Full Name: Dean Karnazes
Hometown: San Francisco, USA
Dean Karnazes was an average beer-guzzling Joe, stuck in a job he hated and sick of the rat race. Then, while celebrating his 30th birthday at a bar, he suddenly decided to walk out the door and go for a 30-mile run. That moment changed his life forever.
As an ultramarathon runner, Dean runs distances far beyond a normal marathon and often in grueling environments--including 146 miles in the 120-degree heat of Death Valley and the 40--below temperatures of the South Pole.
In 2005, Dean ran nonstop for over 80 hours and 44 minutes, and in 2006 he ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. Then, after he’d finished that, he ran the 1,300 miles back to the start.
Dean's life-changing story and incredible endurance have inspired thousands to get off the sofa and hit the open road. He has also been voted one the "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World" by TIME magazine.
Dean's ability to just keep on running defies human biology. Daniel Browning Smith joins him on a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk run through Marin County to find out how Dean's body is able to endure levels of exhaustion and fatigue that would defeat an ordinary person