Vegan ultra marathon champion

There is a delightful article in the Friday, July 22, Seattle Post-Intelligencer that should be read by every vegan who has had to face questions about whether she/he gets enough protein, and whether the diet is really healthy. Headed, "Seattle man amazes everyone in 135-mile marathon--including himself" it is about Scott Jurek, a vegan athlete who just won the Badwater Ultramarathon and who has won the Western States 100 mile race seven times in a row.

We read that at the end of the Badwater race, "He hardly looks as if he's just run 135 miles, through 115-degree desert heat, from the lowest point in the United States to the slopes of one of its highest points, Mount Whitney. You wouldn't know that this was his first time racing the Badwater Ultramarathon, or that he shattered the course record by more than half an hour, or that he was a full two hours ahead of his closest competitor."

And:
"On July 12, in 24 hours, 36 minutes and eight seconds, the Seattle man won the Badwater, one of ultrarunning's toughest events. Before the California race, Jurek had never run more than 90 minutes on pavement. Nor had he trained for the intense desert heat, except for arriving a week early to the Death Valley start area. And, he'd just come off of winning another world-class ultramarathon two weeks earlier -- barely any recovery time between two colossally demanding endurance feats. Jurek, who won his seventh Western States 100-miler in a row in June, says he conquered the Badwater by respecting the heat and biding his time."

More on the Badwater race:
"Some say the Badwater is the most extreme running race in the world. Just 81 runners attempted it this year, and only 67 finished the course, which started 282 feet below sea level in Death Valley and finished 8,360 feet up Mount Whitney. Many competitors take almost as long as the 60-hour cutoff, and some will sleep or rest for hours at a time."

And then the great news about Jurek's compassionate diet:
"For food, Jurek, a vegan, ate energy bars and gels, potatoes and rice balls, chased by soy protein drinks and electrolyte capsules. He consumed 60-120 calories every 20-30 minutes, mostly on the run."

You can read the whole article on line:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/othersports/233630_jurek22.html

I hope you will forward it far and wide, and also use it as a jump-off point for letters to the editor about some of the joys of vegan diets. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer takes letters at editpage [at] seattlepi.com and advises, "To have your letter considered for publication, it must include your name, address, daytime telephone number and signature. All letters should be no longer than 200 words and are subject to editing. Because of the volume of letters received, not all letters can be published. Letters that cannot be verified also will not be published."


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)