Saturday, February 26, 2011

I Ran with Dean Karnazes!!

This morning I had the honor to run with Dean Karnazes.
The weather has been horrible here, pouring rain since last night and all through the night.
I slept really bad.  I kept thinking "You are crazy, you will get up at 5:30 am to go run in this crappy weather!"  I got up, got dressed and went to the run by myself.  It was still raining pretty hard when I left so I decided to leave the boys at home.  When I got to Riverside by some miracle the rain stopped!
I was so happy that I had decided to come regardless of the bad weather.
Got there at 7 am.  This was at a high school.  All the kids from the cross country team were there and some other folks like me.  Not a huge crowd.  I think the rain scared the weaker ones away!!   I got my bib and I decided to wait outside to get a chance to see him when he arrived.  I had charged my camera last night, both batteries and right there camera decided to stop working! NOOOOOO!!!!! I ran to my car to get the other battery and came back just in time to see him arrive!  In yellow,  that is Dean when he got to the school.



He went inside in the gym to talk to the people that came for the run.  Picture is not very good but here he is with the school principal.

After that we headed out for the run.  I went out and waited for him to show up.  Yes I was in stalker mode.  He came to talk to me right there.  "Hi I am Dean! Thanks for coming, how are you?" really nice guy, was saying hello to everyone.  He is much smaller then I thought.


Dean's coach with the hat and glasses


I made my way close to the front for the start.  I was pretty close to him so I thought my chances would be good to run close to him for a few minutes.
This is before the start, he told everyone that the only rule is :"DON'T PASS ME!"
I did not know why someone would want to pass him and miss the chance to exchange a few words, but some did take off like it was a real race!  Their loss and my gain!



"DON'T PASS ME!!"
 We took off, he was not going fast, about 9:20/mile.  I did not know this but the run was actually on a trail.  Hello MUD!  I had decided to go with my GOOD shoes because the rain had stopped...OOPS!  Oh well,  at this point I did not care about my shoes.  The trail was really muddy and slippery...causing a few to fall.  I had the chance to run next to him and to talk to him.  I stayed close to him for the whole run.  It was GREAT!  He is very humble and super nice.  He answered all the questions that people were asking him.  He was saying that he does not like the media stuff.  He kept thanking people for coming this morning.  He said that yesterday his 42 miles were hard. 

There a picture I took:  you can see people ahead going up the hill...


 Me running with my new buddy!!!
See how happy he looks to be running with me!! ha ha!!
Thank you to the nice guy who took my camera and ran ahead to snap this one for me!!!

I found this one on Facebook! This is the finish line.

After that Dean said a few words to thank everyone.  We were told that he would only take pictures with the 2 groups of kids.  Before they got people ready for this, I went to talk to him and I asked him to sign my bib and he did!  He shook me hand and again said thank you for coming to run with him. 








I am so happy that I went.  If you have the chance to catch him when he passes near your town, GO!  It is worth the $. 
Watch Regis and Kelly on Monday maybe you will see me!!!
Now I got to go dry my shoes because I have a 10k race tomorrow morning!


25 comments:

Unknown said...

Great post. Your enthusiasm shines through. You make me want to go run in the morning!

Nelly said...

Awesome! That is a really cool experience! Very inspiring that he is running across America, hopefully it inspires people!

Amanda@runninghood said...

I've never read a race report all the way through...well maybe one or two but I usually end up skimming...I read yours all the way! :) this is great. I'm so happy for you Caroline! Sounds like a memorable experience! Good luck tomorrow girl!

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

I'm so glad to hear that he really is that type of person. He always seems it on interviews and what not, but you always wonder. Now the mystery is solved.

I must say I'm quite jealous you got to run with him. I might just have to make a trip when he gets over closer to the East coast.

The Turtle said...

What a great experience! Dean is so lucky he got to run with you.

Michael said...

That is so cool! Awesome to have a pic with him and get to be on TV...well done!

Kristin @NyceLife said...

What a great guy he seems like! And wicked cool on the photo of you running with him- amazing!!

Jason said...

How awesome for you.

Are you watching this game? I can't take it. Every year the same thing and almost always seem every game.

Zaneta @ Runner's Luck said...

That's so awesome!! I'm so excited for you that you got to hang out and run with dean!! so exciting!

Katie said...

Very Awesome!! His last 5k is near me on May 9th and I'm thinking about doing it with my best friend :D

Christine said...

WOW!! What a great experience and the pictures - priceless!!!

Jess @ Blonde Ponytail said...

omigosh! I have to set my DVR for you! What a wonderful post Caroline!! BUCKET LIST ITEM!

Shawn said...

We Canadians are so polite and rule followers...that's the ticket to making new friends...good for you, I am jealous!!!

Chris K said...

So very cool. Dean seems like a really good guy. Coach K would be proud of you.

Darlene said...

That is so COOOOL!

Jenn said...

How fun! I remember meeting him and thinking he was WAY smaller than I imagined! Great pictures and a great read! Hope that 10K went well for you!!!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

So cool, I bet you want to frame that one with you running next to him

Emz said...

so
freaking
awesome.

love
it.

want to know what else I loved?!?!?!

Duke lost.

DRog said...

totally awesome!

D

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is so cool! Great post!!!!

Unknown said...

oh my gosh I so excited to see this! AMAZING!! I love hearing about it. I would be so giddy to run it him. hehe!
LC

Unknown said...

You got such fantastic pictures!! I am pretty jealous but I know there was no way I could have made it all the way out there at that time in the A.M.

What a great experience! :)

Victoria said...

Oh, my Gosh. SO cool!!

Kate Geisen said...

How cool!

Hannah said...

How fun! You got some really awesome pictures! Yay!