Running Like Crazy

Remember Dean Karnazes, the wealthy, photogenic, articulate and possibly nuts really-long-distance runner whose face has appeared in more running magazines than anyone ever needs to read? This month, Outside magazine introduces us to the anti-Dean Karnazes, a 42-year-old, five-foot-three-inch tall woman named Pam Reed, who is every bit as obsessed with running as is Karnazes–and even more remarkable, every bit as obsessed with Karnazes as is Karnazes. Reed, Outside tell us, lives to beat Karnazes–to run farther than Karnazes runs faster than Karnazes runs and possibly, just possibly, get one fraction of the press that Karnazes gets. Thanks to Outside, she just did that, and Geezer finds the story a tad disturbing. Why? Because the question that most readers will face when they’ve read it is not which one of the two is faster, but which one is crazier. You tell us.