Review of Eat and Run by Jordan Alderley

My Unlikely Adventure to Ultimate greatness is a new autobiography by the world-tripper Scott Jurek and internationally acclaimed runner, Steve Friedman. It was released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in June of 2021. You can buy the book on Amazon. It’s a fantastic read with some excellent motivational messages regarding diet and running. You’ll learn why eating and running are the best combinations for you and what you can expect from your physical and mental fitness.

I’ll start by saying that Scott Jurek is not only a great athlete, he is an exemplary ultra marathoner. He has won the American road race title several times, including last year’s edition, and placed second in the overall marathon in 2021. Jurek also holds the world record for the most consecutive road race starts in a marathon career. He is currently training for his tenth marathon. He is also a member of the USA Cycling team.

Eat and run is designed as a guide to help the novice runner in the world of ultra running by giving him information and tips on what to eat and how much to eat and at what time during the day. This is not just another “be hungry and train” regime. It’s a series of practical suggestions based on his experiences running and ultraathlons in the USA, Europe, Africa and Asia, and based on his own research. This is not a book on how to run a marathon, it is a book on what to eat before, during and after your ultra marathon race.

In the introduction section, author Michael Allen talked about why he became a vegan. He speaks about how he started his vegan diet when he was seven years old and had to give up hamburgers because of his beef-fed cow T-bone. He goes into detail about the health benefits of following this lifestyle as well as the mental and physical bonuses he garnered by being a vegan. After going through the withdrawals and the weight loss that went along with it, he realized that being a vegan was what really got him ready to run his second marathon. He speaks about how the mentally and physically aspect of being a vegan helped him become a better runner. After being a vegan, he now spends most of his time between workouts on an organic farm and organic yams because he believes that by eating these foods, he is more able to focus on his training and endurance.

In chapter two, he goes into detail about why he believes that runners should eat more than just meat. He speaks about how the body needs carbohydrates to fuel the muscle fibers for high-intensity workouts. Vegetarians can also be fit athletes, according to him, because they will get their required amount of protein from eggs and milk and other foods that come from animals. Finally, while he admits that there are plenty of vegetables that are good for you and that eating them does not make you a vegetarian, he argues that you do not need as many vegetables as some say and that consuming more fruits and vegetables in your diet will do you more good than any protein from animal sources.

With chapters three, I wanted to know what his definition of a ultrasomechanical marathon was. According to him, it was running a marathon with no mechanical aid except for a treadmill or elliptical machine. He also argues that this is what most professional runners do. I ran an ultra last year and didn’t know could even run a marathon without using some sort of aid, and that is what I did. My coach was right though, so I stuck to it.

In the end, Eat and run the book convinced me that eating healthy is a necessity, and that while I might not be able to run a marathon under the strictest of conditions, I could eat well and train hard. Eat and run is very much a lifestyle choice, not a diet, and the tips outlined in the book will help anyone who wants to eat better and become a healthier runner. There are also many recipes in the book that will allow runners to eat more calories while still getting plenty of energy. Eat and run is not a diet but it is an alternative to a standard diet that many people don’t know can be done and can be effective.