A Runner's High

March 1, 2021
Karnazes is the New York Times best-selling author of Ultramarathon Man (2005) who, in 2006, was named one of Time magazine's "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World." His marathon r�sum� includes winning the Badwater Ultramarathon (across Death Valley) and running a marathon at the South Pole. He also ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. In this engaging memoir, he recounts his running adventures, including attempting the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run at age 55, feeling like "an aging fighter getting back in the ring." Can he still conquer this grueling challenge, which he ran earlier in his career? A gifted storyteller, he captures the jubilant highs and soul-crushing lows in this chapter of his running life as well as offering a tender tribute to the evolving bonds he shares with both his father and his son. Of particular note is a fascinating chapter, "Silk Road Ultra," about his 326-mile, multiday run through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Runners are sure to be captivated by this account of an unconventional endurance athlete who tenaciously challenges physical and mental boundaries.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2021
In his latest running memoir, Karnazes reckons with age. Since his debut, Ultramarathon Man (2006), the author has done as much as anyone to bring ultrarunning to the mainstream, extolling the virtues of the sport as he recounts his astonishing feats of endurance. In this book, Karnazes demonstrates his outsize influence; seemingly every few pages, another runner approaches him (often midrace) to show their appreciation. If this setup sounds boastful, be assured that the author has a knack for self-deprecation that he deploys smartly in these scenes. Such humility seems easier for Karnazes to achieve than it has been before, and this book finds him at a kind of nadir in his career. He's in his late 50s, out of shape (relatively speaking), and running a 100K ultra in an attempt to fitness-cram before another extremely difficult race he hopes to run. The narrative is less the story of another Karnazes triumph than a tale of reckoning with an inevitability faced by all athletes: decline. Lying on the ground after a fall, he reflects, "my younger self could waltz through a 100K, but now such contests invariably digressed into Homeric slugfests. Maybe I didn't belong out here anymore; maybe it was time to quit. I continued staring at the sky, contemplating my reason for being." The tinge of self-pity reads as appropriate to the circumstance, and the author's openness to introspection gives this book more depth than some of his others. He won't be mistaken for a belletrist, but the text's more lyrical sections are appropriate to the moment. As ever, Karnazes is at his best telling the simple truths of running: "To me, running is a grand adventure, an intrepid outward exploration of the landscape and a revealing inward journey of the self." A book that will inspire athletes of all stripes, whatever their aches and pains, to hit the ground running.

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