Several transcontinental (or transcon) runners have now chimed in on their thoughts about Dean Karnazes' attempt to run 3000 miles across the country this spring. When thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, we had a saying for that kind of talk, "You hike your own hike." Anyone who has put one foot in front of the other and gone from sea to sea has endured their own limits, regardless of their support or lack thereof. Witnessing any attempt like this is always of interest to me, so when I saw that Dean was coming through Phoenix this past Sunday, I had to check it out.
His crew set up a 5k fun run at Tempe Town Lake, the second in a 12 part series across the country to raise awareness for Dean's cause. I'm not sure what I was expecting really. A big bus, to be sure. A few crew members and a banner tied to a railing somewhere. Boy, was I off. Two identical tour buses, two pickup trucks, a minivan, a few mountain bikes, two pacers who run and bike with Dean, and a personal physician. In the unseasonably warm days Dean ran through to get to Phoenix, his crew had him taking up to six ice baths per day to keep cool. It may sound posh, especially compared to my own solo trip with a ten pound hip pack and almost twice the mileage on trails. But my impression of the day wasn't filled with resentment as can be tempting when someone else yells Bingo and you already had a row.
I really feel for the guy. He's got events lined up all across the country with paid participants. A network is counting on him to maintain a schedule and arrive on time, not get sick, injured, burnt out, or excessively needed at home. His sponsors want to make sure their products and names are getting their money's worth. It really looks like a difficult combination of an X-Games commercial for a cooking show about rice. There's lots of hype. There's support from the public. There's a willingness from corporations to see what their return will be. And amidst all that, at the center of that excitement, there's a guy jogging 6 miles per hour trying to cover 40 or so miles each day. The excitement would be fun. I'll admit that but I don't envy the pressure. Nor the schedule. He's able to spend about as much time taking in his surroundings as a 10 year old spends reading birthday cards. That's not his fault. To make the whole thing fit into a 75-day commercial, he has to keep going.To put some perspective on this, he covered almost exactly the same distance from Anaheim to Phoenix in one-third the time as I did from Reno to San Francisco. Granted, I was running trails over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and wearing all my gear but I could also slow down and take a light day if my body needed it. That is a luxury even the well-equipped Dean doesn't have. I return to my A.T. phrase, "You hike your own hike," and there's no doubt that Team Dean is certainly doing his trip in his own way. It's big, it's loud, and it's getting loads of attention.
And for that I'm happy for him.
