A personal and revealing account of one of the
greatest runners within ultramarathons. Jurek manages to blend his phenomenal
running with a good argument to at least try to experiment with eating a vegan
diet, which is made even more compelling by the fact that he advocated veganism
before it became a part of today’s mainstream discourse on diet. Ultimately
Jurek’s account goes beyond what it takes to succeed at the highest levels of
ultra-running, and provides us with an insight into the man who came to
dominate the sport in the 1990s and 2000s.
With the current
running boom that we are experiencing it can be hard to find a reason to buy
another book about another accomplished runner. How many times can one person
read the same template of: I set the goal to win this major event, trial and
tribulation ensues and finally victory occurs? Furthermore this notion to write
running memoirs has spread to the everyday runners of our time, so that we can
recognise the story of ourselves within them, finding a common suffering with
the author we are reading. In many, but not all of these accounts, we find very
little in the way of who these people actually are; in that we don’t know about
what molded them or the uncomfortable parts of their running. This is what is
so refreshing about Jurek’s book, we get to learn about the man behind the
runner and how that has shaped him. This includes the uncomfortable moments of
his personal life as well as his running.
On a personal
note I do have a soft spot for this book, I was less than a year into my journey
into the world of running and was given this book by an acquaintance. I didn’t
really understand too much about running, other than it was good to run
regularly and do a number of long runs to prepare for the marathon. So it was a
mesmerising read to find out that not only did people run beyond 26.2 miles,
but they also ran competitively. Believe it or not I had not heard of Born to Run at that stage, so was unaware
of the stature of Scott Jurek or his incredible 7 consecutive wins at the
Western States 100.
To many people
Jurek is known for his amazing running, but it is the stories behind those
races that make him such an interesting character; and it is hard to refrain from
telling all of those moments without ruining the reading of his book. From the
running point of view it’s the fact that even though he would finish the
Western States race in a record time, he would still hang around and cheer on
middle of the pack runners finishing hours later. For the infamous Badwater
Ultra Jurek wore a white lightweight running suit to reflect the intense
sun on the course (thus making him slightly cooler), as well as having a fridge
(yes a fridge!) in tow to help him cool down. Other interesting extracts from
Jurek, are his experience of running the supremely tough Spartathlon race; where he starts to
hallucinate during the night.
The difference
between Jurek’s memoir of running and other books, such as Born to Run, is that Jurek is honest about when things don’t go
well; for instance how he fared on the UTMB course. It’s
refreshing, as it makes you realise that not all the top ultra- runners succeed
all the time as Born to Run would
have you believe. Whilst Jurek may be competitive there is also a humble tone
to his writing, which allows us to see that Jurek is heavily influenced by the
events in his life and perhaps most of all by his father’s statement to him: “Sometimes
you just do things!”. What is most surprising is that Jurek didn’t set out to
become an ultra-runner initially setting out to get into cross country skiing.
In fact what makes Jurek’s story so interesting is the
personal stories that accompany his journey to becoming an ultramarathon
legend. His up-and-down relationship with his father, who enforces a strict sense
of discipline and duty into Jurek, and his mother who is chronically ill throughout
his life. It something that he mentions throughout the book, but one gets the
sense that this must have shaped Jurek as well as taking a toll upon him.
Perhaps one of the sadder parts of the book is Jurek painfully captures
breaking up with his first wife or the estrangement (if temporary) with his
long-time running partner/ friend Dusty
Olson, all this taking place against the backdrop of Scott trying maintain a
professional running career. This was at a time when ultra-running hadn’t
become so mainstream, so the winnings from ultras or being successful at
ultra-running wasn’t that lucrative. There is an incredibly sad moment with a
mutual friend of Scott and Dusty’s that reminds us that there is more to
running, namely to remember the friends and family we hold dear.
Eat and Run is a
moving, personal and reflective account of what ultra-running means and what it
takes to be one of the best in the world at the sport. On a final note some
people be put off by Jurek’s turn towards veganism and how he believes it has
improved his running. After reading the book I did go plant-based for a few
months, and I do think Eat and Run is
a useful primer for becoming a vegetarian/ vegan runner; however I did not
stick with this diet. Eat and Run
goes beyond the traditional narrative of exaggerated stories over long
distances, allowing us to see how Jurek thinks about running and what we can
really achieve if we have the will to endure.
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