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For nearly two decades, Scott Jurek has been a dominant force — and darling — in the grueling and growing sport of ultrarunning. In 1999, as a complete unknown, he took the lead of the Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile traverse over the old Gold Rush trails of the California Sierra Nevada. He won that race 7 years in a row, setting a course record along the way. Twice he won the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile "jaunt" from the bottom of Death Valley to the shoulders of Mount Whitney. He triumphed in the 153-mile Spartathlon in Greece three times. Recently, he set a new American record by running 165.7 miles in 24 hours—6.5 marathons in one day. And he was one of the elite runners who traveled to Mexico to run with the Tarahumara Indians, as profiled in the runaway bestseller Born to Run. His accomplishments are nothing short of extraordinary, but that he has achieved all of this on a plant-based diet makes his story all the more.