http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/running_dialogue/2012/06/scott-jurek-a-band-of-merry-runners-logged-32-miles-in-manhattan-before-y-0
Scott Jurek & a band of merry runners logged 32 miles in Manhattan before YOU finished your first coffee
Scott Jurek, center front row in yellow tank, poses with the band of endurance runners. Actor Peter Sarsgaard is pictured in the back row, blue tank with white sweatband. (Photo via Jurek's Twitter feed)
BY BARRY PADDOCK
Before most New Yorkers had downed their first cup of coffee Tuesday, running champ Scott Jurek was leading a group on a 32-mile run around the entire island of Manhattan.
Jurek, 38, who lives in Boulder, Colorado, met up with about 50 local runners at 5 a.m., including film star Peter Sarsgaard, for the trek, for a trek longer than a marathon.
“I always wanted to see the whole island in one shot,” Jurek said.
Jurek is a superstar in the running world. He won the Spartathlon race from Athens to Sparta, Greece three years in a row, starting in 2006. That course is a mind-boggling 152 miles.
He was in town to promote his new book, “Eat & Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness,” which details his veganism and running triumphs.
Jurek’s free run with locals, promoted on Meetup.com, began in Robert Moses Playground next to the United Nations and headed uptown.
New runners joined in along the way, while others pooped out. About two dozen made it all the way around the island, including Sarsgaard (shown above), and Jurek tweeted distance updates and photos for the entire route.
It was Jurek’s longest-ever all-urban run, which presented some logistical challenges.
“Going through traffic you have 50 people, so you realize - is everybody going to make it across?” he said.
The tired group found an oasis when they reached Inwood Hill Park on the northwestern tip of Manhattan.
“It was just gorgeous up there,” Jurek said. “I love mountains, but there’s beauty in the mountains here of Manhattan.”
They also stopped at a Twin Donut to refuel, though Jurek stuck to energy bars.
Jurek completed the run in five hours and 52 minutes, giving him plenty of time to get to know New Yorkers who joined him.
“I heard stories,” he said. “You definitely get chances to talk. It’s a social opportunity more than people assume. There’s a pack mentality.”
Runners raved about the experience.
“It was like running with your heroes, like meeting the Beatles,” said Denise Hidalgo, 53, who joined the group briefly near her home in Washington Heights before running out of steam.
Hidalgo, who started running less than a year ago, was stunned when she heard about Jurek’s radical route around Manhattan on Meetup.com
“I never thought that was humanly possible,” she said.
Actor Peter Sarsgaard, who plans to direct a movie based on the book “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen,” by Christopher McDougall, completed the entire route.
Jurek is a key player in the book.
Sarsgaard, who played villain Hector Hammond in “Green Lantern,” took the run as an opportunity to bond with the ultramarathoner.
“I’m in good shape,” Sarsgaard said. “But I don’t run that far - ever.”
Sarsgaard, who played villain Hector Hammond in “Green Lantern,” took the run as an opportunity to bond with the ultramarathoner.
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