So how are those New Year Resolutions coming along? I worked my way up from a short run, to a long run, to a full out ten minute island run on Wii Fit Plus and was feeling beyond impressed with myself, until I picked up a book by Scott Jurek titled “Eat and Run”. Turns out it’s not about fast food.
Scott Jurek is an ultra marathoner. He is one of an elite group of athletes that see half marathons as mere pre-breakfast jaunts. At the end of a full marathon they are just getting warmed up. The runs that capture the interest of an ultra marathoner are anywhere from 100 to 150 miles in length.
The book opens with Scott sprawled on the floor of Death Valley. He’s attempting to run the Badwater Ultra-Marathon, it’s an hour before midnight and the temperature (as he puts it) is “105 incinerating, soul-sucking degrees” (which translates to just over 40 incinerating, soul-sucking degrees Celsius). And this at 11 p.m.! One can only imagine what it must be like in the afternoon. Scott has just run 70 miles “through a place where others had died walking” and has 65 more to go.
The book is an amazing testimony to what the human body and mind are capable of. How they let us down and how they get us back up again. Scott, by his own admission, was never physically gifted, but somehow he went on to win multiple marathons, and to set course records while doing so. He would often hear competitors say in bewilderment, “I can’t believe that guy beat me.”
While lifestyle and fitness obviously play an important role in winning races, a huge factor is what takes place between our ears. So much of becoming healthy, physically fit and even winning marathons, is a result of the voice inside our heads rather than any particular physical prowess. We do things—or don’t do things—simply because we think we can or can’t.
Eat and Run; My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness is part biography, part running tips and part cookbook (Scott’s recipe for green lentil and mushroom burgers is worth the price of the book alone).
Whether you think he is running from something, to something, or simply running for the love of the run, his story is inspiring, exciting and makes a great post-resolution read.
No one has ever accused me of being athletic, but looking back, I did have one near brush with glory. As my mother tells it, I was three years old and in a preschool foot race at a community picnic. To everyone’s great surprise I set off at a blinding pace. By the time I headed into the final bend I was a good quarter track ahead of all my running mates. Parents cheered as my little legs pumped for all they were worth. No one could catch me. Victory was mine. And then I stopped. Not understanding finish lines or the importance of colour coded ribbons, I realized my best friend was no longer running beside me, so I waited for her to catch up.
Even when I understood the concept, competitive sports still messed me up. Sometimes the family refuses to play board games with me because I have been known to cheat.
Not to win, but to lose. I’ll quickly roll the dice pretending I don’t see their marker beside my hotel on Park Place. I still want everyone to cross the finish line together.
Even when Canada takes the hockey gold—and I realize this borders on treason--I can’t help looking at the regret and tears on the faces of the team that took silver and feeling badly for them. Sure, I’d feel more badly if the Canadians were the ones looking sad, but there you have it.
That sort of attitude may be kind hearted, but it’s not very inspiring. I once read a quote that contained the words “Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you...we all have greatness in us, and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
It’s true. After reading Scott’s story I stood up, snapped on the Wii and set it for a 30 minute run. Triple my usual time. And I did it! A laughable feat compared to an Ultra-Marathoner, but a feet feat for me just the same.
Shannon McKinnon is a humour columnist from Northern BC. You can read past columns by visiting www.shannonmckinnon.com.