Scott’s Blog

Well, the evening was a blast. Ten area athletes were presented to a near sell-out crowd over drinks and dinner. Votes were cast, stories were told. Being the ultrarunner in a crowd of top-notch professional and collegiate athletes, I have to say I was surprised at the amount of genuine respect I received, rather than the somewhat typical shock about the extremeness of what I do. I don’t think Bobby Engram is going to give up his job to join me out there, but I felt the other athletes understood our sport more than the general public might. They put a lot of commitment into being their best, just as we do.

Read the P-I article about the evening here.

I didn’t take top honors for the evening. I have one fan out there protesting. Read Jim Moore’s P-I story here.

Late last week UltraRunning Magazine announced their 2007 North American Ultrarunners of the Year. It was a great year of performances on the ultramarathoning scene. I feel honored to have received recognition as male Ultrarunner of the Year as well as male Performance of the Year for my course record run at Hardrock Hundred.

Congrats to Nikki Kimball for being named as female Ultrarunner of the Year and Krissy Moehl for receiving female Performance of the Year also for her course record run at Hardrock. Congratulations as well to all the other athletes receiving recognition for their great performances throughout the season.

View the complete press release here.

The Seattle P-I has named me as one of their “Sports Star Award Winners.” A great honor for me and for ultramarathoning, the P-I takes nominations of ten athletes, recognizing their accomplishments at the end of each year. Local runners have been telling me for years that they’ve been nominating me, so there’s some excitement in Seattle’s running community this week.

Read the feature article here, or if you live in Seattle, check out today’s sports section.

The 73rd annual Sports Star of the Year awards banquet is next Tuesday, January 22 at the Westin Seattle. I’ll be introduced with the other award winners along with a video and interview. The program will conclude with the announcement of THE male and female Sports Star of the Year as chosen by the audience that evening. Tickets are $75 and can be ordered by calling 206.448.8066.

Thank you to the P-I and the Seattle community for recognizing me and congratulations to the other award winners. Looking forward to next Tuesday.

The Final Sprint just posted an interview I provided them with recently. We discussed my 2007 season, what’s coming up in 2008, mental aspects of ultrarunning, pain, and giving back to the sport.

2007 has turned out to be a year with many incredible performances in distance running, a sport which is making leaps forward with continually growing enthusiasm. This is partially due to the resurgence in performances of recent years. If you are a distance running fan, this is a great time for our country. There are many men and women inspiring some of us mortals to get out there, train harder, and live better.

Running USA, a non-profit association “dedicated to serve and facilitate the growth of all aspects and entities of running and its health and fitness benefits,” has been a much needed backbone to the development of the sport since 1999. Every year they recognize great performances. This year there were many! Of which, I’m grateful to receive an honorable mention in “The 10 Best Moments for Distance Running in 2007″ for my Spartathlon victory. (Last year I was honored with a #8 ranking for my win in the same event.) (more…)

I recently received a copy of a new book featuring select endurance running events on all seven continents. “Extreme Running” is beautiful. The photography says plenty on its own. From the top of the world to the bottom, it captures the “extremes” in foot races- from the hottest to the coldest, the wettest to the driest, the highest to the lowest. Beauty everywhere. In addition, authors Kym McConnell and Dave Horsley capture the human spirit through the athletes’ experiences.

As well as making for a great coffee table book, it’s a way to travel from the living room, gaining inspiration to explore new environments and cultures, something I value greatly. When we travel and race in “extremes,” we explore inward, the ultimate journey.

Last February I did an interview with EliteRunning.com. We discussed my training, transition to becoming vegan, racing, and ultrarunning in general. I’m commonly asked a lot about these topics and feel this interview provides some insight.

Tomorrow, Saturday November 3, is the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the Men’s Marathon. More than 130 Olympic hopefuls, the fastest field in history, will start at Rockefeller Center at 7:35 AM, run through Time’s Square, and continue with five loops of Central Park. Usually a small-field, stand-alone race, I’m envious of anyone there to watch it before Sunday’s NYC Marathon. But the event will be broadcast live on NBCSports.com. I’m not going to miss that!

Recently I had the opportunity to view the documentary “Forever Running” which chronicles the life and running pursuits of the legendary ultramarathoner Yiannis Kouros. While including archival race footage and interviews with Yiannis in his home, at work, and while training, Yiannis shares with us his upbringing, historical events, and inspirations that led him to amazing feats of endurance. Over the past thirty years Yiannis has set many world records that may, in his own words, last for centuries. His records span from the 200K to the 10 Day distances. These include his spectacular marks which no one has come near for the 24 Hour road at 290.2 km and 24 Hour track at 303.5 km (188 miles, 7:38/mile)!

Having great respect and admiration for this great Greek runner, I feel he is an inspiration for all runners aspiring to explore the depths of their endurance and inner abilities.

“Forever Running” is available for the first time in the US and can be purchased online through ZombieRunner.

In making final preparations for Spartathlon, which starts the morning after next, I took a look back at last year’s video of the race for inspiration. I also dug up the report I wrote for UltraRunning Magazine and took a look back at the photos taken by Glenn Tachiyama.

Spartathlon: A Journey of History, Culture, & Peace
by Scott Jurek (story reprinted here was originally published in UltraRunning Magazine) (more…)