> This is a truly inspiring article from
>
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/others...0_jurek22.html
>
>
>
>
> Seattle man amazes everyone in 135-mile
> marathon--including himself
>
> Friday, July 22, 2005
>
> By KRISTIN DIZON
> SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
>
> Look at the photo of the man crossing the tape, arms
> raised in victory,
> mouth frozen in a primal yell.
>
> He hardly looks as if he's just run 135 miles,
> through 115-degree desert
> heat, from the lowest point in the United States to
> the slopes of one of
> its highest points, Mount Whitney.
>
> You wouldn't know that this was his first time
> racing the Badwater
> Ultramarathon, or that he shattered the course
> record by more than half
> an hour, or that he was a full two hours ahead of
> his closest competitor.
>
> But the accomplishment is all over Scott Jurek's
> face.
>
> On July 12, in 24 hours, 36 minutes and eight
> seconds, the Seattle man
> won the Badwater, one of ultrarunning's toughest
> events. Before the
> California race, Jurek had never run more than 90
> minutes on pavement.
> Nor had he trained for the intense desert heat,
> except for arriving a
> week early to the Death Valley start area. And, he'd
> just come off of
> winning another world-class ultramarathon two weeks
> earlier -- barely
> any recovery time between two colossally demanding
> endurance feats.
>
> Jurek, who won his seventh Western States 100-miler
> in a row in June,
> says he conquered the Badwater by respecting the
> heat and biding his time.
>
> "You have to be very patient in a race like that,"
> said Jurek, who lives
> on Capitol Hill. "They've had lots of fast runners
> go in and think they
> can just hammer out 7-minute miles from the get go.
> But, it's a really
> long day. That's the longest that I'd ever run in my
> life in one shot."
>
> Some say the Badwater is the most extreme running
> race in the world.
> Just 81 runners attempted it this year, and only 67
> finished the course,
> which started 282 feet below sea level in Death
> Valley and finished
> 8,360 feet up Mount Whitney. Many competitors take
> almost as long as the
> 60-hour cutoff, and some will sleep or rest for
> hours at a time.
>
> At 31, Jurek is considered young for a world-class
> ultrarunner, and was
> the second-youngest in the entire field.
>
> Jurek, a physical therapist, running coach and
> consultant for Brooks
> Sports Inc., paced himself with 9- to 10-minute
> miles during the heat of
> the day, saving his reserves for the evening, when
> the temperatures sank
> below 100.
>
> Before the race, he probably shook things up a bit
> when he predicted
> he'd win and set a record time. Though some veterans
> thought that a
> little presumptuous, Jurek felt calm and confident.
>
> For more than half the race, Jurek ran in third
> place, about eight miles
> and 40 minutes behind the leader. And, around mile
> 75, he began feeling
> queasy, then vomited.
>
> That was the mental trough of the race, the point at
> which he questioned
> whether to continue.
>
> "My stomach wasn't feeling very good and the heat
> was starting to drag
> me down. And, I definitely started to think, gosh,
> after Western States,
> why am I doing this so soon?"
>
> Jurek stopped and lay down for about five minutes,
> but his support crew
> of nine helpers and pacers, including his wife,
> Leah, urged him on.
>
> "There's no aid stations out there, so your crew is
> your lifeline," he said.
>
> Jurek, who's fought through such lows many times,
> told himself, "I've
> been here before. I can get through this."
>
> "You dig down deep, whether it's the deep recesses
> of your body or your
> soul. It's very soul-searching in a way," he said.
> "Even though
> everything else seems to be unraveling, you try to
> find a way, a source
> of strength. And, you don't always know where that
> comes from."
>
> Throughout the race, he kept cool with ice -- in his
> hat or bandanna, or
> pressed against his skin. In 24 hours, Jurek went
> through about 350
> pounds of ice. He also sprayed himself with water to
> combat what felt
> like a hot hair dryer blasting him all day.
>
> During the peak hours of heat, Jurek drank 16-20
> ounces of water every
> mile. When evening came, he curtailed that to 8-12
> ounces per mile.
>
> For food, Jurek, a vegan, ate energy bars and gels,
> potatoes and rice
> balls, chased by soy protein drinks and electrolyte
> capsules. He
> consumed 60-120 calories every 20-30 minutes, mostly
> on the run.
>
> That night, when the temperature eased a bit, Jurek
> made his move. He
> gained ground on a long downhill, then closed it
> out. He said the finish
> -- 5,000 feet uphill over 13 miles -- was one of the
> toughest he's
> experienced.
>
> Badwater race director Chris Kostman said he's
> impressed with Jurek, who
> had little experience racing on pavement or in such
> heat.
>
> "There are some people who thought the record was
> unbreakable," Kostman
> said. "He's definitely raised the bar."
>
> Now, people are starting to think the race can be
> done in less than 24
> hours, including Jurek.
>
> For now, he has no specific plans for another
> ultramarathon. He'll skip
> next year's Western States, but says he might run
> the Badwater again in
> the next few years.
>
> But back to that photo of Jurek crossing the finish
> line. He said that
> moment almost felt like fireworks going off.
>
> "It's this sense, almost like, you're unstoppable,"
> Jurek says. "You've
> reached this state where you feel on top of the
> world."
>

And to the critics, yes Lance Armstrong is not a vegan, and he
accomplished an incredible feat.
>