Part 7 (1/2)

WESTERN STATES 100, 2002 AND 2003.

Don't work towards freedom, but allow the work itself to be freedom.

-DOGEN ROs.h.i.+.

I knew my fourth try was going to be brutal. It was 105 degrees, I had a touch of the flu, and I was sure people were talking about me the way I had talked about Twietmeyer. The world was filled with guys like Ricklefs. I had been a guy like that. Maybe the past year someone had been holed up in a bas.e.m.e.nt apartment on the outskirts of Seattle, emerging at night only to run Mount Si, back to back to back to back. Maybe that guy was faster than me, stronger. Maybe he was a better athlete.

If I thought biology was destiny, I would have given up a long time ago. I've got scoliosis, my left foot toes out, I had high blood pressure in elementary school, and my marathon time of 2:38 is nothing special. My height is a mixed blessing-good for stride length, bad for heat and technical trails-which makes my brain that much more important.

In a sprint, if you don't have perfect form, you're doomed. The ultra distance forgives injury, fatigue, bad form, and illness. A bear with determination will defeat a dreamy gazelle every time. I can't count the number of times people have said, ”I can't believe he beat me.” Distance strips you bare.

So what if other bodies might be stronger? I would use my mind. Bus.h.i.+do.

”I want to make everyone work hard,” I told a reporter before the race. ”I want to make them hurt.”

I loved ultrarunning and I loved ultrarunners, but even a superpolite vegan could be a d.i.c.k during compet.i.tion, sometimes even to a friend.

Dave Terry, the world-cla.s.s projectile vomiter, was running on my shoulder by mile 15 of the Western States. Three years had pa.s.sed since I'd first rolled to the finish line, and Dave and I had become pals. I had grown to admire his work ethic and the way he went out of the way to show kindness to everyone he met. Dave was a solid runner, often in the top three, but seldom a winner. He never let his frustration boil into anything like rudeness. What was most striking was the way he seemed to understand someone's sadness before it was even mentioned. Dave always had a few wise words of encouragement to share-especially, it seemed, to those who needed them most.

”Hey, Scott,” Dave said as he pulled alongside. Such a sweet guy. I smiled.

”Hey, Dave!” I said in the same tone of voice I might have used if we had been sharing a beer at his kitchen table or discussing plans for a Sat.u.r.day night movie.

And then, before he could answer, I said, ”What are you doing up here? You must really want to hurt today.”

Then I took off.

No one called me flatlander anymore. No one opined (at least in my presence) that I was going out too fast or that Twietmeyer-or anyone else-was going to reel me in. When I wasn't leading, I reeled others in.

It wasn't just compet.i.tors who were treating me differently. People came into the store just to ask me questions-about what I ate, how I trained, and what shoes I liked. I had sponsors.h.i.+p deals from various footwear, clothing, and energy bar manufacturers, but that only covered travel expenses (not necessarily lodging or food).

It was all because I could run far, fast. And I could do that, I was convinced, because of what I was eating. I stopped the raw diet right after my 2001 Western States victory-the extra time involved in chewing was too much. I'm serious. That, combined with my concern about getting enough calories, drew me back to cooking. But I kept a lot of what I had learned: the smoothies, a large salad for lunch, paying attention to ingredients and preparation. Eating raw was like getting a Ph.D. in a plant-based diet-hard work, but worth it.

At the same time, due to losing a food sponsor, I started making my own gels. I mixed brown rice syrup with blueberries or cocoa powder and made it in bulk. I also experimented with kalamata olives and hummus on whole wheat tortillas for long runs.

My blood pressure and triglyceride levels dropped to all-time lows; my HDL, ”good” cholesterol, shot up to an all-time high. I had virtually no joint inflammation, even after miles of pounding trails and roads, and on the rare occasions I sprained an ankle or fell and whacked my elbow or knee, the soreness left faster than it ever had before.

Was it the fiber that sped food through my digestive tract, minimizing the impact of toxins? Was it the food I was adding-the vitamins and minerals, the lycopene, lutein, and beta carotene? Almost every day a new micronutrient is discovered in plant foods that offers protective effects against disease. Or was it what I wasn't eating, the concentrated carcinogens, excess protein, refined carbohydrates, trans fats? Factory-farmed animals are treated with growth hormones and steroids to encourage their rapid transit from birth to slaughterhouse. If we wouldn't take steroids ourselves-or eat a bowl of transgenic, pesticide-soaked soybeans-why would we eat the flesh of an animal that has?

Or was the sum of a plant-based diet greater than its parts? Vegetarians are likely to have healthy habits outside the kitchen as well as more active lifestyles and less smoking. A major study shows that vegetarians watch less television, smoke less, and sleep more per night than meat-eaters.

I wasn't sure of the answer, but my diet seemed to be working. So when I came across naysayers-and there were plenty-I weighed my experience against their theories. When I read Eat Right 4 Your Type, by Peter D'Adamo, right before my first Western States and learned that my blood type, O, was the least suited of all types to vegetarianism, I worried a little, but not too much. According to D'Adamo, my ancestral profile made me a ”canny, aggressive predator” who preferred baby seal meat to bean burritos. But those burritos had fueled me through that first Western States as well as two others. (I wasn't the only one who didn't go along with matching diet to blood type. Dr. Fredrick Stare, founder of the Nutrition Department at the Harvard School of Public Health, calls this book ”not only one of the most preposterous books on the market, but also one of the most frightening. It contains just enough scientific-sounding nonsense, carefully woven into a complex theory, to actually seem convincing to the uninitiated.”) I maintained my smoothie habit. I made more friends at farmer's markets. I soaked beans, baked bread, rolled oats. I entered other races, searched for new training routes. Even though I knew the Western States would be more challenging than ever, I was confident.

Before the race, Dusty had bet an old friend of his in Minnesota, Rod Raymond, one of the standout endurance athletes of Duluth, that I would win a fourth consecutive Western States. Rod took the bet. If Dusty lost, he would have to landscape the Raymonds' front yard, a job worth $2,000. But if Dusty (and I) won, Rod had to give Dusty his 1984 Suzuki Tempter motorcycle.

The race was tough but not close. The last 20 miles, Dusty ran beside me, repeating over and over: ”Vroom, vroom, c'mon, Jurker, gotta get my motorcycle.”

Later, Dusty called Rod and got his voicemail. He yelled into his cell phone. ”You owe me a motorcycle, b.i.t.c.h!”

I won a fifth Western States in 2003 in 16:01, another 20 minutes faster, and UltraRunning magazine called it ”Performance of the Year.” During that race, Dusty, behind me, screamed something as we were descending a dried creek drainage, headed to the American River, but I didn't pay attention. It was 72 miles in and I was gliding, effortlessly. ”Dude,” he said, ”do you realize you just stepped on a rattlesnake back there?”

That was the race when Tonto died. He had been spending the week with Dusty and me, running every day. During the race, Tonto stayed at my friend Shannon Weil's ranch, which was on the course. I saw Tonto at mile 55 when I pa.s.sed the ranch. The next morning, after I had won, Shannon called to tell me Tonto was gone. After the awards ceremony, Dusty, Scott McCoubrey, and another friend and runner named Brandon Sybrowsky helped me bury Tonto just outside of Michigan Bluff, right next to the Western States Trail.

I won again the next year, in 2004, and set a new record of 15:36 (9:22 per mile pace), earning another ”Ultrarunner of the Year” honor and, more importantly, accomplis.h.i.+ng what I had set out to do six years earlier. Brooks Sports hired me that year to work with their design team on a new trail shoe called the Cascadia and to do presentations and store appearances. In 2005 I won a seventh consecutive Western States, something no man had done before (or since). I also trimmed off 14 inches of my hair to donate to Locks of Love, for children with cancer. It was no big ceremony, but it felt better than any other haircut I had ever received.

I treasured those races, but just as much I treasured the weeks before the compet.i.tion. The local press sought out Dusty, and he always had a quote ready. In 2003, the Auburn Journal accidentally ran Dusty on the front page with the caption, ”Scott Jurek 5-time winner of WS100.” We laughed about it and even had him go up at first to accept my award. The WS board wasn't happy. But we loved it.

At night, at the campsite Dusty and I had set up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the temperature would drop into the 30s, and before turning in we'd look at the sky. Neither of us talked about the way Dusty had inspired me to run or the success that accrued to me because of that running. We didn't talk about how being with each other was in many ways an escape for both of us. For Dusty, those weeks took him away from his peripatetic life, his wanderings in Minnesota and Colorado, chasing snowflakes and trying to eke out a living through odd carpentry jobs. For me, it was a refuge from a life of responsibilities I had never antic.i.p.ated.

Not even ten years earlier, I had been trudging snowmobile trails, dreaming big and spending big. I had planned on running hard, counted on winning. What I hadn't antic.i.p.ated were sponsors.h.i.+ps with Brooks, Pro-Tec, and Clif Bar, delivering presentations, and attending trade shows in between races. But, as I had discovered, those were flags on the path of ultrarunning, markers on the path Hippie Dan had urged me to find. Or were they warning signs? I didn't know.

I wanted more. I wanted to push myself, to crack myself open and discover something fresh. I wanted a new challenge.

Tamari-Lime Tempeh and Brown Rice The big concern I hear from people about a plant-based diet is difficulty. It takes too long. It requires too much focus. For those folks I make this dish, which-if you cook the rice beforehand-you can have on the table in less than 20 minutes. The brown rice gives the dish a nutty texture and provides essential amino acids. Tempeh contains 3 grams of protein for every gram of fat, which makes it one of the leanest, most protein-heavy of the soy products (which was invaluable when I was cranking up my training, looking for more protein). Better, it's fermented and easily digestible, even for people who have trouble with most soy products.

4 cups uncooked brown rice 2 cups water 1 teaspoon coconut or olive oil 812 ounces tempeh, sliced - to -inch thick Juice of 1 lime or lemon 1 tablespoon tamari or shoyu mixed with 1 tablespoon water Red Curry Almond Sauce (see recipe, [>]) Add the brown rice and water to a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the water evaporates and the rice is tender. Fluff with a fork and cool.

Coat a large skillet with the oil and heat over medium-low heat until a drop of water sizzles when it hits the pan. Saute the tempeh for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until lightly browned. Remove from the heat. Squeeze the lime or lemon over the tempeh and sprinkle with the tamari or shoyu.

For each serving, place a cup of brown rice on a plate or in a bowl. Crumble several pieces of tempeh on top and drizzle with 1 to 2 tablespoons Red Curry Almond Sauce. Enjoy with a side of Indonesian Cabbage Salad (see recipe, [>]).

MAKES 4 SERVINGS.

14. A Hot Mess.

BADWATER ULTRAMARATHON, 2005.

Fall down seven times, get up eight.

-j.a.pANESE PROVERB.

On August 3, 1977, the hottest day of that year, a fifty-year-old named Al Arnold tried to run from Badwater, California, through and across Death Valley to the summit of 14,000-foot Mount Whitney. Six-foot-five and 200 pounds, he had tried the feat twice before, failing both times. This effort would be his last. He succeeded (and thus was born the Badwater Ultramarathon) and said, regarding the last 40 miles or so: ”It was like all tranquility that can exist . . . existed for me.” He said that photographs taken of him after mile 100 show an unearthly glow coming off his body.

Today, the 135-mile course starts in Death Valley, at 280 feet below sea level, and arrows on a paved road straight to the portal of Mount Whitney, at 8,300 feet. It was the crazy race Rick Miller had told me about four years earlier.

The Badwater Ultramarathon (or simply the Badwater) is big overseas and has been the subject of more than one doc.u.mentary film. Part of the reason is that the race director, Chris Kostman, is something of a publicity genius. The press material calls it ”the world's toughest foot race,” which I seriously doubted, as it was on roads and (for ultrarunners) relatively level. Most untough of all, the cutoff time was 60 hours. You could walk the thing and finish. I had run in hot weather before, at the Western States. I had climbed (and descended) 10,500 feet on my training runs on the Twelve Peaks. I caused despair in others, not the other way around, so the Badwater didn't scare me, but it did intrigue me. It was not as obviously difficult as other events I had won, but there was something perversely challenging about it. I aimed to find out what. Most serious runners wait at least a month between ultras. But less than a week after winning my seventh Western States, I flew to Las Vegas. A lot of people said I was crazy to enter another race, especially this race, especially so soon.

When I arrived in Death Valley, I took a training run that singed my nose hairs. I felt as if a branding iron were pressing on my skull-from the inside. I drove to a Home Depot and purchased an industrial-strength sprayer. I helped Rick and Barb Miller rig up a coffin-sized cooler, which would be filled with ice water. I had, of course, asked Dusty to pace me. (When he felt the heat, he said he would do it only if I promised to take him to Las Vegas for a few days afterward, strippers included.) My main compet.i.tion would be last year's second-place finisher, a Canadian baggage handler named Ferg Hawke, who said things like: ”The first half of the Badwater is run with the legs, the second half with the heart.” He sounded interesting. Not a threat, but interesting. There was another guy, a fifty-year-old named Mike Sweeney. He had brought vests of synthetic ice packets that he had duct-taped together. He had also stored-on dry ice-small Tupperware bowls inside larger Tupperware bowls, anch.o.r.ed by an inch-thick layer of ice between the two. He planned to wear the device (he had three) on his head, duct-taped around his chin. Sweeney dove off cliffs for fun and smacked his head a lot. He said it made him and his skull stronger.

Also competing would be a trio of large German men wearing floppy garden hats, who, recognizing me before the race, chanted, ”Vee vill overtake you!”

Ultramarathons tend to attract obsessive people. To undertake a race of over 50 miles requires training that can occupy 3 hours a day, a routine that involves cramps and pain and loneliness, not to mention the inevitable moments of doubt and maybe even a little self-loathing. Ultras seem to attract seekers of all kinds, including recovering addicts and alcoholics, seers, sages, some very wacky engineers and poets, and a.s.sorted windmill-tilters. Not to mention the monks and holy men.

Consider Sri Chinmoy, who, after arriving in New York City in 1964, taught meditation and a lifestyle of personal transformation in which athletics featured heavily. He attracted thousands of followers, among them Carlos Santana and Carl Lewis, and maintained a center in Queens. He demanded that his followers practice celibacy and vegetarianism and abstain from drugs, alcohol, and smoking. Many of them worked for Chinmoy in his a.s.sociated businesses, such as the Smile of the Beyond Luncheonette in Jamaica and the Oneness-Fountain-Heart in Flus.h.i.+ng.