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cantkeepmehere's review against another edition
5.0
Read in one sitting. To the point. Humble. Insightful. Felt like I peeked into his brain and how he thinks. No drama - just a passion for running. Inspiring.
felixmarauder's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
libellum_aphrodite's review against another edition
3.0
A book about nutrition and fitness is automatically on a fast track to my heart, particularly when really awesome vegetarian recipes and reflections about running are involved. While I wouldn't call this a particularly eloquent running memoir (for that, check out What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami), I enjoyed reading about Jurek's life story and really loved all the vegan recipes included in the book. Vegetarians (vegan or not) should own this one just for the recipes, although those vegetarians might get a little sick of Jurek's frequent lectures on the importance of putting quality foods into the body for peak performance. His choices throughout the book illustrate this without him stating the obvious repeatedly and his results (a slew of ultramarathon victories and records) are impossible to argue with.
mrs_bonaventure's review
5.0
Finished it about a week ago but only now getting around to reviewing it. I found it really inspiring and a week later several things stay with me - his Dad's saying "Sometimes you just do things" translating into lifelong determination; the idea that at the point the body is ready to give up, the mind can go on, and find the part of you that is bigger than the pain; and the emphasis on eating well. I won't be becoming vegetarian but more and more I find myself craving greens and fruit instead of just food that comes to hand.
Overall it's the determination to challenge yourself that is most striking and encouraging.
Overall it's the determination to challenge yourself that is most striking and encouraging.
midnightmultiverse's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
aubrey_the_explorer's review against another edition
5.0
Great stories, good recipes, and even some handy running tips.
mrsalltopafi's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
jacksontibet's review against another edition
3.0
The writing is very subpar, but the recipes have been really good so far. The lentil burgers are time-intensive but fantastic and you can make a ton of them at once and freeze them forever. They taste good not even cooked, just eat them raw or whatever.
The book itself is really strange, you can tell that there is a whole lot of information missing (like how we only hear about all of the "amaaaazing" runs he has where he wins the race, but we never hear about the races he doesn't finish). I remember my dad (himself an obsessive ultrarunner, although one who, despite his MANY MANY MANY unforgiveable faults as a person and human being, never dropped out of a race even when his hands would swell up to twice their size at mile 150 of a 200 mile race) complaining once about this guy (I never paid attention when he talked about runners because it was really annoying and I didn't care at all) who everybody thought was like god or something but that this guy would drop out of races where it didn't look like he was going to win...and now I'm pretty sure that this guy is Scott Jurek. I mean, he runs a lot of races, and he does win a lot and he is a fucking unreal runner (not being a runner myself, but spending my entire life up until college being immersed in the ultra world I have an awareness of the whole bizarre thing) but he seems to quit a lot, or at least not finish a lot. My thing, again, is that if he is such a mental hard ass and he does it for the pure joy of running and "sometimes you just have to do things" as he says ad nauseum throughout the book, why doesn't he finish all these races? But, you know, that's his choice and he must have his reasons. It's just weird to mold yourself as this ultimate competitor and then apparently not compete a lot if you aren't going to win. I don't know, though, maybe he's got other stuff going on and this is entirely inaccurate.
But you know who needs a book? Dusty Olson. That guy is interesting and doesn't seem to be hiding behind some persona that doesn't quite fit, which is how I feel about Scott Jurek after reading this.
The book itself is really strange, you can tell that there is a whole lot of information missing (like how we only hear about all of the "amaaaazing" runs he has where he wins the race, but we never hear about the races he doesn't finish). I remember my dad (himself an obsessive ultrarunner, although one who, despite his MANY MANY MANY unforgiveable faults as a person and human being, never dropped out of a race even when his hands would swell up to twice their size at mile 150 of a 200 mile race) complaining once about this guy (I never paid attention when he talked about runners because it was really annoying and I didn't care at all) who everybody thought was like god or something but that this guy would drop out of races where it didn't look like he was going to win...and now I'm pretty sure that this guy is Scott Jurek. I mean, he runs a lot of races, and he does win a lot and he is a fucking unreal runner (not being a runner myself, but spending my entire life up until college being immersed in the ultra world I have an awareness of the whole bizarre thing) but he seems to quit a lot, or at least not finish a lot. My thing, again, is that if he is such a mental hard ass and he does it for the pure joy of running and "sometimes you just have to do things" as he says ad nauseum throughout the book, why doesn't he finish all these races? But, you know, that's his choice and he must have his reasons. It's just weird to mold yourself as this ultimate competitor and then apparently not compete a lot if you aren't going to win. I don't know, though, maybe he's got other stuff going on and this is entirely inaccurate.
But you know who needs a book? Dusty Olson. That guy is interesting and doesn't seem to be hiding behind some persona that doesn't quite fit, which is how I feel about Scott Jurek after reading this.