Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness

by Scott Jurek

The more you know, the less you need. —YVON CHOUINARD

They challenged me to reject artifice and the expectations of others, to create a meaningful life.

Dan had been running for twenty years. He didn’t have a car or a phone. Eventually he would get rid of his refrigerator. He talked about solar energy and living off the grid and minimizing impact—he produced one small garbage can of trash over an entire year.

But at the moment I crossed the finish line, it didn’t matter. I had completed one of the hardest things I had ever attempted, and I told myself “never again.” I lay face down in the grass, panting, happy but feeling sick, totally drained. I didn’t have anything left. Was this what being a runner meant?

The healthier I had eaten, the faster and stronger I had become. Was it a coincidence that sick people were being served starchy, crappy food?

The mountains are calling and I must go.

Mad Cowboy, by Howard Lyman,

But the next morning I didn’t want to get out of bed. I could hear music. It was the siren song of a warm bed, a cozy couch, a few hours of reading, or listening to music, or just being. No one was forcing me to run. No one said I had to. No one was going to die if I just relaxed a little.

“Not all pain is significant.” He was known for projectile vomiting without breaking stride while running downhill at a 7-minute-mile pace.)

“You owe me a motorcycle, bitch!”

Altogether, our modern inclination toward sloth, the easy availability of processed food, and the prevalence of life-saving medical treatments have made us a long-lived, unhealthy people.

men who spent more than 6 hours a day sitting were 17 percent more likely to die during that time than men who sat for less than 3 hours. For women, the increased risk of death was 34 percent.

2 cups water 1 banana 1 cup frozen or fresh strawberries ½ cup frozen mango ½ cup frozen pineapple ½ cup frozen shelled edamame ¼ cup dried coconut flakes 3 tablespoons Flora Oil 3-6-9 Blend 1 tablespoon plant protein powder (brown rice, pea, etc.) 1½ teaspoons miso 1 1-inch piece turmeric root, chopped, or teaspoon ground turmeric 1 1-inch piece ginger root, peeled and minced, or ¼ teaspoon ground ginger Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until smooth. MAKES 3 8-OUNCE SERVINGS

The most famous long-distance race with a Greek origin is the marathon, which celebrates the arduous journey of the messenger who ran from Marathon to Athens, a distance of 26.2 miles, to announce Greece’s victory over the Persians in 490 B.C.; he then dropped dead from exhaustion.