Eat and Run: book review
I was sick of looking at the same old movies on Netflix and bumbled over to Google. I’ve been a bit of a runner for a few years… have completed seven marathons, two in under four hours. As an amateur that makes me serious, but not at all good.
I found a video about the Badwater ultra marathon, a race that starts at the bottom of Death Valley and 135 miles later winds up somewhere close to the top of Mount Whitney. Obviously, this is a different kind of run. I found myself hypnotized by the protagonist’s efforts, and stunned as he ultimately crossed the finish line with the potential of winning the race.
The problem, of course, was that the start happened in waves, and in a later wave, a fellow by the name of Scott Jurek let out a cry that launched him hot on the protagonist’s trail. You don’t learn about Scott Jurek until the end of the video—it’s not about him—but when you see him beat the hero, you kind of wonder. Who the hell is this guy?
Turns out, anyone who digs ultra running knows the name Scott Jurek. To folks on the outside, to folks who think a marathon is just insane, let me introduce you: Scott Jurek spent a decade and a half obliterating records almost anywhere he ran, usually on courses that spanned at least a hundred miles, and again, usually through mountains, or deserts, or jungles… I think he kicked ass on Mars as well.
To an amateur distance runner, learning about Scott Jurek’s career is stunning on two fronts: you get to see how amazing a human being can be, in terms of capacity to make the body do remarkable feats. You also get a sense of just how lame you are, getting excited about a four hour marathon. Because Scott Jurek is one of a handful of people on the planet who can do four of them back to back through snow and mountain terrain, at nosebleed elevations. I think the only animal that could do it faster is a bird.
Scott could have delivered mail faster than the Pony Express. That’s not something cute to say. He can run a hundred miles faster than a fucking horse. And to truly bring it back to my front porch, Scott Jurek could blast through a regular 100 mile run like Western States (which he won seven times… another record) guzzle a jug of Gatorade, and then kick my ass from here to Sunday running another marathon, say, my cozy little Rock N Roll St. Louis.
Enough preamble.
Eat and Run is Scott’s book. It’s a little about his life before running, a lot about his running, and a lot about his diet. He’s been vegan for most of his career, and provides recipes throughout. Some of them look fantastic. All of them make me sick wanting to be healthier.
What I found inspirational about the book is that Scott Jurek wasn’t just a great runner. If you measure every great runner and find that each shares certain God-given traits, such as their body’s ability to get oxygen to the muscles, or whatever, you’ll find that Scott is in the ballpark. Meaning he wasn’t born with a straight flush for ultra running.
Instead what you’ll find is Scott has an amazing capacity to use his mind—both in training, in life choices, and on the trail, seventy miles into a run, when it seems like the only thing possible is to quit.
Most of us think in terms of Nature vs. Nurture. We have genetic traits that give us something to work with, and the environment we live in shapes us.
Scott Jurek adds a dimension: he’s an agent in his own life. His will is equal to or greater than the other forces, and the success he’s achieved, the records he’s set, the boundaries he’s pushed, have been all him.
I’ve never read anything that is as life-affirming and motivational as Eat and Run. I picked a lesson off every page, and inspiration throughout. Grab a copy.
