scott jurek

Me (left) and my buddy Tom.

Just got back from another trip to Seattle

What a really cool place. I’m becoming increasingly sold that the Pacific Northwest is the place for me. Within the span of 12 hours I got to do two of my favorite things — sailing and trail running.

The sailing

The sailing was a sunset touristy outing on an old 70′ ocean racer. The boat can cruise with 32 people and anyone can pay $40 and go out, but because it’s really early in the season for tourist sails there were only 12 on my ride. Because of the size of the vessel this made it almost a private cruise. Most of the other passengers sat safely aft in the cockpit, but I grew up doing a lot of sailing and felt more than comfortable up on deck near the bow. Upwind we healed over quite a bit and I really had to hold on, but that just made it more fun.

The running

The next morning I got up at 6:00am and headed out to Cougar Mountain with my friend Tom. The last time I was out there, I did some trails I found on my own. They were great, but I wanted to see what a local recommendation might be so I sent a tweet to Scott Jurek who lives out there. I met and did a brief run with him a few weeks ago when he was out here in NYC. I didn’t know if he’d get back to me, but to my surprise, I got a quick response with some suggestions.

Cougar was pretty effing amazing and probably the better of the two places I’ve run out there. It also seemed less touristy to me. We did come across several other people on the trails, but almost all of them were seemingly local runners. In fact, at one point, we came across this group of four who were all geared-out with their headlamps, CamelPaks and Vibram FiveFingers. They were going down as we were running up, but they were doing it effortlessly. Definitely not weekenders out for a stroll. Here’s a map (PDF) if you want to check it out.

I’m hoping to get back out there in a couple weeks. Maybe next time I’ll lug a better camera into the woods with me to take some real photos. The camera on my iPhone ain’t so great in low light.

Oh and in case you were wondering…

Yes, I checked EVERYWHERE for ticks when I got home from the run.

Scott Jurek (back middle), myself (black shirt with orange sleeves) and some running friends

Runners are awesome

The running store that I coach for is very friendly with Brooks. I like to think that it’s because we’re all-around damn fine people to hang out with. But it’s probably due to the fact that we’re their top retailer within the specialty running store category on the East Coast (not including FootLocker, WalMart, etc.). Who knows? Regardless, because of our relationship with them, we get some special Brooks perks.

The perks usually involve them sending us free shoes or discounts on shorts. Last week, however, completely surpassed any freebie footwear. They sent us Scott Jurek for four days!

Who’s that?

If you’re not a runner – or even if you are – you may not know who Scott Jurek is, but in the world of ultra-running (greater than marathon distance) he’s pretty much The Man. To give you an idea of how baddass a runner he is, here are some of his accomplishments:

Seven-time winner of the grueling Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run with a course record of 15:36 (that’s HOURS not minutes)
Three-time and only American winner of the 153 mile Spartathon. A race in Greece from Athens to Sparta
Two-time winner of the Badwater Ultramarathon. A 135 mile run through Death Valley and up Mt. Whitney

And the list goes on. Check out the highlights section of his website to see more. All of them are pretty staggering achievements most of which boggle the mind of even the seasoned ultra-runners I know.

He’s also somewhat featured in the hot book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Which, by the way, is a fantastic read. Probably the best book I’ve ever read on running.

Visiting NYC

While he was here, Scott gave a series of slide show lectures at our Manhattan store, had dinner at a local organic farm/restaurant with a small group of lucky people (Scott’s a vegan) and did two group runs. The first run was in Central Park; the second in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I couldn’t make the lectures due to work, but I did get to share in the organizational duties of the Brooklyn run. Myself and a couple of other guys from the store mapped out a four-mile mostly trail surface route.

It was a little embarrassing to take Scott on a four-mile run knowing that he averages running 125-150 miles a week (yes, a week!), but if was he was even the slightest bit irritated you’d never know it. He turned out to be one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Very laid back, down to Earth and approachable even with his status as an Ultra-Running Phenom.

After the run, some of us went back to the store with Scott and he hung out, answer questions and signed some autographs. I’m not really one to go for autographs, but since he was signing I decided to get one. He signed a little poster for me that Brooks made featuring him in the trail running shoes that he helped designed, the Brooks Cascadia. It’s now hanging on the wall over my computer in my “motivation space”. The spot where I post goal times, inspirational quotes, old race numbers, photos and (sometimes) medals. A nice addition.

Running makes you a better person

For me, the takeaway from this experience was that the old adage of “running makes you a better person” is really true. Between coaching and just being involved in the community I talk to a lot of sub 40 mile a week runners. Most of them are very nice, but over the last year or so I’ve been meeting more and more ultra-runners and I have to say, as the miles go up so does the cool quotient. Whether they’re local folks, highly-accomplished International athletes like my friends Christopher or top-competitors like Scott, it really seems that the more miles you run the nicer you become.

Thanks, Scott!

Trail Running Cougar Mountain