A Runner’s High

by Dean Karnazes

First published 2021

Dean Karnazes stands at the starting line of the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run. He completed this brutal race decades earlier, but now he faces it again in his mid-fifties. The course stretches through rugged terrain under extreme temperatures that will test every limit of endurance. Karnazes has already pushed his body through impossible challenges. He ran fifty marathons across fifty states in fifty consecutive days. He raced through Death Valley's shoe-melting heat and the lung-freezing cold of the South Pole. But this return to Western States becomes something different. The race forces him to confront his age, his career choices, and the path his life has taken. Each mile becomes both a physical trial and an emotional reckoning. For Karnazes, running means more than collecting achievements. It represents a daily story told through each step on the trail. The race tests whether he can stay true to his purpose as his body and circumstances change around him.

Genres: biography, adventure, autobiography, fitness

Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: personal-journey, self-discovery

Setting: Death Valley, South Pole, Western States

Period: mid-fifties

256 pages · Hardcover · HarperOne

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