Prior to the Event
Who would have known I would meet one of the great ultramarathon runners in flesh? To me, Scott Jurek (SJ) is only one of the characters in the book, “Born to Run”. It never crossed my mind the day would come when I could finally meet this runner in person. Thanks to Jonel Mendoza and the FrontRunner Magazine team for bringing this jaunty fellow to the country.
Boggling with notion on how I started counting the remaining days for the meet up and the great event, when an unprecedented travel assignment and run training schedules two weeks prior to the occasion were extremely tight and it was not possible to do a personal errand such as purchasing the ticket for the SJ Live. Rap on it having a muddled mind and excitement all at the same time that I got the dates fogged up. Yes, I was at the venue two days earlier thinking that December 10 was a Monday instead of a Wednesday. Can you conjure how flustering it was to ascertain my cognomen is nowhere to be found in the list because the event is still yet to happen? Whew! What a blooper! Looking back, I realized that I needed to roar at myself for this befuddlement.
During the Scott Jurek Live!
The talk started with a video montage about him and how he came about as an accomplished runner. The presentation showed practical inputs on running: having the right attitude, getting out of the comfort zone, to be informed, getting good nutrition, keep pushing and testing your limits, to stay humble, turning setbacks into advantages, and be passionate about what you loved most—running.
It was really awesome grinning at this perky guy while listening to his pep talk during a run with the Tarahumara Indians, with the late Caballo Blanco in the book Born to Run, and great races such as the Badwater, Spartathlon in Greece among others… it was a surreal moment. SJ is not only a gigantic ultra distance runner but also an academic icon. He graduated in secondary school as class valedictorian and completed a Masters Degree in Physical Therapy. Can you beat that? One word: starstruck. An open forum followed after.
When my ticket number was called during the raffle, I think it was redemption. What happened two days earlier, was in fact, a blessing in disguise. Yeah, I won a fuel belt awarded by SJ himself plus a photo taken with him. To top it off, each got an autograph and a photo op with him again. I could not ask for more.
