Book Review: Eat and Run by Scott Jurek

Scott Jurek, the ultramarothoner, came to speak here in Grand Rapids at a local shoe company two weeks ago.  I put it in my calendar to go and hear him speak, but totally forgot.  Instead, I bought his book EAT AND RUN.  

I'm always interested in learning how one of the worlds greats thinks, trains, eats, gets motivated and stays at the top once a clearly defined goal has been achieved.  If you have read the book Born to Run, Jurek is one of the runners that comes to Mexico to take on the local natives in the now famous race. Jurek is a vegan.  The book is as much a story of his diet as his running and life.  Full admission, I don't think Veganism is the answer.  But, that is another story.

Eat and Run is very easy, interesting read.  Childhood hardships shapes ambition and work ethic.  Pour hard work into running.  Passion starts to fade as what he loves becomes a business.  The search to find the passion again.   I hear and read similar back stories so often about trying upbringing as a child,  it makes me wonder if we are hurting our kids more if we work to give them, "the good life."

Each chapter covers some basic science of running and the adaptations that occur from training and running up to 160 miles at once!  I found this to be a bit lacking and would have liked more in depth analysis of the training adaptation side, but needless to say it was interesting.

Each chapter also ends with a Vegan recipe that he has used either for performance and recovery.  Going into the book, I thought this would be the least interesting.  I think I am going to take a few of these recipes and use them though.  In the end that may be the most valuable information I learned.

If you are a runner, I think you would enjoy this read.  I will let you know what recipes I try out and what I think in the future.