i bought dean karnazes‘ book a while ago. not in a book store but in a running gear store. sort of like a catalog but you pay for it. he calls himself ultramarathonman. i tried to find his results but nothing is there.

takahiro sunada ran amazing 6h 13min for 100km.

dean karnazes did a bunch of publicity stunts which are mostly produced by companies that sell shoes or energy gels and stuff like that. dean karnazes is a business guy who wanted to be in politics and then he figured out this running thing is a good way to get some attention. i guess he realized that running 10km or marathon is hard, and he eventually found his niche in more extreme and less popular distances and started promoting himself there.

in my work so far i have met all kinds of people who use health, wellness and sport just to get more friends, more attention, have some tv time or even have some kind decision position. eventually they end up selling stuff like t-shirts and energy bars (stuff anyone can pretty much make without any science or engineering). in more socialist societies they end up being presidents of unions, clubs or whatnot.

there are people of true quality, those who desire the real change and who understand their own social and economic positions and constantly search for a good fit within the current systems. but people who just instinctively use an excuse to gain power just piss me off. i can not stand them. like dean karnazes.

takahiro sunada is the real ultramarathonman, not dean karnazes.

karnazes is a guy desperate for attention. it has nothing to do with knowledge or quality, just attention. he starves for attention and needs to resell it. if he has a logo on the shirt he is happy. he makes videos in which people confess that meeting him was best day of their lives. super egomaniac!

the ultimate most annoying thing for me is when guys like dean karnazes do charity. they do little, its usually branded and ends up selling more shoes or energy bars than it is about getting some real help for charity, efficiency is probably low, but they always boast so much about it. this over the top bullshit gives charity a bad name and other people who could do a great job get annoyed by it, and do not wish to be associated by it. there is probably more damage than benefit in associating charities with narcissistic egomaniacs.

he can trick people who really have no clue about stuff, but earning respect of people who know a bit more is not that easy. takes more than just marketing.

i love marketing, but i do not like when it is abused.

p.s. and why are there so many photos of karnazes half naked? wtf!