Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness Paperback – Bargain Price, April 2, 2013

There aren’t very books that I’ve read that I would consider reading again. This is one of them. So much to learn, and knowledge to gain, about running, eating, and pushing through limitations, just to name a few.I appreciate the motivation that this book has provided and hope that it will help to make me a better person and runner.

Scott Jurek didn't have an easy, lazy childhood. His mother became ill and his father has to work, so Scott ends up taking care of his younger siblings. He chops wood, learns to cook, and becomes self-sufficient. While I would never advocate a child losing his/her childhood completely, it would be lovely if more children were tasked with chores and responsibilities at an early age.He begins running as an adolescent in order to escape the pressures of his daily life and to condition himself for cross-country skiing. At first he hates running, but over time grows to love it and it becomes his main sport. He realizes that he becomes stronger the longer he runs, rather than the other way around.Thus begins a career of ultrarunning - running distances over that oh-so-easy 26.2 miles (having never run more than a mile, I am being facetious.) Jurek has ran and won races that are over 100 miles on a regular basis.Jurek became a vegan when he took up distance running seriously. At the end of each chapter, he features a training tip and a vegan recipe.What I loved most, though, was the wisdom that Jurek imparts. He's clearly a very deep person who has learned a lot over his lifetime.Some of my favorite quotes:*What we eat is a matter of life and death. Food is who we are.*Difficulty would help. It had always helped. I was finally figuring that out. All the whys in the universe hadn't granted me peace or given me answers.*You could carry your burdens lightly or with great effort.*Now we sit. We drive and surf on the internet and watch television. And naturally, we suffer.*Whether you get what you want isn't what defines you. It's how you go about your business.*We all lose sometimes. We fail to get what we want. Friends and loved ones leave. We make a decision we regret. We try our hardest and come up short. It's not the losing that defines us. It's how we lose. It's what we do afterward.The only reason I've given it 4 over 5 stars is that there were times that the book felt very long. But overall, highly recommend.

"You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone." -Australian ultra runner Percy CeruttyAn ultramarathon is a race any distance longer than the 26.2 miles of a marathon. Some common distances of these races are 50k (31 miles), 50 miles, 100k (62 miles), 100 miles and even further. As if the distances alone weren't daunting enough, some of these races are held in extreme environmental conditions such as the Western States 100 that traverses the Gold Rush trails of the California Sierra Nevada or the Badwater which is 135 miles through Death Valley. It's one thing to complete these grueling exercises in masochism, but it's another to actually win them, and yet another to do it on a 100% plant based diet. Scott Jurek, author of "Eat and Run", is a vegan ultramarathon winner and his book recounts his adventures running ultra races all over the world and how he did it on a vegan diet. An ultramarathon is about transcendence and requires metaphysical strength as opposed to athletic talent and has been described as 99% mental and 1% physical. Of interest to me was what Jurek had to say about how the sport attracts many recovering alcoholics and addicts. Study after study has shown that the runner's high comes from increased levels of endorphins and endocannabinoids. Jurek says, "I'm convinced that a lot of people run ultramarathons for the same reason they take mood altering drugs...the longer and farther I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind - a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus." I also liked his four-step checklist to deal with a problem or disappointment: First, allow yourself to feel what you're feeling and acknowledge it. Second, take stock of the situation. Third, ask yourself what you can or cannot do to remedy the situation. Fourth, separate the negative thoughts from reality. I'm deeply inspired by people like Scott Jurek. Not just because he's a winner, but because he lives his life by his own rules and he's made a living out of doing what he loves most. He shows us how to break out of our self-imposed limits and that growth only comes by transcending those limits.Review Written By David Allan ReevesAuthor of "Running Away From Me"

Scott’s journey from meat eating, potato picking farm boy to world class ultramarathoner is worth the read, and his yummy recipes are a huge bonus.

Excellent must read

I really enjoyed this book. Although focused on his amazing ‘ultra’ achievements it also gives an insight into his childhood, family and how he became one of the world’s greatest ultra runners. Its an easy read and unlike many running books Scott doesn’t bang on about how wonderful he is, his times and PB’s etc. There are so many running books that come across as being written purely for bragging rights – although a marathon runner myself I don’t want to read about an individual’s PB in this race or that race. Scott really conveys how difficult ’ultras’ can be and is modest in his writing, none of it is easy and you get the sense of how much effort, resilience and mental strength is required to complete these races (any distance runner will tell you it really is mind over matter). The end of chapter recipes are interesting and have also provided some inspiration (as a vegetarian trying to cut out diary). I’m currently reading ‘North’ which is an equally good read about his running the 2000+ mile Appalachian Trail documenting not just his struggles with the terrain, weather etc. but his mental health and motivational struggles. Have found both books to be very inspirational.

I enjoyed it from the first sentence until the last, and it got me inspired to try and become a better human being. Many thanks to the author for sharing his story with the world.

Uma história fantástica da carreira e da vida de um dos maiores ultramaratonistas de todos os tempos! Scott Jurek é um herói que passou por diversas dificuldades em sua vida e as venceu com muita dedicação e coração!