During the last 2 years I have been very lucky and had the opportunity to run with many elite runners. Most of them has been very nice but everyone knows about my preference for Scott (Jurek) who until know has been by far my favourite runner. This Sunday I had the honor to meet and run with Marshall Ulrich and he definitely made it to the top, now Scott has to hare his podium!! We were a small group for the run so we all get to run and chat with him. Since the moment we met him I noticed how nice and kind he is. He introduced himself to everyone and during the run he was very chatting and asking questions about how we have started running, why, etc. I mentioned I am from Argentina and he told me about his expedition there to climb the Aconcagua and how he lost his passport in the mountains and needed to get a new one in Buenos Aires.
He is a very charismatic person and you just need to look at him to discover that he is also a gentleman. He seems to be very calm and down to earth.
After the run more people joined us and Marshall did a presentation of his book "Running on Empty" which relates part of his life and how he started running, but mainly it relates his run across America.
I have to admit that I wasn't aware of all his accomplishments and once he started with the presentation I was astonished!!
I am now in Chapter 5 and with every page I read I keep saying "wow"!! It is very interested to read how he started running, why and how running changed his life in so many aspects.
The love he felt for his first wife is just a story by itself, one that could easily make it to a movie.
I am not an avid reader and I have to admit that as much as I like running, in general I don't like reading running books. Nevertheless, I can't put this book down!!
It is more than a story about a runner, it is real, touching and inspiring in much more aspects than running. It is a book about running that even non-runners could enjoy.
It is the story of an ordinary man that one day became extraordinary.
He is an ultramarathoner, explorer and elite extreme endurance athlete. You name it and he has done it all even though he didn't start running until he was 28 years old!
• Completed more than 120 ultra marathons averaging over 125 miles each.
• Reached the summit of each of the Seven Summits, including Mount Everest, all on first attempts.
• Competed in all nine Eco Challenge adventure races – something only two other people in the world have done – and has completed 12 expedition-length adventure races.
• Crossed Death Valley a record 21 times, including a solo and 586-mile quad crossing.
• Completed a 3,063-mile run across America, equal to 117 marathons in 52.5 days, breaking the Masters and Grand Masters record; the third-fastest crossing ever on the San Francisco to New York City route.
• Won the Badwater 146-mile race from minus 282 feet to the 14,494-foot summit of Mount Whitney a record 4 times – and still holds the record to the summit.
• Completed the Leadville Trail 100 and Pikes Peak Marathon on the same weekend – a feat no one else in the world has achieved.
• Completed all six 100-mile trail races, finishing top-10 in five of them, in the same year – and was the first person ever to do so (in 1989).
You can closed your mouth now!!
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