Dean Karnazes: Failure Doesn't Hold People Back, It's the Fear of Failure - R4R 243

Dean Karnazes: Failure Doesn’t Hold People Back, It’s the Fear of Failure – R4R 243

4 years ago

We’re excited to welcome Dean Karnazes who’s back for his third time on the show. In this episode we explore the hard parts of the past year and how running has served as mental medicine for Dean. He also shares about his background as a surfer and how that influenced his running, about his ethnicity as a Greek, his new book, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion.

Dean Karnazes is truly an ultramarathon athlete. Among his many feats, he’s run 50 marathons, in all 50 US states, in 50 consecutive days. He’s run across Death Valley in the middle of summer, a marathon in the South Pole, and run 24 hours straight on a treadmill in Times Square. Dean is also a father, husband, and author.

“ I think for a lot of people it’s not failure that that holds them back, it’s the fear of failure. So I’m not afraid to fail. And I’m not afraid to try new things And I’m always curious about new challenges… I mean, writing a book is every bit as challenging as an ultra marathon if not more so. It’s just as grueling. It’s just it requires the same sort of commitment and discipline.” —Dean Karnazes

Listen to the Running for Real Podcast here:

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In this episode we cover…

Dean’s new book, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion.
We learn Dean was a competitive surfer. He explains that to him surfing is very much like running in that it’s somewhat of an art form. “You know you can surf without being in competition. You can run without being in a race, so they’re very similar in that regard.”
You can love competitions but not feel the need to compete with other people running. “I think the biggest competition is myself. When I stand at the finish line, if I feel like I perform to the best of my ability, then I’m pleased with my performance. And, you know, you can’t control other people. You can’t control the environment. All you can control is yourself.”
How running during the past year has served as a medicine and been more essential for our heads than our bodies.
Surrender to whatever is going to happen. Let it happen, you’ll figure this out and find a way through. It’s very much like running an ultra.

Resources + People mentioned (links)

New book: A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

Dean’s Website

Dean’s Instagram

Dean on episode 081: Is the Fear of Pain Holding You Back?

Dean on episode 150: Running For Good

Thank you to momentous, InsideTracker, and beam for sponsoring this episode.

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Thank you to Dean, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

marathon, mental toughness, mental training, ultra running