Scott Jurek

We have a number of friends who are ultramarathoners, a sport I find more interesting than triathalons, for reasons I can’t really explain. I think I like the idea of having one task to focus on for 24 hours. (Can you tell I’m already exhausted and overwhelmed this week?)

New York Times columnist Mark Bittman recently went for a run & then had a meal with ultra-runner Scott Jurek.

If last year was a wash, this year he is fit and psyched for the 24-Hour Run world championship in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, on Thursday and Friday. It is a grueling race to determine how many miles runners can complete on a 1.4-kilometer road loop (about nine-tenths of a mile) in a 24-hour period.

Jurek says he can break the American record, 162 miles, held by Mark Godale. (The world record, 178 miles, and just about every ultramarathoning record from 100 to 1,000 miles, and from 24 hours to 10 days, are, Jurek said, “unassailably” held by Yiannis Kouros of Greece, who no longer competes.)

To win Brive, Jurek said, he must: “Get on it, crank around it, and get it done. It’s all in a day’s work.”

It’s a long day, and one that raises a particular aspect of Jurek’s training that makes him an especially interesting athlete: he is a vegan, consuming no animal products.

I thought it was a nice piece, Bittman talked about Jurek’s diet without passing and judgements or making any outlandish claims about the superiority of one diet over another.

Incidentally, Jurek succeeded in breaking the American record later in the week:

Local runner Scott Jurek finished in second place at the IAU 24 Hour Run World Championship held in Brive, France. Jurek finished with 266.008 km or 165.284 miles in 24 hours. The American record was 162 miles in 24 hours, set by Mark Godale of Ohio in 1999. Jurek passed Godale’s mark with 30 minutes left to run.

First place winner was Shingo Ouene of Japan, completing 273.531 kilometers (169.96 mies) in 24 hours.

That’s seriously cool. Also a little crazy, maybe.

On a minor tangent, let me just say that I have no problem at all with Bittman’s mint juleps “the wrong way”. I’d write more, but I need to go check make sure the bourbon has been restocked….