It’s your thirtieth birthday. The date: August 23, 1992. You have a successful career as a marketing executive in the San Francisco Bay area. You wake up strangely unexcited. You have lunch with your wife whom you adore. Later, you and your wife gather with friends in a local bar for dinner and drinks, in celebration of your big day.
The evening wears on and your wife decides to go home and turn in. You elect to stay with your friends. As you mingle, an attractive woman begins making overtures, coming on to you. Her message is clear.
What do you do?
You excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, located towards the back of the bar. You find a rear exit and leave. Without any goodbyes. You walk home, to the house occupied by the wife you adore, now sleeping.
Something needs to be worked out of you. Thirty is a watershed. You should be happy but aren’t. You need to clear your head.
What do you do?
You strip down to your skivvies and t-shirt, find an old pair of running shoes in the garage and put them on. You let your wife sleep. Clad only in your underwear, shirt, socks and sneakers, you begin running.
You haven’t run in fifteen years. You gave it up when an arrogant track and field coach laughed at you. You were, after all, a cross-country guy who ran with heart and had served another coach with heart. But he retired.
You run thirty miles without stopping except to grab burritos and a Coke and press on. People think you’re crazy. And you probably are.
That night is a rebirth for you.
That’s what you do if you’re Dean Karnazes.
Read his book Ultramarathon Man: Confessions Of An All-Night Runner. The whole story and much more is there. You won’t regret it. You may even begin to think about what really matters in life. It ain’t prestige, position or the other trappings of Yuppiedom.
Dean got his mojo back that night and hasn’t stopped running. That was almost twenty-one years ago.
What will it take to get your mojo back, to recover your heart?
The Upside 
That really is a great book. I had forgotten about it. Reading this post makes me thing perhaps its time to revisit it. Great post and video.
It is a great book, James. I agree. The theme of endurance looms large when one hears what Dean has to say about pushing oneself to the limits and beyond. Thanks for stopping by!
Wow. Run 30 miles and you’d need to scrape me off highway. Great man. Love the post.
Me too, David. It really is an inspiring story. He specifically tries to surpass his own limitations and barriers. Thanks for reading!