Talk:Dean Karnazes

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[edit] Controversy

This article seems more like an attack on Dean Karnazes than an encyclopedia article. How can anything to do with ultramarathons be considering "not athletically significant"?

He's also not generally considered controversial, although some people do resent his "marketing style" and believe he is commercializing ultrarunning.

Keep running.

Jgw 23:06, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Karnazes is controversial, as the revert history of this article demonstrates. It would be good to hash out the differences between the two points of view here and come up with some truly neutral language. Sanguinity 20:34, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
    • Given the number of times I've reverted Cockroach we could consider that controversial too.  :) Put the changes you would like to see here, if we reach consensus, they'll stick in the main article. Wikibofh(talk) 03:35, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I don't know how to edit wikipedia articles, but I couldn't believe this article didn't talk about what can politely be called his "overzealous marketing". He takes advantage of the public's lack of knowledge of the sport and portrays himself as one of the elite participants in it so that he can make a buck off of the publicity. It is sickening that he receives so much publicity for such modest accomplishments, but his ability to manipulate the media is certainly his most important attribute. At the very least, there ought to be a "controversy" section on him in the main article. We can start with how far he is from the best times of today's top ultramarathoners, and also mention how others have run 50 states in 50 days before him.131.243.163.213 03:52, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

I deleted a bit that says, "this appears to be a world record," because it isn't a world record, it's an unsubstantiated claim.131.243.163.213 03:58, 8 May 2007 (UTC)


User 131.243.163.213's resentment and harsh judgment of Karnazes is unreasonable.

Karnazes is an exceptional athlete, as are all ultramarathoners. All ultramarathoners, however, are not exceptionally interesting people. Karnazes is exceptionally interesting, if not exceptionally handsome. His self-promotion is not unethical or wrong -- I find him inspiring and well-intentioned.

Further, the fact that he does not post the best times of today's top ultramarathoners makes him more appealing to the "everyman" or "everywoman" who may want to try to break into the ultra race scene or just get off their duffs and run a mile.

Much of Karnazes's own writing speaks to and encourages the common athlete and I respect that.

Finally, I laughed out loud when I saw that someone referred to Karnazes' accomplishments as "modest." That's gonzo !!!!!

Anthurium9 14:16, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Accomplishments

There's no point in including "run 146 miles across Death Valley in the middle of summer to the top of Mt. Whitney." That's little more than a description of the Badwater Ultra (which he is already listed as having won outright in 2004), and there are enough Badwater participants who have continued to the summit that it's not a distinctive accomplishment. Sanguinity 20:34, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

"Karnazes won the one-mile California State Long-Distance Championship" --- how is a one-mile race "Long-Distance"?216.49.77.67 (talk) 06:53, 21 March 2008 (UTC)blab

[edit] More bio + Forrest Gump

The bio is missing! How he began, etc. Check out this for instance: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/ultraman.html

Also, in the movie Forrest Gump, the protagonist started running all of a sudden.. does anybody know if this is based on Karnazes? --cslarsen 07:26, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Good point, I have his book and will add one. --Sadi Carnot 02:51, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
The bio is wildly POV, and better fits an inspirational magazine article than an encyclopedia. He ran as a child; he quit running in high school after a dispute with his coach; fifteen years later he started running again to deal with the death of his sister; he describes the decision to start running again as akin to a religious conversion. Perhaps a few supporting details for each item. I don't see justification for including much more than that. Sanguinity 07:53, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
Having a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dean_Karnazes&oldid=103857772 with lines like "...bar near his home in San Francisco being hit on by some attractive woman, who was not his wife. The company he was working for had just bought him a new Lexus." Is it really acceptable to being copying articles out of Wired verbatim? Whilst the information might be helpful towards the article, verbatim, POV text I would assume, not desired.
Can someone verify the accuracy of the statement : "He began to sober up about 15 miles later in Daly City at which point he realized that he hadn’t had this much fun in a long time and it brought a smile to his face. After 30 miles of running he was near Santa Cruz where he came to the realization that there were untapped reservoirs within him." The shortest pedestrian friendly route from Daly City to Santa Cruz is 76 miles. You telling me that this guy is not only an endurance runner, but able to bend time and space, as well? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cornloaf (talk • contribs) 10:02, 16 April 2007 (UTC).

I'm curious if anyone has his stats - height,weight,body fat%, resting heart rate, etc