Have you tried pulling an all-nighter recently? It hurts. A once-common event in college – thanks to studying or partying or midnight hikes that turned into sunrise missions – becomes increasingly debilitating the older you get. It’s like your first run after some time off: You might feel okay doing it, but you’ll pay the next day.
Unless you’re the genetically blessed aberration that is Dean Karnazes, 53, one of the most well known runners of our time.
In 1992, after taking a 15-year break from running, it wasn’t enough for Karnazes’ first run to be 30 miles. Winning the infamous, 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon across Death Valley in 120-degree heat didn’t cut it. Nor did pushing the opposite end of spectrum of human suffering by running a marathon to the South Pole, at -13-degrees F.
Nope. He had to combine two of life’s hardest activities: running and losing sleep.
“There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness; many a runner has crossed it.” – Dean Karnazes
From October 12-15, 2005, Karnazes ran 350 miles across Northern California without stopping. He didn’t stop to sleep or to eat, or – in the most stupefying accomplishment of all – he did not even slow down to sample a Sonoma Valley chilled chardonnay. All told, he ran for 80 hours, 44 minutes without a break. He covered ground – from San Francisco to Bodega Bay to Stanford University, in Palo Alto – that many of us would plan for a weeklong road trip in a car.
The outing, which cost him a few toenails, included 40,000 calories of intake over the 3.3(ish) days, required shoe changes every 50 miles or so to accommodate his ever-swelling feet, and wasn’t originally supposed to be quite so long. After winning the Badwater in 2004, Karnazes set the goal to be the first runner to go 300 miles without stopping. Because, why not?
His arch nemesis, Pam Reed, beat him to the punch earlier in 2005 by running 300 miles in 79 hours, 59 minutes. Kidding! Oh, she ran 300 miles nonstop, but there’s no documented rivalry between Reed and Karnazes. Still, the bonds of peace-loving, genetically-mutated ultra-marathoners may be challenged when there’s a record on the line. So Karnazes tossed another 50 miles onto his goal like he was chucking another crouton on a salad: ain’t no big thang.
Despite some serious weaving and hallucinating kicking in around mile 300, Karnazes wrapped 80 hours, 44 minutes, and 350 miles of running with a nap.
The next year, in 2006, Karnazes took it easy and re-introduced sleeping into his regime. For 50 straight nights he actually slept (or we’re assuming he did), in between his daytime hours when he clocked 50, three-hour (plus or minus) marathons in 50 days.
Depending on how you look at it, the record for the longest amount of time running without stopping was set by a Kiwi woman, named Kim Allan, in 2013. And because she did it by running 332 times around the same park in Aukland, she earned an unofficial record for tenacity in our book. In covering 310 miles, Allan didn’t quite hit Karnazes’ mileage, but she did best his time spent running by a few hours. She did not stop to eat, sleep, or do anything other than trot for 86 hours, 11 minutes.
Because, once again, why not?
Photos by Ultramarathonman.com
Yeah, that’s crazy; three days? A fine line between hobby and mental illness pretty much sums it up. Amazing feat, though.
You mean “amazing feet”, shirley?
I’ve gone about a week without sleep and that on its own is a nightmare. I cant imagine the pain they must have gone through.
Honestly, that’s a sensational story. There have been ultrarunners in multiday races for years who have somewhat sleep-ran on their journeys. Long before the world heard of Dean there was a race from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia – a distance of just over 1000 kilometers. The clock ran continuously and the fastest time was actually recorded outside of the race one year by Yiannis Kouros in a staggering 5.5 days. There have been 72 hour races, and 6 day races with bonafide multi-day ultrarunning greats, among them JG Boussiquet, Yiannis Kouros, Wolfgang Schwerk, et al – and Dean hadn’t raced any of them. While it’s certainly possible he went 80 hours without sleep, who’s to know what counts as sleep/ doze/ slumber? Was someone there to verify it? Is there a point to running that long without sleep altogether? It’s possible that he ran that long w/o sleep. It’s also possible that Kouros did, but no one who follows ultrarunning cares, b/c it’s a borderline meaningless statstic. Running for up to 6 days (Kouros raced as far as the 1000 mi in just under 10.5 days) has a rich history dating back close to 150 years and there are real benchmarks of greatness, not arbitrary, sensational, impossible-to-verify claims.
How about Marshall Ulrich? Badwater quad! Raised over $1 million for charity.
That’s amazing! I have a hard time running 30 miles, much less 300!
It would be a remarkable feat IF it was what it is advertised as. This is as are most other claims to nonstop running or walking tied together with the same misleading information. Look at the following quote I took from this article.
“Karnazes ran 350 miles across Northern California without stopping. He didn’t stop to sleep or to eat … All told, he ran for 80 hours, 44 minutes without a break”.
” The outing, which cost him a few toenails, required shoe changes every 50 miles or so to accommodate his ever-swelling feet,”
The problem this quote causes me is that IF this was a “nonstop” run (????) how was he able to change his shoes every so often? He would have to stop to change footwear and as soon as he does that the run or walk no matter how much distance he covers is NO LONGER a nonstop endeavor.
Don’t get me wrong. I still consider covering that distance in such a short time as truly remarkable but it is NOT NONSTOP.
Yeah unless he ran out of his shoes and hopped back into some new ones his buddy tossed to him 7x.
Honestly this is amazing! If you have time sit here and leave a negative comment you need to get a life. I’m just getting into trail running and the struggle is real.
What’s wrong with pointing out facts? I like running but facts are facts.
Why is it so hard to get an answer?
Non-stop run. No stopping whatsoever. Not for anything. Constant, uninterrupted running. No changing shoes, potty breaks, or any disqualifying activity. Non-stop. Absolute and without discussion.
Can anyone offer a beginning point? Then eventually, perhaps, we can discover what distance a person has truly run without ANY stop. And for how many hours has a person run without ANY stop.
Please.
If that accomplishment wasn’t good enough for the couch potato critic, how about having the person run 300 miles personally. Maybe then you would stop judging the accomplishments of others. By the way, non-stop means continuously moving: at last check the Earth is constantly in motion, therefore no one has ever been still on Earth according to scientists. Now cut those hairs couch potato!
I suppose diaper changes could be done on the run.
Al Howie ran 580 kilometers, 20 kilometers farther than Dean, back in 1987. It was well documented and in accordance with Guinness standards. He did it on a 400-meter track and was studied by the University of Victoria.