Scott Jurek Quotes

19 Sourced Quotes

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
Ultrarunners — even the fiercest competitors — grow to love each other because we all love the same exercise in self-sacrifice and pursuit of transcendence. Because that's what we're all chasing — that zone where we are performing at the peak of our abilities. That instant when we think we can't go on but do go on. We all know the way that moment feels, how rarely it occurs, and the pain we have to endure to grab it back again. The longer an ultrarunner competes, I believe, the more he grows to love not only the sport, not only his fellow ultrarunners, but people in general. We all struggle to find meaning in a sometimes painful world. Ultrarunners do it in a very distilled version.

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 worried that my vegan diet might fail me. I worried that I'd run out of energy. I worried that the heat might prove too much. True, I wasn't as sore as I had been before going to a plant-based diet, and my recovery time was faster than ever. True, I almost never got congested, and whenever a cold or flu swept through Seattle, sending a lot of other runners to bed, I stayed healthy. And of course, I had battled Mount Si and prevailed, if a man could be said to prevail. I had also gone to California a week earlier and trained every day in the 100-degree canyons. But if you can imagine running 100 miles, you can imagine almost anything.

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
Rational assessments too often led to rational surrenders.

Scott Jurek
I'm healthier and I can run longer and faster because I eat a plant-based diet. But I don't preach to my carnivorous friends or lambaste anyone who eats a baked potato slathered with butter and sour cream. Anyone who pays attention to what they eat and how it affects them will naturally move toward plants — and toward health.

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

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

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

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

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

Scott Jurek