Meeting Dean Karnazes

**Continued from the Day 7, Thank Heaven Post**

So there I am, on my way to Salt Lake Running Company at 8:30 on a Thursday night. To my surprise, it was packed when I got there. There was a line of people all dressed in running gear. (Go figure!) Without looking too closely I thought that maybe they were all there for race packet pickup for un upcoming race this weekend. 

I looked around at race belts for a few minutes, selected the ones I wanted and headed up to the cashiers desk. He hadn't seen me shopping due to the amount of people in line at the front of the store. He said, "Oh, I'm sorry, we're closed down for the night." He must have seen the confused look on my face, the "then why are there still so many people here?" face, because he promptly said, "But Dean Karnazes is here signing autographs!" 

Dean Karnazes is known as "The Ultramarathon Man" and sure enough, I turn around and standing at a podium signing posters and books is Dean. Well,  you better believe I ran and got a poster and waited in line to meet the legend himself.  For those of you unfamiliar with dean, he made history in 2006 when he ran 50 marathons, in 50 states in 50 days. He has also WON, not raced, but WON the infamous BadWater 135 ultramarathon. A 135 mile race through death valley, in the middle of July. 

....AND if that's not impressive enough, here's the real kicker, he has won the Badwater 135 TEN TIMES. TEN TIMES.

So I waited in line, listening to this guy give running advice to those who were asking for it, making conversation with everyone and having a great time. When it was my turn, he smiled and said hello and began signing my poster. I told him how I have just gotten into running within the last 6 months, and how I would eventually like to do a 50 mile ultramarathon. (specifically the Pony Express Ultra). 

He took that into consideration as he finished signing my poster;

And here's the icing on the cake, Dean looked me in the eyes and said, " I have no doubt you will (run a 50k), You have the fire in your eyes!" and with that he shook my hand. 

It was an amazing experience for me, to meet such an accomplished athlete. Just another stamp in my passport on my journey to becoming an Ironman.