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Mark: What about the phenomenon of bonking during these distance runs? Have you ever just hit the wall energy-wise?

Dean: Sure. In a long race it typically happens multiple times.

Mark: Really, you can recover from this during the race?

Dean: Yes. When you bonk it requires some period of recovery. You might just walk for 5 or 10 minutes, or you might have to sit down for half an hour. A lot of people in these races will lie down and sleep for 15 minutes.

Mark: So you don't get too alarmed when you see someone passed out along the trail. He's not dead; he's sleeping.

Dean: The longest I've ever run in one stretch was 200 miles—the Napa to Santa Cruz race—which took about 49 hours. The biggest danger I noticed after being up for two nights without sleep was the danger of tripping and falling. You could make a fatal move. On the second night without any sleep I was just shuffling along. Like a zombie.

Mark: After one of those races do you just go to bed for 24 hours and sleep?

Dean: Strangely enough, you can't sleep. You are so wound up. After that race I went windsurfing. The cold water felt really good. It takes me a week before my normal sleep rhythms are back in place.

Mark: Have you ever had any medical fitness studies done on you?

Dean: Oh ya, I used to work in a research lab and I would have baseline studies done before and after a run.

Mark: What did you learn from that?

Dean: I learned that you turn over a lot of muscle tissue. Your blood chemistry has the profile of someone who has had a massive coronary. If you showed a medical doctor the results of your blood test and they didn't know who you were, they would diagnose you as a person who has had a heart attack.

Mark: That's grim!

Dean: It is for a different reason, but you're burning and turning over so much muscle tissue.

Mark: So after a race do you become ravenous and eat several horses and uncooked chickens?

Dean: Yes. I have a very high protein diet and my blood chemistry stabilizes after a couple of days. After a race I eat a lot of chicken, fish, roast beef, yogurt, salty foods—you want the salt because you can throw your electrolyte balance out of whack, so you crave sodium and potassium.

Mark:What kind of quantities of food are you eating?

Dean: On the Badwater race through Death Valley, which is 146 miles, I ate 12 pounds of food and drank nine gallons of water.

Mark: What temperatures were you running in Death Valley?

Dean: It got up to 126 degrees Fahrenheit. We started at six in the morning and ran through the middle of Death Valley. It was nauseating. You run on the white line on the side of the road because it is so hot, your shoes will melt. I wore a white UV suit. I looked like Lawrence of Arabia.

Mark: Your body temperature must be elevating to dangerous levels?

Dean: You really have to watch your temperature. I didn't put a thermometer in my mouth, but you know when your core temperature is being elevated. You try to stay wet the whole time. You spray yourself down with a plant mister. Constantly while you are running, in one hand you have a water bottle and you're drinking; in the other you've got a plant mister.

Mark: If your body temperature gets too high, what happens?

Dean: The minimum that can happen is you bonk. Worse, you can pass out. If you get too hot, you can go into a coma. I've seen people get pretty close to coma. In the Badwater race there is a doctor who drives along with an ice bath in a trailer. It is like a Jacuzzi of ice water. If someone gets bad enough, they immerse them in the ice bath.

Mark: That could induce a good heart attack!

Dean: Ya. But it's the fastest way to cool someone off.

Mark: What sort of shoes do you run in?

Dean: I run in North Face shoes. Currently I run in a model called the Ultra 100.

Mark: Did you help design these shoes?

Dean: Yes. I wanted to design a shoe that had the ability to hold up for long distances on a trail and in mixed terrain. We came up with a sophisticated tread design for maximum traction in varied terrain. It had to have comfort, stability and cushioning. One of the unique things about the Ultra 100 is it has a carbon plate in the middle. Because if you don't have a rigid plate under the sole and you step on a pointed rock, the impact will translate right into your sole. The carbon plate disperses the load. With this shoe, you can run over boulders or pebbles and it will feel the same.

Mark: Does it have sticky rubber on the sole?

Dean: It has a combination of rubbers. It is a little less sticky than another The North Face shoe called the Sawtooth Ridge, which is a scrambling shoe that Alex Lowe helped design and is made for a mixed terrain. That one is half running shoe, half climbing shoe. The tricky part of designing a shoe for long distance mountain runs is to find the right balance between sticky and hard rubber. Sure you need stickiness for all the granite on the John Muir trail, but if the rubber is too soft it will wear out.

Mark: You must own hundreds of pairs of shoes. What's a conservative estimate as to how many pairs?

Dean: I've been running since I was a kid, so I would say the total number of shoes I've owned is about 2,500 pairs.

Mark: Wow! That beats Imelda Marcos.

Dean: At any one time I have about 20 different pairs of shoes, which I alternate for different training and racing needs.

Mark: So what is your next big event?

Dean: In June I will be running the Western States 100. Then I'll do the Badwater again. In August I'll do the Outdoor World Championships. The North Face is the title sponsor of the Western States 100.

Mark: What do you think of nutritional supplements for training?

Dean: I don't take any. I've tried some and I don't think anything helped me much. I think it is true that you pass most of it through your system very quickly. I think it is just one more cost to training that could be avoided. There are no short cuts in running. You have to train. You can't cut corners by taking a pill to make you fitter.

Mark:What a pity. I was hoping you could help me get fitter with a nice secret pill.

Dean: Sorry.

Mark: Well good luck in all those events and I'll see you on the trail—NOT!

Career Highlights

* Winner, Badwater Ultramarathon: The World's Toughest Footrace, 2004

* Winner, Arabian Stallion Award, Angel's Crest 100-Mile Endurance Run, 2003

* Winner, Outdoor World Championships, 2000

* Nine-time Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run Silver Buckle Winner

* Ran 262 miles nonstop

* Six-time winner of the Saturn Relay ultra division (199 miles nonstop, solo)

* First and only person to run a marathon to the South Pole in running shoes

* Competed in over 100 extreme endurance events around the globe

* Member of the American Ultrarunning Team representing the USA at the upcoming 2004 World Championships

* Specialties: running, mountain biking, surfing, snowboarding, windsurfing, triathlon, adventure racing

Films & Media Highlights

* OLN: "Ultimate Top 10 Outdoor Athletes"

* PBS: "A Race for the Soul"

* NBC: Channel 5 Evening Magazine feature, "Team Dean"

* ESPN: "Outdoor World Championships"

* Outside magazine cover, Jan. 2004

* Trail Runner cover, Mar. 2004

* Runners World

* Alaska magazine

* Windsurfing magazine

* National Geographic

* Men's Journal

* City Sports magazine

* Sports Illustrated

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