This summer, Scott Jurek decided to go after the Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Appalachian trail. This was the second record attempt and brought back the memory of when I read North, the memoir of the first attempt, so I thought it would be a good one to feature this month.
North is a great memoir from husband and wife Scott and Jenny Jurek, retracing the journey of Scott’s FKT attempt on the Appalachian Trail (North direction), a trail covering roughly 2,190 miles, from Georgia to Maine.
The book provides a vibrant story of inspiration, love, resilience, belief, which carry Scott through pain, injury and set backs. Throughout the book, I had a mixed of emotion between “this is freaking crazy” and “this is freaking awesome”! But one point that remained clear throughout was the strength of the body, the mind and the social connections.
Scott emphasizes the importance of Jenny, his wife, and how that deepened (transformed?) their relationship. He also talks about the community to cheer him on, from the knowledge to help him prepare to the energy along the way.
I found the notes from Jenny to be really interesting. Experiencing “the other side” from her voice was fascinating, from the dedication and incredible amount of work to the emotional roller coaster.
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