Eat and Run
Scott Jurek won the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run seven consecutive times, broke the American 24-hour record, won the Spartathlon three times, and set the Appalachian Trail thru-hike speed record, all on a strictly plant-based diet that almost every coach he had told him was a bad idea. Eat and Run, his 2012 memoir written with Steve Friedman, traces his upbringing in rural Minnesota cooking dinner for his disabled mother, his unlikely conversion to vegan running while training in Seattle, and the brutal grind of the longest ultras on the planet. Each chapter ends with a recipe, gazpacho, lentils, the famous chocolate adzuki bars, that he actually carried in races. Generous, technical, and quietly philosophical, the book sits on the shelf next to Born to Run as a foundational text for the modern endurance movement.
Where Eat and Run keeps showing up
One of our editors' lists features this novel.
What you might want to know about Eat and Run
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Vegan ultrarunner Scott Jurek tells the story of his Minnesota childhood, his rise to seven straight Western States hundred-mile wins, and the plant-based diet that fueled it, with recipes between the chapters.
Yes. Eat and Run is Scott Jurek's 2012 memoir about his career as one of the most successful ultramarathon runners of his generation, written with Steve Friedman. Jurek won the Western States 100 seven consecutive times.
Yes. Scott Jurek discusses his transition to a plant-based diet during his competitive career and includes vegan recipes throughout the book. The diet is one of the central threads of the memoir.
Eat and Run was written by Scott Jurek, published in 2012 by Bloomsbury UK.
Eat and Run is 288 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Eat and Run takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
Eat and Run is a standalone novel by Scott Jurek, not part of a series.
Eat and Run is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
