And unless he found something, some way not just to keep going but to speed up, he was going to miss the record. By mile 2,000, he was a hollowed-out, broken-down carapace of a person. “Scott Jurek’s record-setting journey on the Appalachian Trail was the most punishing, most demanding, most grueling feat I’ve ever personally witnessed.

His story of plunging into the wilderness in pursuit of a dream is both heartwrenching and spellbinding.”―Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run and Natural Born Heroes But this time, Jurek was pushing himself into realms more dangerous than Death Valley, more treacherous than Mexican canyons, and only slightly less crazy than the time he chased after a wild bear. He was America’s greatest ultra-athlete, a runner whose brains and singular intensity led him to years of extraordinary victories. When Scott Jurek went into the woods to create his masterpiece, no one knew if he would make it back out again. “Pure suspense, adventure, and inspiration. It will inspire runners and non-runners alike to keep striving for their personal best. A stunning narrative of perseverance and personal transformation, North is a portrait of a man stripped bare on the most demanding and transcendent effort of his life. With his wife, Jenny, friends, and the kindness of strangers supporting him, Jurek ran, hiked, and stumbled his way north, one white blaze at a time. He knew he would be pushing himself to the limit, that comfort and rest would be in short supply - but he couldn’t have imagined the physical and emotional toll the trip would exact, nor the rewards it would offer. He would have to run nearly 50 miles a day, every day, for almost seven weeks. When he set out in the spring of 2015, Jurek anticipated punishing terrain, forbidding weather, and inevitable injuries. North is the story of the 2,189-mile journey that nearly shattered him. He embarked on a wholly unique challenge, one that would force him to grow as a person and as an athlete: breaking the speed record for the Appalachian Trail. But after two decades of racing, training, speaking, and touring, Jurek felt an urgent need to discover something new about himself. Renowned for his remarkable endurance and speed, accomplished on a vegan diet, he’s finished first in nearly all of ultrarunning’s elite events over the course of his career. Scott Jurek is one of the world’s best-known and most beloved ultrarunners. From the author of the bestseller Eat and Run, a thrilling memoir about his grueling, exhilarating, and immensely inspiring 46-day run to break the speed record for the Appalachian Trail.

Books by scott jurek