North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail

Amazing story. Get the audiobook because it's very well told through the voices of Scott and Jenny. Enjoyed this very much.

“I believe it is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown.” – Ernest Shackleton.

I've always seen hiking as a transformative experience. It can help you appreciate the world around you, warm your soul, test your physical (and mental) limits, and sear the most incredible sights onto your mind forever. But what if you were attempting to take on the fastest known time on one of the most famed trails in the world? That's what this book is about. Scott Jurek will need to set an average pace of 45+ miles a day in order to beat the standing record at that point in time. What takes most people 6 to 7 months to complete, he has to finish in under 50 days.

The book follows the record-breaking attempt from start to finish, and at the time, it was fairly big news in the sports and recreation world. Scott's wife, Jenny, accompanies him on the hike and helps provide moral support, food, confidence boosts, and more. I won't spoil the outcome, but even if you know what happens, the story is always in the journey, not the destination.

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I loved EAT & RUN and listened to the audiobook multiple times while training for a half marathon.

For well over a decade I've been interested in hiking the AT and followed Scott's journey back in 2015.

As excited as I was to read this, I ended up putting it down for a few years because it just wasn't gripping me the same as the first book.

It was interesting to hear the dual narration between Scott and Jenny. I hadn't realized that at the time of tackling the speed record that they were both processing a lot of grief and how impactful this journey was to both of them individually and as a couple.

While this one didn't capture my heart as much as his first book, this is a powerful, intense read about the endurance and capacity of the human body and spirit.

a worse read when compared with Eat & Run, i think. reading these ultrarunners' books...i find my mind is completely boggled. not at the distance, necessarily, but because they really end up putting their health on the line, but they seem so health-obsessed, too. maybe these just aren't for me. still going to read Born to Run though.

jurek really tends to paint a bleak picture with practically every race he describes, and then turns around at the last minute and describes how he won handily seemingly out of nowhere. this gets both old and confusing; he spends way too much time describing pure struggle for me to really comprehend how he won or made it through to the end in many instances. wish he would get into that more in his writing.

this particular journey was somewhat mindnumbing and frustrating to read. jenny's sections help break it up, and i probably wouldn't have even finished this if it were just scott's perspective. overall it's a very interesting juxtaposition with how this FKT is shown in the Game Changers film. the worst part for me was realizing that jurek basically admits he fucks around and wastes a ton of time early on, then at the end he's dangerously sleep-deprived, delirious, and metabolizing his own muscle (cardiac risk) because of how he mismanaged the trip...because of his ego. didn't feel a bit of sympathy at that point. the last sections, especially, sounded very dangerous, and i was definitely annoyed with how they seemed to approach that.

the fkt seems like it was a herculean, community effort, and i admire scott's grit, but reading about it definitely took the luster off the record for me. also solidified how much of sports can be about resources. i doubt some no name with similar capabilities to jurek would get away with messing about like he did, because they wouldn't get nearly as much help. he called in like eight lifelines to push and pull and drag him along.

Really enjoyed this book. The descriptions of the trails, the people, the personal relationships and the injuries were all great. My favourite bit tough was the mental battle in the last quarter. We all hit the wall. Some like me hit it at 20 miles. Some like Scott hit it at 1800 miles. Reading his and Kali's thoughts around that was a huge learning and sobering experience. It's been a huge inspiration reading the book after following Scott's movements on social media during the actual event.

Like always - why not leave and do a long hike? What does regular routine life have on exploring your limits and “forest bathing” for weeks on end ;)

TLDR: If you are a fan of the ultra-running genre, you will likely enjoy this book. I feel Scott's writing has improved from his previous books and seeing the trip from Jenny's point of view certainly provided greater perspective to the reader. It will both humble you and inspire you. Get out there run those miles and chase the pain that will “make you big.”

I bought this book from Scott during the Born to Run Ultra event held by Luis Escobar each year. We talked for about fifteen minutes about running and vegetarianism. There were many others from previous running books that I've read as well, and it was surreal. But then I realized how grounded they all were. Don't get me wrong, all these runners are extraordinary, but they are all weird and crazy which is something that anybody can work to be. We can accomplish similar feats - though probably at a smaller scale - ourselves. I feel the book tries to make this sentiment clear. Anybody can find a support group, and anybody can chase their goals. If you want a story to show you what real grit is and then become inspired to find it yourself, this will certainly get you there.