by Jonah Keri

While you were still sleeping, Scott Jurek ran 30 miles, up a trail that climbs 3,600 feet. While you shuffled to the kitchen for Cheerios, Jurek spent two hours strength training, working his entire upper and lower body. He’s not done yet. A core routine follows, as Jurek works his abdominal muscles until they burn. That’s easily remedied by his preferred method of therapy — jumping into a tub full of ice water to soak away the day. In between, he’ll prepare, cook and munch on an array of vegan foods. The day after a peak training session, he’ll pound down an obscene amount of whole grains, raw veggies and wheat germ drinks: about 6,000 to 8,000 calories, give or take a lentil or two.

Just a ho-hum day of training when you’re one of the best ultramarathon runners in the world. Jurek is one of a growing legion of (ummm … thrill seekers? masochists?) individuals willing to put their bodies and minds to the test by running extra-long races, often in grueling conditions.”Winning a race, or even finishing a race, you get this intense high, this great feeling of self-satisfaction,” said Jurek, a 34-year-old former Nordic ski racer who ran his first ultra in 1994. “The struggles I encounter throughout a race can sometimes seem insurmountable. Heat, distance, altitude — you’ve got to get through all of that. A lot of getting through and feeling good afterwards is ego. But on a deeper level, pushing one’s body to those extremes, like in life … sometimes the most difficult times bring the most clarity.”

An ultramarathon is defined as any race longer than the traditional 26.2 miles of a marathon. The most common distances in U.S. races are either 50 or 100 miles, with some pushing 150 miles. There are also timed races: See how far you can run in 12 hours, or 24 hours, or six days. More and more people are embracing the challenge of ultra running. According to UltraRunning magazine, 354 races were run in the U.S. and Canada last year, with a total of 25,816 finishes. In all, 14,251 runners of all ages completed an ultra; nearly 30 percent of those finishers were women. Participation in ultra races has jumped more than twofold over the past 20 years.

Some of the world’s best-known ultra races have become legendary among runners for the challenges and punishment they dish out. The Badwater Ultramarathon takes racers through 135 miles of hell. The course starts 282 feet below sea level in Death Valley, Calif., at the lowest point in the continental U.S. It ends 8,360 feet above sea level, more than halfway up Mount Whitney — the highest point in the contiguous 48 states. The race usually happens in July, when temperatures routinely hit 120 degrees in the shade.

At least the ground is softer when it’s that hot out. In the Arrowhead Winter Ultra, racers must cover 135 miles in the hinterlands of northern Minnesota, running on terrain that’s often frozen solid. Only 27 out of 50 racers completed the circuit this year, yet that was the highest percentage in the race’s history. Last year, only 10 finished the race, from a starting group of 46. No wonder. Temperatures in the Arrowhead region of Minnesota can drop as low as minus-60 Fahrenheit.Then there’s the Spartathlon, one of Jurek’s favorites. When the Persians landed in Marathon, Greece, in 490 B.C., the Greeks dispatched a messenger named Pheidippides to Sparta, more than 240 kilometers (150 miles) away, to seek help. According to legend, Pheidippides then ran 40 kilometers (26 miles) from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greeks’ victory against the Persians, before dropping dead. The shorter 26-mile route became the blueprint for the modern marathon, a distance now regularly run by well-trained athletes and weekend warriors alike. Since 1983, an ultramarathon covering 153 miles has been run in honor of Pheidippides’ longer run. But while marathon races are run all over the world, the 153-mile Spartathlon happens only in Greece, along the same Athens-to-Sparta road traversed nearly 2,500 years ago. Jurek has won the race two years in a row, clocking two of the fastest times in history.

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