North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail
Ratings16
Average rating4.4
15
Ratings16
Average rating4.4
From the author of the bestseller Eat and Run, a thrilling new memoir about his grueling, exhilarating, and immensely inspiring 46-day run to break the speed record for the Appalachian Trail. Scott Jurek is one of the world's best known and most beloved ultrarunners. 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. But after two decades of racing, training, speaking, and touring, Jurek felt an urgent need to discover something new about himself. 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. North is the story of the 2,189-mile journey that nearly shattered him. When he set out in the spring of 2015, Jurek anticipated punishing terrain, forbidding weather, and inevitable injuries. He would have to run nearly 50 miles a day, every day, for almost seven weeks. 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. 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. 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. It will inspire runners and non-runners alike to keep striving for their personal best.
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a worse read when compared with Eat & Run, i think. reading these ultrarunners' books...i find my mind is completely boggled. not at the distance, necessarily, but because they really end up putting their health on the line, but they seem so health-obsessed, too. maybe these just aren't for me. still going to read Born to Run though.
jurek really tends to paint a bleak picture with practically every race he describes, and then turns around at the last minute and describes how he won handily seemingly out of nowhere. this gets both old and confusing; he spends way too much time describing pure struggle for me to really comprehend how he won or made it through to the end in many instances. wish he would get into that more in his writing.
this particular journey was somewhat mindnumbing and frustrating to read. jenny's sections help break it up, and i probably wouldn't have even finished this if it were just scott's perspective. overall it's a very interesting juxtaposition with how this FKT is shown in the Game Changers film. the worst part for me was realizing that jurek basically admits he fucks around and wastes a ton of time early on, then at the end he's dangerously sleep-deprived, delirious, and metabolizing his own muscle (cardiac risk) because of how he mismanaged the trip...because of his ego. didn't feel a bit of sympathy at that point. the last sections, especially, sounded very dangerous, and i was definitely annoyed with how they seemed to approach that.
the fkt seems like it was a herculean, community effort, and i admire scott's grit, but reading about it definitely took the luster off the record for me. also solidified how much of sports can be about resources. i doubt some no name with similar capabilities to jurek would get away with messing about like he did, because they wouldn't get nearly as much help. he called in like eight lifelines to push and pull and drag him along.
TLDR: If you are a fan of the ultra-running genre, you will likely enjoy this book. I feel Scott's writing has improved from his previous books and seeing the trip from Jenny's point of view certainly provided greater perspective to the reader. It will both humble you and inspire you. Get out there run those miles and chase the pain that will “make you big.”
I bought this book from Scott during the Born to Run Ultra event held by Luis Escobar each year. We talked for about fifteen minutes about running and vegetarianism. There were many others from previous running books that I've read as well, and it was surreal. But then I realized how grounded they all were. Don't get me wrong, all these runners are extraordinary, but they are all weird and crazy which is something that anybody can work to be. We can accomplish similar feats - though probably at a smaller scale - ourselves. I feel the book tries to make this sentiment clear. Anybody can find a support group, and anybody can chase their goals. If you want a story to show you what real grit is and then become inspired to find it yourself, this will certainly get you there.
I loved EAT & RUN and listened to the audiobook multiple times while training for a half marathon.
For well over a decade I've been interested in hiking the AT and followed Scott's journey back in 2015.
As excited as I was to read this, I ended up putting it down for a few years because it just wasn't gripping me the same as the first book.
It was interesting to hear the dual narration between Scott and Jenny. I hadn't realized that at the time of tackling the speed record that they were both processing a lot of grief and how impactful this journey was to both of them individually and as a couple.
While this one didn't capture my heart as much as his first book, this is a powerful, intense read about the endurance and capacity of the human body and spirit.
Really enjoyed this book. The descriptions of the trails, the people, the personal relationships and the injuries were all great. My favourite bit tough was the mental battle in the last quarter. We all hit the wall. Some like me hit it at 20 miles. Some like Scott hit it at 1800 miles. Reading his and Kali's thoughts around that was a huge learning and sobering experience. It's been a huge inspiration reading the book after following Scott's movements on social media during the actual event.
