, when one too many tequila shots inspired him to strip off his pants and run 30 miles in his boxer shorts.

Here was a corporate businessman, jogging tipsy from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay, California, on a whim. An epiphany followed. “I had a great job for a great company, and I was miserable,” he says. “I didn’t like being a business guy. It didn’t fit me.”

Karnazes’ life trajectory took a 180-degree turn. The marketing executive at a pharmaceutical company began juggling his athletic passion and his professional existence, carving out time to run before, during and after work. By the early 2000s, his hobby had transformed into a business. Karnazes became a New York Times bestselling author whose works include A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion (HarperOne, 2021; not available at Costco) and Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner (TarcherPerigee, 2005; not available at Costco), which is now being made into a film (for which Karnazes wrote the script). His writings, sponsorships, speaking appearances and investments help pay the bills.

Living fit

Home is a place of peace for Karnazes, who can see Mount Tamalpais from his house in the hills of Marin County, along with a stunning panoramic view that extends as far as downtown San Francisco.

Once he rises out of bed, Karnazes literally does not sit down. “All day I am bouncing up and down on my toes,” he says. “It makes me feel so much more energetic than when I used to sit.”

When Karnazes feels his creativity is wavering, he knocks out one of his four or five daily high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts in his yard.

A daily run is mandatory. The longest he’s gone without a jog in 30 years is three days, when he had the flu 10 years ago.

Once known for ordering pizza while out running in the middle of the night, Karnazes now abides by a strict diet. He says that in his 30s he started losing energy and feeling listless. “I’d eat sugar and then just crash,” he says. “I told myself that I have to change this.”

He began carefully selecting items to add to his diet, noting how they made him feel [See “Food is fuel”.] “If I feel energetic and full of life, I’ll keep that food,” says Karnazes, who grows herbs in his backyard garden.

Celebrities—including Bill Clinton and Howard Stern—have picked Karnazes’ brain about his diet habits. His go-to protein is wild-caught fish, especially salmon. He also consumes plenty of fruits and vegetables, Greek olive oil and nuts.

Greek history

Tradition runs deep in Greece, where Karnazes’ grandparents lived before immigrating to the United States. The Greek messenger Pheidippides’ perseverance is legendary, and it surely exists in Karnazes too. He embraces his roots, following the ancient Greek concept of arete, which Karnazes describes as the alignment of the mind, body and spirit. Psychology is key in his world. Rather than overthinking, Karnazes focuses on the present and on executing. When his body wavers, his mind and spirit take over.

“I think that a runner embraces pain,” Karnazes says. “We know pain is part of being alive. When I set out to run 100 miles, I know it’ll hurt. Delve into it. Embrace it. Celebrate the full emotional range of being a human.”

One might say he is wired for distance running, but the decision to take the next step in an ultramarathon isn’t left to the Greek gods. Karnazes says that’s willpower, something we can all master. “To look at me and say I have superhuman qualities is a mistake,” he says. “Look at me and say, ‘Hey, there is a guy who is true to his word, does what he says he’s going to do and it works for him.’ There is no magic potion. It’s a simple recipe.”

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Food is fuel

Karnazes sticks with a mostly Mediterranean diet. Departing from his diet isn’t an option for the runner, who says he has no desire for nutrient-poor ingredients. “If you can’t pick it from a tree, dig it from the earth or catch it with your hands or a hook, I don’t eat it,” Karnazes says. Here are some healthy-eating suggestions from him:

Establish an eating schedule. Find a window of time in which to eat, and build a schedule that allows you to reach your daily caloric goals.

Go Mediterranean. Karnazes leans heavily on mostly fish, including sardines, plus some lean meats and plant-based proteins, olive oil and olives, avocados, nuts and nut butters, apples, pears, oranges, seeds and herbs.

Find what works. Experiment with food and find more healthy options that you can stick with.

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Mindset

Here are some of Dean Karnazes’ favorite motivational messages:

• Listen to everyone and follow no one.
• Perseverance is more important than speed.
• You’re better than you think you are.
• There is magic in misery.
• Transcend the ordinary.
• Comfort does not equal happiness.
• We’re engineered for motion. Don’t deprive yourself of that.

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Be athletic daily

Here are tips from Dean Karnazes to keep active:

Keep moving. Take the stairs. Invest in a standing desk. Hold meetings outside. During work, walk and talk with co-workers.

Get up during commercials. Stand up during TV ads and take breaks from other screens. Do micro workouts, even if it’s just a handful of deep knee bends or jumping lunges.

Stay hydrated. Dehydration causes sluggishness and can lead to serious health issues.

Pace yourself. If you’re just starting, try one minute of running. Increase the length and speed of a run at a comfortable rate.

Quantify data. Smartwatches help to track your vitals and performance.

Get lost. Walk or run a new route, try a new athletic challenge or sign up for a group event (like a workout class or even a half marathon). Be bold, live strong and never stop learning.