Smash Notes
#37 | Jenny & Scott Jurek on the Appalachian Trail Speed Record, Parenting, and What's Next
In 2015, Scott Jurek was the most talked about person on the Appalachian Trail, even the trail community at large. As soon as the legendary ultrarunner announced that he was bringing his talents to Appalachia, a flurry of fanfare and press followed suit. Though his record has been broken a pair of times since, the swell of attention has yet to be matched…
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Notes
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On Backpacker Radio, the hosts raise blood doping and EPO, with Lance Armstrong's cycling case as the comparison. Scott Jurek says he has not personally seen that in ultrarunning, and he calls the sport pretty pure. He hopes 99.9 percent of people never cheat, because you are out there with your friends and the culture treats doping as off limits. The cheating that worries him more is on the ground. People cut courses, in races and on fastest-known-time attempts. He also mentions age-group runners who will bend a rule to grab a personal record. False claims happen. Course-cutting, he says, is the bigger problem.
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The GR trail that goes across Europe as well as the Camino and trails in the Himalayas. He would also like to explore the Colorado and Arizona trails in the United States.
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Scott and Jenny’s kids love the outdoors and being active. The couple has been able to figure out a way to still infuse their lifestyle into their lives. But, changes have had to be made and they are more restricted on what they can do.
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Relationships cannot be one-sided and parenting requires a balance between partners. They have learned much about each other and demands ebb and flow as Scott and Jenny train for different races. Sacrifice is necessary and things cannot be all about one person.
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Scott Jurek tells Backpacker Radio that he has not competed at a high level since his 2015 Appalachian Trail fastest known time. He calls the next level having kids and writing a book. North, the book he and Jenny Jurek worked on for two years, was that project. He had expected to be back on the trail doing something big. Their daughter Raven, and another child sooner than they planned, changed the calendar. At 45 he describes himself as less of an elite athlete than the hosts. A 24-hour run or a 100-mile race for fun still appeals. What he has stepped back from is racing the way he used to.
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On Backpacker Radio, Scott Jurek says North, the book he wrote with Jenny Jurek about his Appalachian Trail speed hike, sat on their plate for two years. They asked more than once to be put back on the trail, because suffering out there was easier than the manuscript. His editor was surprised he wanted a second book at all. Jurek is not a writer by trade. North was not a career memoir like his first book. It was about the through-hike and the speed hike, and they wanted readers to go find a challenge of their own. He says it took three drafts and all-nighters, and that he once told Jenny it was already good enough. They kept going anyway.
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He doesn’t anticipate being as competitive as he once was because of the natural process of getting older. At 45, he realizes that the younger athletes entering the sport are probably able to surpass his current abilities.
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They never want to push their kids into anything, but desire to provide them with opportunities to be exposed to sports, music, etc. and let them determine what they enjoy. Scott hopes they might not become as competitive as he is because of the grueling pace that is required.
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It is not only physical, but very mental. It levels the playing field. One can make up for lack of one of those with the other which makes the sport interesting.
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Scott saw himself as a game warden and he studied hard. Education was important to his parents and they saw it as necessary for him to succeed. But, his goals and trajectories evolved.
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“North” is written by Scott and Jenny and details the AT endeavor from 2015. It gives both of their perspectives, which offers unique insight into the adventure.
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They brought a new spotlight to the forefront of ultrarunning and to his life and experience personally and professionally. It exposed his career to a lot of people who may have otherwise had no awareness of the sport.
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The number of women in ultrarunning has always been high compared to marathoning, but even more so now. Sometimes races will be 50/50 which makes races fun and interesting.
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Scott Jurek was arguably the most talked about person on the Appalachian Trail in 2015 as he was a very popular ultra runner who took his abilities to the trail. Scott ran his first 50 miler in his home state of Minnesota and has not stopped ever since, winning some of the biggest ultramarathon races. In 2015 Jurek set the fastest known time (FKT) for completing the Appalachian Trail.
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You do, and in fact Jurek tries to lose his mind on purpose by relaxing and not thinking too much of the race. There are times when you gotta do the basics mental load, but for the rest of the time you have to find a way to get your mind off things.
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Scott was in debt from ultra running for longer than he was making money. For a long time he would only getting some sponsorship money to cover his training expenses, but not actual paychecks. It's only started to change about 10 years into his running career.
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On the high end, a $5,000 prize might be available. Often, there are $1,000 prizes. Occasionally, there are $10,000 races. Some of the very elite races have no prize money as they try to keep the tradition of the sport intact.
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From sponsors, not from the prize check. On Backpacker Radio, Scott Jurek says a few ultrarunners pick up $5,000 at one race and $10,000 at another, and that this is still not a living. Prestige events such as the Western States 100 and Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc keep drawing the best athletes without a big purse, because a win or a start there is what helps someone land sponsorship and endorsement money. He calls prize money the icing. It covers costs while the athlete is on the way to getting paid by sponsors. His wife, Jenny Jurek, is on the episode too, talking through his Appalachian Trail record and the crew work around it.
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It is a new race that includes 30,000 vertical feet in a 100 mile race. Pennsylvania, and specifically the race area is supposed to be pretty rocky and filled with rattlesnakes.
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Through his shoe sponsor. On Backpacker Radio, Jenny Jurek says she was working at Montrail, a trail-running footwear company, and Scott Jurek was one of the brand's athletes. That is how they met. She then started running trails around Seattle, where he was already part of the community. She jokes about whether dating an athlete broke a company rule, and says three couples got married after meeting at Montrail. Columbia later bought the brand. Jenny crewed Scott on the 2015 Appalachian Trail speed record this episode is about, and they wrote it up in North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail.
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It has gotten a lot bigger and is more on the map. There are a lot of popular races that people want to get into. The number of participants and the number of women has steadily increased. It’s fun and interesting.
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With the increase in popularity and potential prize money associated with ultrarunning, testing is now done more frequently. Ultrarunning is pretty pure as a sport, but some competitors do cut courses and cause issues. The culture of the community also doesn’t lend itself to this since so many ultra runners are friends.
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He tore his quadriceps muscle very early on and endured kneecap issues on the other leg. Two bad injuries at the same time meant he had to use his hiking poles as crutches.
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It is usually 4-6 weeks, which was the entire time slated for his trail adventure. Scott's wife Jenny thought he was certainly done and would not be able to finish.
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There wasn't much space for alone time. Fans appeared on and around the trail and increasing crowds meant that Scott's adventure was a bit overwhelming for her. Scott and Jenny found energy through the fans, but Scott also needed space.
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He considers himself an introvert who enjoys people. He took time to enjoy the fans that would find him on on the trail, but he also had to keep in mind his goal of hiking 50 miles per day.
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Scott Jurek tells Backpacker Radio that the attention around his Appalachian Trail hike felt crazy and, at times, a little overwhelming, and also fun, for him and for Jenny Jurek. The energy was shared. People were on their own hikes and inspiring people back home, and his view is that the world is better when that gets passed on. He thinks he may share too much, and he is fine with other people keeping things to themselves, as long as someone is willing to pass the spark. Had he closed off, he says, he and Jenny would have missed the through-hikers who came out to meet them on a trail he still wanted to experience as a social one.
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Scott would have potentially switched his course, but did it for aesthetic reasons. The previous records were set going northbound, which was motivating for him. The weather was brutal, though.
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Know why you are out there. When things get difficult on the trail and you feel you cannot go on, Scott says that one must know your original motivations.
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19 pounds.
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