The man that can run forever

Zaggytiddies
Zaggytiddies Posts: 326 Member
edited November 10 in Fitness and Exercise
I found this on cracked.com


Dean Karnazes is an American long-distance runner capable of inhuman feats of endurance, such running 50 marathons in each of the 50 states ... in 50 consecutive days. Which he totally goddamned did. He's run a marathon on every continent twice over and run 350 miles nonstop over three sleepless nights.

Back in 2007, Dean attempted to run from New York City to San Francisco, but had to stop in St. Louis, ravaged by disappointment. That is to say, this man has such a level of endurance that running 1,000 miles is disappointing to him. Karnazes has such an impressive list of achievements that when Time magazine listed him as one of their 100 most influential people of 2007, stopping his cross-continental run short was pretty much the only negative thing they could come up with. Then Karnazes completed the very same run in 2010 in 75 days and shut Time right the hell up.

Somehow he's managed to stop running long enough to write three books. That, or he hangs a typewriter from his neck and smacks the keys with his chin midstride.

So What's Going on Here?

Everything about Karnazes' body makes him a finely tuned running machine. A medical study was performed on him after he completed his 50-state marathonapalooza. First, they measured his CPK number, which shows the amount of damage your muscles sustain from exercise. So for instance, a normal runner's CPK would be through the roof after a marathon -- around 2,400. Karnazes' was found to be at 447 ... after 25 consecutive marathons.

The study found that his muscles not only damage much less with exercise than the normal person's, they actually get used to continuous exercise and stop being damaged altogether, sort of like if Wolverine were a perpetual motion machine.

The study also found that he has more blood in his circulatory system than the average person, which allows him to stay more hydrated for longer and may or may not indicate that he is a day-walking (day-running?) vampire. But finally (and most impressively), they concluded that as long as he can keep himself properly hydrated and fed, he could potentially run at a seven- to 10-minute-mile pace forever.

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