Not a fan of the book or the guy. I used to like him - he's a pretty amazing athelte -- but this book just annoyed me. How many times can he tell me how many people find him so awesome that they drove/flew hundreds of miles and disrupted their entire life to spend 26.2 miles with Karno? I'll tell you how many - 50 times! If you are a veteran runner this book holds no new tips and it's really just a big book how how "great" he is. Glad I borrowed this instead of paying money for it. ( )

The majority of athletes perform their sport in obscurity. Some become famous, a select few become household names. Dean Karnazes should be a household name. He has performed some of the most incredible feats of athletic endurance any human has ever achieved. This book is a practical, humorous, and inspiring account of Dean's 50 marathons in 50 days Odyssey. Runners will no doubt love the book. And even the most sedentary of readers will admire Dean's positive message,that if a person gives it their all; they can accomplish anything. ( )

not as inspiring as his first book - the premise just isn't as open ended as his first: you know he'll end up running 50 of them.. he just dispenses running advice along the way - and his northface sponsorship gets annoying when he provides product spots... altogether not very enjoyable ( )

A delightful read. Suggestions for marathon runners are interspersed throughout the narrative as sidebars. Appendix C has a beginner's marathon training program that assumes zero previous running to a full marathon in 26 weeks. Most people recommend taking a year before considering a marathon. But after not running in 15 years Dean ran 30 miles on his 30th birthday. He is not an ordinary person. Appendix D is more typical with an 18 week program for an experienced runner to better his marathon time.

My feeling upon finishing the book was similar to his upon finishing the 50 marathons. 'Aw shucks, it's over.'

First read: December 2009
Reread: August 2013

To be able to endure 50 marathons, Dean, with his advisors decided upon a racing heart rate of 111 for the 50 marathons. What a conservative approach! With that gentle approach to his runs, Appendix E gives the results of his blood work, and it paid off. After 50 marathons, markers of stress were less than that of a typical runner after one marathon. I had a somewhat similar experience last weekend (2013.08.03) when I ran a half marathon at a conservative heart rate. I didn't feel that I had an adequate training base to race it, so I held back for the first half, and ended up with a delightful experience. Not only did I place in my age group, but set a personal record for that course!

This reading I paid especial attention to the sidebars and appendices. It is delightful how much good advice is packed into this book in those little sidebars. ( )

This was a very quick and easy read which is fairly enjoyable, but not particularly memorable or well written.
A couple of times in the book, his tone did come across slightly smug, that kind of "you only know if you're a runner" type mindset (I'm "a runner" too, by the way) which always annoys me.
But overall it was really enjoyable and in parts, pretty inspirational, particularly in how he conveyed his pure enjoyment of running and how that is probably why he is so good at it, not because he is some kind of super human or running machine. Basically, if you like running enough, you'll want to do it all of the time. And if you do it all of the time, you'll get to be really good at it. If there is anything exceptional about Dean Karnazes, it wouldn't be his body, it would be just how much he freaking loves running.
If you're already running 10k's or longer, then I think this is a fun little read to get some more tips and inspiration to take your running to the next level.
If you're just starting out then I don't think it would be so encouraging. ( )