HUNTINGTON BEACH – A shirtless Jurgen Ankenbrand sits in the front seat of his beat-up car, chugging from a half-gallon container of supercharged fruit juice.

He’s taking a break from a 65-mile run to celebrate his 65th birthday, running laps around Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley.

“I don’t know whose crazy idea this was,” says Ankenbrand, a retired food service manager. “But, whoever it is, that person should be shot.”

He’s referring, of course, to himself.

That was Jan. 21, 2006.

And, though he didn’t know it at the time, getting shot isn’t far from how his story would end.

•••

Ankenbrand wasn’t always a globe-trotting runner.

In 1987, at age 47, he accepted a dare to run the Long Beach Marathon. His athletic passion to that point was tennis, not running.

Ankenbrand finished the marathon in a respectable 4:05, and a lifestyle was born.

Like many long-distance runners, Ankenbrand took to the sport for reasons other than competition – to meet new people, see new places, fun.

He became an “ultrarunner,” a person who runs races longer than traditional marathons, which are 26.2 miles. Typically, “ultramarathons” are 50k (31 miles), 50 miles and 100 miles. Most are run on dirt trails in mountains and deserts.

Ankenbrand’s running took him all over the world, to places like Mt. Everest, Antarctica, the Sahara Desert, Borneo, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa and Cuba.

When he took early retirement in 2003 from a job as a food service manager, his globe-trotting increased.

Ankenbrand, who divorced in his late 40s, lived modestly, renting a room in a townhome and driving an aging Ford Probe. He filled his trunk with his necessities – running clothes and beach supplies.

His income included $1,150 monthly Social Security checks and part-time work as a mystery shopper.

Ankenbrand also earned money as a freelance photographer and writer, chronicling his global adventures, including a 3,200-mile footrace across Europe, from Lisbon to Moscow.

•••

Ten days after he celebrated his 65th birthday with 65 laps around Mile Square Park, Ankenbrand was on his bicycle, in Huntington Beach, cruising home after a day near the water.

A car hit Ankenbrand from behind.

Unconscious and in the intensive care unit for three days, he awoke to serious injuries: a bruised brain and a damaged spinal cord that affected several nerves that regulate speech, walking, upper-body strength and swallowing.

He spent six weeks in the hospital, and underwent therapy to improve his speech and balance.

Two months after the crash, Ankenbrand said this:

“Fate had a huge and unexpected surprise in store for me – perhaps to bring me back to earth.”

After the accident, Ankenbrand never was 100 percent.

But he still enjoyed his simple life. The German-born Ankenbrand, who called himself “Ultra Kraut,” still ran a couple times a week at the beach. And he still dreamed of his next big adventures.

He never remarried, though he joined a group for singles at his church.

Monica, his daughter, remained the love of his life.

When he was hit in 2006, Ankenbrand said Monica, then living in New York, stayed with him 12 hours a day, every day, for the first two weeks.

“This was the first time in my life that I understood the real value of family and how important loyalty is, regardless of circumstances,” Ankenbrand said.

These days, Monica, 35, is living in Los Angeles, and recently was closer to the father who shamelessly adored and bragged about his daughter.

“She makes double the money I ever made in my best job,” he said in January 2006.

•••

On Dec. 22, 2010, fate had another surprise for Ankenbrand.

Closing in on his 70th birthday, he was on his bicycle at about 5:40 p.m., exiting Villa Pacific Drive onto Brookhurst Street in Huntington Beach.

According to a preliminary investigation, Ankenbrand was moving in tandem along the driver side of a Toyota 4Runner as it was turning left to go north on Brookhurst.

The 4Runner struck and knocked Ankenbrand to the pavement.

The driver kept going, police say.

A Honda Odyssey traveling south on Brookhurst Street then struck Ankenbrand a second time.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident remains under investigation.

“This is still a hit and run,” said Huntington Beach police Lt. Russell Reinhart. “The suspect is still unknown.”

On Jan. 5, someone put a “Ghost Bike” at the intersection where Ankenbrand died. The bike is painted white, to honor Ankenbrand and to remind motorists a cyclist was killed at that spot.

•••

Jurgen Ankenbrand lived in Orange County for more than 30 years.

In addition to Monica Ankenbrand, an associate client director at ACNielsen Co., he is survived by a granddaughter, Rhys Ankenbrand Breeden.

Memorial services were private.

At his request, Ankenbrand’s cremated remains were scattered at sea.

“I enjoy life,” Ankenbrand once said. “I don’t want to be one of those people who says, “I wish I would have done this or done that.”

His motto, he said, was this: “Do the most with the least effort.”

Contact the writer: 714-704-3764 or ghardesty@ocregister.com