I am a fat slob and Ultra Marathon man convinced me of it...
 

If you have not had a chance to read Dean Karnazes 'Ultra Marathon Man', you need to grab a copy of it. It will make you (unless you are Arch or Runner, etc.) feel like a freakin' slob.

I am not quite sure what to think of the guy, but he is a guy that thrives on running and running and running some more. He runs marathons (he is the guy that completed the 50 marathons in 50 days last year), triathalons, 50 milers and 100 milers, marathons at the South Pole, etc. He won the Badwater Race (http://www.badwater.com/) a few years ago which is a 135 mile foot race thru 120 degree temperatures in Death Valley. He is raced in a 199 mile relay race where he was his own team (other teams consist of 11 teammates and they run various legs of the race).

If you have a chance, it is a great read. FWIW, on his 200 mile run, he consumed, seriously, over 27000 calories. Everything from a full cheesecake, 30 bottles of pedialytes, mac and cheese, several PB&J sandwhiches, cookies, etc.

And as crazy as he is, there is no doubt that there are hundreds more just like him and maybe even more hardcore.

He's hardcore, but his winning these races is about over, so he's now focusing on doing the really weird stuff.

He has an amazing physiology, in that his ability to recover exceeds most others.

I'm impressed that people can do this, but I still think they're freaks.

I'm a big fan of Dean. I enjoyed following his escapades last year when he ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. His 50th marathon was NYC, and he damn near broke 3 hours. 3:05 was his finish, I think. The blog was at http://enduranceis.typepad.com/. I don't know if it's still there.

There does seem to be a bit of Dean hatred among the running snobs out there. My guess is that most of them are incredibly jealous of the fact that despite not being fast, he's managed to make a very comfortable living from running. He's not the first to do many of the things he's done, including the 50-50-50, but he's by far the best known among people who don't closely follow that kind of stuff. The attitude towards Dean is the same attitude you encounter when "elites" talk about Jeff Galloway. Dean and Jeff have helped bring running to the masses, and there's an attitude out there that it has "dumbed down" running. My opinion is that anything that gets people off their fat butts is a good thing, regardless of how slow they run.