Yesterday afternoon, plant-powered ultra-runner Scott Jurek set a new record , completing what he calls his “masterpiece” — he ran 2,189 miles on the Appalachian Trail in 46 days, 8 hours, and 7 minutes. That’s three hours faster than the previously held record set in 2011 by Jennifer Pharr Davis. Jurek started his journey on May 27 at Springer Mountain in Georgia. Crossing through 14 states and averaging nearly 50 miles a day, he reached the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine on Sunday afternoon. A legend in the running world, Jurek is considered one of the greatest ultrarunners of all time. He’s a seven-time winner of the Western States 100-miler as well as a two-time winner of the Badwater 135-miler which is described as “the world’s toughest foot race.” In 2010, he set a US record at the World 24-hour Run Championships in Brive, France, where he ran 165.7 miles in 24 hours, averaging 8:42 minutes per mile. That’s equivalent to running 6.5 marathons in...