Scott Jurek Quotes & Sayings

The point was living with grace, decency, and attention to the world, and breaking free of the artificial constructs in your own life. — Scott Jurek

Random thinking is the enemy of the ultramarathoner. Thinking is best used for the primitive essentials: when I ate last, the distance to the next aid station, the location of the competition, my pace. Other than those considerations, the key is to become immersed in the present moment where nothing else matters. — Scott Jurek

We can live as we were meant to live - simply, joyously, of and on the earth. We can live with all our effort and with pure happiness. — Scott Jurek

What we eat is a matter of life and death. — Scott Jurek

It's a hard, simple calculus: Run until you can't run anymore. Then run some more. Find a new source of energy and will. Then run even faster. — Scott Jurek

Asking why had somehow led me to the thing that I loved - the feeling of moving over the earth, with the earth, the sensation of being in the present, free from chores and expectations and disappointment and worry. — Scott Jurek

Laura Vaughan, who set a women's record at the Hardrock in 1997, the only year she ran it, also was the first person to finish the Wasatch Front 100 for ten consecutive years and the first woman to break 24 hours. That makes her fast. What makes her tough, though - what makes her a bona fide Hardrocker - is that in 1996, nine weeks after giving birth to a son, she ran the Wasatch and breastfed her baby at the aid stations. Her ten-year ring from the event is engraved "Lactating Laura." Tough? — Scott Jurek

The ultra distance forgives injury, fatigue, bad form, and illness. A bear with determination will defeat a dreamy gazelle every time. — Scott Jurek

In ultrarunning, the mountains and willpower equalize the genders. Strawburst — Scott Jurek

For me, challenging myself with this type of endeavor [ultramarathons] brings the best out in me because even at the darkest, deepest moments when I feel like I can't go on, when I feel like there's no chance I could break the record or much less finish the trail, somehow I find that strength inside of me. — Scott Jurek

The more you know, the less you need. - YVON CHOUINARD — Scott Jurek

Skiing was my passion. Running was a means to stay in shape for that. — Scott Jurek

Humans aren't built to sit all day. Nor are we built for the kinds of repetitive, small movements that so much of today's specialized work demands. Our bodies crave big, varied movements that originate at the core of our body. — Scott Jurek

The most devoted complete a 25-mile run every day for a thousand consecutive days. They wear straw sandals and carry a knife at their waist, to be used to kill themselves should they fail to continue. After five years, they conduct a nine-day fast, after which their senses are heightened to such a degree that they can hear ash fall from an incense stick. In the seventh year of their pilgrimage, the monks undertake the "Great Marathon" of 52.5 miles a day every day for a year. — Scott Jurek

Injuries are our best teachers. — Scott Jurek

Every single one of us possesses the strength to attempt something he isn't sure he can accomplish. It can be running a mile, or a 10K race, or 100 miles. It can be changing a career, losing 5 pounds, or telling someone you love her (or him). — Scott Jurek

Run until you can't run anymore. Then run some more. Find a new source of energy and will. Then run even faster. Other — Scott Jurek

competition could turn the most mundane task into a thrill, and that successfully completing a job - no matter how onerous - made me feel unaccountably happy. — Scott Jurek

The reward of running - of anything - lies within us ... We focus on something external to motivate us, but we need to remember that it's the process of reaching for that prize - not the prize itself - that can bring us peace and joy. — Scott Jurek

As powerful as our legs are, as magnificent as our lungs and arms and muscles are, nothing matters more than the mind. — Scott Jurek

We would wake and have smoothies every morning with fresh whole-grain bread from the small bakery in town, then run and climb and take walks together, and catch up on e-mail in the evening before we went to bed and talk about food and music and life and death and meaning and love. We fell asleep to the rushing of the stream and the cool spring breeze wafting through the window. — Scott Jurek

But the longer and further I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind- a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus. — Scott Jurek

You could carry your burdens lightly or with great effort. You could worry about tomorrow or not. You could imagine horrible fates or garland-filled tomorrows. None of it mattered as long as you moved, as long as you did something. Asking why was fine, but it wasn't action. Nothing brought the rewards of moving, of running. Sometimes you just do things. — Scott Jurek

For me, it's about optimizing health. It's about lifestyle and longevity. Then you think about what vegetarian diets can do for the mass population, in terms of lower consumption of resources. When you look at the numbers, it's pretty staggering. — Scott Jurek

Train at your current fitness level, or slightly above - not where you want to be. — Scott Jurek

You can hurt more than you ever thought possible, then continue until you discover that hurting isn't that big a deal. — Scott Jurek

Not all pain is significant. (on Dave Terry) — Scott Jurek

sliced into ¼-inch pieces 1 carrot, — Scott Jurek

Nature's arena has a way of humbling and energizing us. — Scott Jurek

Red Curry Almond Sauce ½ cup almond butter ½ cup water ¼ cup fresh lime juice or rice vinegar 2 tablespoons miso 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro 2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup 2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste, or to taste 1 teaspoon onion powder ½ teaspoon garlic powder ½ teaspoon ground ginger — Scott Jurek

If you are not on the edge, you are taking up too much room. - Randy "Macho Man" Savage — Scott Jurek

But you can be transformed. Not overnight, but over time. Life is not a race. — Scott Jurek

You can spend your life chitchatting with someone - even a good friend - but spend even an hour moving over a rocky path, breathing in pine-scented air, and I guarantee you the chitchat will turn to something else. — Scott Jurek

We strive toward a goal, and whether we achieve it or not is important, but it's not what's most important. What matters is how we move toward that goal. — Scott Jurek

Train where your fitness is NOW, not where you want to be. — Scott Jurek

Eating raw was like getting a Ph.D. in a plant-based diet - hard work, but worth it. — Scott Jurek

Most of all, the ultra distance leaves you alone with your thoughts to an excruciating extent. Whatever song you have in your head had better be a good one. Whatever story you are telling yourself had better be a story about going on. There is no room for negativity. The reason most people quit has nothing to do with their body. — Scott Jurek

FINDING THE TIME If you're going to run regularly, you're going to need to carve out part of your day, even if it's 30 to 60 minutes. If that seems impossible, ask yourself: How much time do I spend watching television? Or surfing the Internet? Or shopping? Take some of that time and devote it to doing something good for yourself. — Scott Jurek

Rational assessments too often led to rational surrenders. — Scott Jurek

A recent study in the American Journal of Epidemiology followed 123,216 subjects over fourteen years and found that men who spent more than 6 hours a day sitting were 17 percent more likely to die during that time than men who sat for less than 3 hours. For women, the increased risk of death was 34 percent. This increased mortality persisted regardless of whether the participants smoked, were overweight, and - this shocked me - regardless of how much they exercised. Humans aren't built to sit all day. — Scott Jurek

They're gonna chick you, Jurker! Do you want to get chicked?" (Dusty had coined the term when he was in high school. It's now part of the ultra-running lexicon). I — Scott Jurek

By combining instinct and technique, I searched for that small zone where I could push myself as hard as possible without injury and the unraveling of the body's systems. Accessing and staying in that small zone is the key to success. — Scott Jurek

Let's improve ourselves as human beings, let's become more compassionate, let's become bigger, let's become stronger, let's become nicer people. — Scott Jurek

Running efficiently demands good technique, and running efficiently for 100 miles demands great technique. — Scott Jurek

Fear is what makes you come alive, the lure of the unknown - can I do this? - thats where the growth comes from, the pain. I dont remember the running effortlessly; I remember the hard times; adversity breathes transformation. — Scott Jurek

Altogether, our modern inclination toward sloth, the easy availability of processed food, and the prevalence of life-saving medical treatments have made us a long-lived, unhealthy people. — Scott Jurek

Only the most saintly and delusional among us welcomes all pain as challenge, perceives all loss as harsh blessing. — Scott Jurek

If your mind is dirty you can run 10,000 miles, but where have you gotten? If you go for a 1-mile run and you're passionately engaged with the world, who cares about the other 9,999? — Scott Jurek

quitting, gives you even more time to ponder. But perhaps I wanted time to stop. Maybe I was meant to lie here on my back in the desert to question why I was running through an oven. Why was I subjecting myself to this torture? I started running for reasons I had — Scott Jurek

Sometimes the road to wellness isnt a well-marked expressway. — Scott Jurek

For those hours on the Tonto Trail, we didn't know anything except the land and the sky and our bodies. I was free from everything except what I was doing at that very moment, floating between what was and what would be as surely as I was suspended between river and rim. Finally I remembered what I had found in ultrarunning. I remembered what I had lost. — Scott Jurek

To run 100 miles and more is to bring the body to the point of breaking, to bring the mind to the point of destruction, to arrive at that place where you can alter your consciousness. — Scott Jurek

while the Tarahumara run to get from point to point, in the process they travel into a zone beyond geography and beyond even the five senses. — Scott Jurek

We all lose sometimes. We fail to get what we want. Friends and loved ones leave. We make a decision we regret. We try our hardest and come up short. It's not the losing that defines us. It's how we lose. It's what we do afterward. — Scott Jurek

I'm convinced that a lot of people run ultramarathons for the same reason they take mood-altering drugs. I don't mean to minimize the gifts of friendship, achievement, and closeness to nature that I've received in my running career. But the longer and farther I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind - a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus. I don't think anyone starts running distances to obtain that kind of vision. I certainly didn't. But I don't think anyone who runs ultra distances with regularity fails to get there. The trick is to recognize the vision when it comes over you. — Scott Jurek

Snow. Sun. Sandstone. Sky. He was doing what he liked and knew. It was now. And this now had no pressure, just permission. - James Galvin — Scott Jurek

We move forward, but we must stay in the present. — Scott Jurek