For the past several months, I’ve been trying to be more consistent about the whole physical activity thing. Although I like to tell myself that it’s primarily about setting a good example for Alex and being proactive about my health and disease prevention, I do admit that it’s, at least to some degree, about how my jeans fit. I may not get my blood pressure taken everyday but I do look in a full-length mirror fairly often.
First, I was all about walking. It’s relatively easy to do, low-impact, and hey, I mastered the basics of it shortly before my first birthday. Over time, to build up my lung capacity, my endurance, and my ability to catch a five-year old making a bee-line towards the sugary cereals in the grocery store, I switched to running. I’m no IronWoman but I can do a 5K on the treadmill if I set my mind to it and I average about two and half miles per day, four to five days a week. Not setting any world records, but I’m pretty proud of it, given that I only started running this past winter.
The hardest part is staying motivated. Some days I simply feel too tired (or like today, too sick) to strap on the Nikes and get my butt in gear.
Recently, while thumbing through an issue of Wired magazine, I found an article about a man who will likely serve as my motivation for my many “tired” days to come. His name is Dean Karnazes, and he’s been called “the fittest man in the world”(Men’s Fitness), “America’s greatest runner” (Outside magazine), and “just plain crazy” by the coworker reading the story over my shoulder in my office lunchroom.
Karnazes is an ultramarathoner. What’s an ultramarathon? Well, think of it as a race for people who think of the traditional length of a marathon, 26.2 miles, as just a warm up. Ultramarathons can vary in length from 50 miles on a given day to several hundred miles over several days and can take place over rocky, unforgiving terrain and in extreme conditions. According to his web site, Karnazes has run through Death Valley in 120-degree heat, as a solo runner against teams in a 200-mile relay, and in a marathon to the South Pole. Most recently, he ran 50 marathons on 50 consecutive days - one in each of the 50 states.
Certainly impresive stuff. Especially when you consider that the guy averages only four hours of sleep per night, according to the Wired interview. But even with all that, what really inspires me about Karnazes is his work to motivate children to be more active, and to create more situations where these children can enjoy physical activities outdoors. His organization, Karno Kids, has raised money for The Conservation Fund, Girls on the Run, an organzation promotes running to middle-school aged girls in order to cultivate good self esteem, and Kids on Trails, a California-based charity that links physical activity with the exploration of important historical outdoor sites.
At a time where nearly one-quarter of school-aged children in this country are obese, Karnazes is a formidible spokesperson for active living and he’s putting his money where his mouth is in a lot of ways. You have to admire that. He certainly makes me want to spend less time on the sofa and more time seeing if I can literally go an extra mile.