Unbreakable: The Western States 100

I was so excited when I saw the DVD I ordered had arrived in our mailbox.  All day at work I couldn't wait to get home and pop in Unbreakable.  I watched it while I ran on the treadmill and I felt like I was running with all of these amazing people the entire way.

'Unbreakable: The Western States 100' follows the four lead men on this amazing journey. Hal Koerner, two time defending Western States champion, and running store entrepreneur from Ashland, Oregon. Geoff Roes, undefeated at the 100-mile distance, an organic chef from Juneau, Alaska. Anton Krupicka, undefeated in every ultramarathon he has ever started, a graduate student living in Boulder, Colorado. Kilian Jornet, the young mountain runner and two time Ultra-trail du Mont-Blanc champion, from Spain.

Anton Krupicka (Tony)

Every runner in this movie was inspirational and heroic in their own way, but of course I had my favorite.  I instantly loved Anton Krupicka, or Tony, the hippie dude from Boulder with long hair and a lanky body.  Him and his girlfriend are such a cool runner couple.  She's a law student and he is a smarty pants in graduate school studying some crazy science.

I rooted for Tony the entire way.  Many of you already know who won the WS100 in 2010 but I won't give it away in case you don't know.    I will say, Tony kicked ass.  I would really like to hunt him down and make him be my friend.  He is that cool.  He writes a seriously fascinating blog called, Riding the Wind, and also writes for Running Times.

I was also intrigued by Kilian, from Spain.  His story is incredible!  He grew up in the Pyrenees Catalan and his mother used to make him find his way around the mountains in the complete dark.  She thought it was important for him to learn how to get out of difficult situations.  Kilian was running the mountains at a very young age.  The way he glides uphill during the WS100 and drinks straight from the stream makes it pretty obvious that he grew up doing this sort of thing.  There is something animalistic and beautiful about the way he runs. 

Scott Jurek made a few appearances which of course got me all excited.  I wish he was running the race, but seeing his face a few times was good enough.  Apparently he is buds with my soon-to-be best friend, Tony.  It doesn't surprise me -- they seem to have a lot in common. 

I couldn't help but notice how healthy everyone ate in this film.  It showed all of the runners loading up on greens and vegetables and I only saw one of the runners eating meat.  I was impressed.  No pizza and cheeseburgers for these guys.  So of course, I sauteed some kale, collard greens, swiss chard and tofu after watching the movie because I want to be great like them.  It's totally possible, you know.  ;-)

I am so ready to hit the trails this weekend after watching this movie.  We already planned a run in Los Penasquitos Canyon for my long run day and I can't wait.  I'll channel Tony on my run and hope for some speed and strength up those big hills. 

Order your copy of Unreakable at:  http://www.ws100film.com/