And Then the Vulture Eats You
"It won't matter whether or not you've attempted an ultra, or whether or not you even dream of one. If you enjoy running and reading, you'll want this book."--David Meyers, Running JournalThe best writers in the sport of running describe the last frontier of long-distance events: races longer than a marathon.James Shapiro begins by relating with heart-rending detail his experiences in a six-day race in "Swifts on the Wing." In "To the Limit and Beyond," Kenny Moore takes you through the Great Hawaiian Footrace, a horrendous six-day ordeal that seemingly changes his life. Don Kardong, one of the wittiest and most personable writers in the sport, in "Le Grizz" goes the fifty-mile distance at the infamous race. Ed Ayres, former editor of Running Times, takes on the Western States 100 in "Wings of Icarus," and the event turns out to be a kind of catharsis in his life. In "Road Warriors," Hal Higdon's report on his group's attempt to run across the state of Indiana is a lighthearted, self-imposed challenge that turns into a spiritual odyssey. Tom Hart attempts to run a solo thirty-seven-miler on his thirty-seventh birthday, which reveals that an ultra is more than a feat of endurance, it is a journey into self. John L. Parker, Jr. ends with "And Then the Vulture Eats You," an uproarious analysis of ultra runners.A book for all ultra runners, and for curious "normal" runners.
The Lure of Long Distances
Robin Harvie was a fairly ordinary runner. He ran his first marathon after a bet. Then he found that although he couldn't run fast, he could run long distances -- very long. A casual hobby turned into a 120-miles-a-week obsession, and a training route along the River Thames morphed into a promise to himself that he would tackle the oldest and toughest footrace on earth: the Spartathlon from Athens to Sparta. This race, a recreation of Pheidippides's legendary journey, is 150 miles long, crosses two mountain ranges, and is the toughest race on the ultradistance runner's calendar. It isn't at all ordinary. Harvie's experience -- from the mundanity of daily training routes to the extreme tests of the desert's scorching heat and the darkest hours of the night -- reveals the profoundly intoxicating experience of running, and the ways in which every mile taken is both a step further into the unknown and a pace deeper into the self.
The Athlete's Guide to Recovery
HIT A WALL IN YOUR TRAINING? Maybe you aren't giving the gains enough time to take hold. Hard workouts tear down the body, but rest allows the body to repair itself and come back stronger than before. The Athlete's Guide to Recovery is the first comprehensive, practical exploration of the art and science of athletic rest. Certified cycling, triathlon, and running coach Sage Rountree guides you to full recovery and improved performance, exploring how much rest athletes need, how to measure fatigue, and how to make the best use of recovery tools. Drawing on her own experience along with interviews with coaches, trainers, and elite athletes, Rountree details daily recovery techniques and demystifies common aids such as ice baths, compression apparel, and supplements. She explains in detail how to employ restorative practices, including massage, meditation, and yoga. You will learn which methods work best and how and when they are most effective. Recovery is critical to performance gains. The Athlete's Guide to Recovery offers recovery plans that target various training and race distances in events ranging from short-distance bike races to ultramarathons as well as examining recovery between seasons. This invaluable resource will enable you to maintain that hard-to-find balance between rigorous training and rest so that you can feel great and compete at your highest level.
Born to Run
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The astonishing and hugely entertaining story that completely changed the way we run. An epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? "Equal parts quest, physiology treatise, and running history.... The climactic race reads like a sprint.... It simply makes you want to run." --Outside Magazine Isolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America's best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall's incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run. Look for Born to Run 2, out now!
Nacidos Para Correr
Una historia tremendamente entretenida que cambi籀 por completo la forma en que corremos.Una aventura 矇pica que comenz籀 con una simple pregunta: 聶Por qu矇 me duele el pie? Aislados por las peligrosas Barrancas de Cobre en M矇xico, los apacibles indios Tarahumara han perfeccionado durante siglos la capacidad de correr cientos de millas sin descanso ni lesiones. En este fascinante relato, el prestigioso periodista --y corredor habitualmente lesionado-- Christopher McDougall sale a descubrir sus secretos. En el proceso, nos lleva de los laboratorios de Harvard a los t籀rridos valles y las g矇lidas monta簽as de Norte Am矇rica, donde los cada vez m獺s numerosos ultra corredores est獺n empujando sus cuerpos al l穩mite, y finalmente a una vibrante carrera en las Barrancas de Cobre entre los mejores ultra corredores americanos y los sencillos Tarahumara. Esta incre穩ble historia no solo despertar獺 tu mente; adem獺s inspirar獺 tu cuerpo cuando te des cuenta de que, de hecho, todos hemos nacido para correr. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION The astonishing national bestseller and hugely entertaining story that completely changed the way we run.An epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? Isolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America's best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall's incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.
Jamaican Gold
"Riddle me this, riddle me that, guess me this riddle, and perhaps not: A we run things, things no run we. Who could that be?" One possible answer: Jamaican sprinters. Enquiring minds want to know: Why do Jamaicans run so fast? Usain Bolt may be the most recent and the most spectacular Jamaican practitioner of the art of speed, but he and Shelly- Ann Fraser stand on the shoulders of giants of both genders, heirs to a pedigree that goes back at least a hundred years to the teenaged Norman Manley and before. For years before the explosion of "Lightning" Bolt on the Beijing Olympics track, the consistent speediness of men and women from this small island had been the subject of serious and humorous speculation, pride and "su-su". What is the "gold" that is mined so consistently by Jamaican sprinters that permits the little country to claim a place among the top five countries, measured in terms of medals per capita of population, in almost every Olympics since the Second World War - and all on the basis of athletics, mostly the sprints (400 metres and under)? Can science explain it? Does the touchy area of genetics - even though, scientifically speaking, there's no such thing as "race" - explain it? For instance, all the current world record holders for the sprints - and most of the former for the past fifty years or so - have been born in the Americas, descendants of slaves of West African lineage. Is running fast "in the blood", so to speak? Or is it as simple as the varieties of yam (twenty-two at last count) to be found on the hills of Jamaica and in the stomachs of its people? Behind the simple tales of the tape are theories and questions that have attracted fourteen specialists from a range of disciplines, from biochemistry to physiology, from genetics to psychiatry, each with an insight, a piece of the puzzle. Jamaican Gold presents research and argument, history and biography - and much more - for the specialist and the sports fan, for the academic and the coach, in one attractive, easy-to-read volume, packed with photographs and illustrations, including a special section of memorable photos of the heroes of yesteryear and today. With Jamaican Gold to hand, the London Olympics will be just as thrilling, and you'll be closer to answering the question: Why do those Jamaicans run so fast?
Natural Running
"Natural Running" is the middle ground runners have been looking for. By learning to run the barefoot way--while wearing shoes--runners will become more efficient, stronger, and healthier runners. Backed by studies at MIT and Harvard, running form and injury expert Danny Abshire presents the natural running technique, form drills, and an 8-week transition plan that will put runners on the path to faster, more efficient, and healthier running.In "Natural Running," Abshire explains how modern running shoes distort the efficient running technique that humans evolved over thousands of years. He reviews the history of running shoes and injuries, making the case for barefoot running but also warning about its dangers. By learning the natural running technique, runners can enjoy both worlds--comfortable feet, knees, and legs and an efficient running form that reduces impact and injuries."Natural Running" teaches runners to think about injuries as symptoms of poor running form. Abshire specifies the overuse injuries that are most commonly associated with particular body alignment problems, foot types, and form flaws. Runners will learn how to analyze and identify their own characteristics so they can start down the path to natural running.Abshire explains the natural running technique, describing the posture, arm carriage, cadence, and land-lever-lift foot positioning that mimic the barefoot running style. Using Abshire's 8-week transition plan and a tool kit of strength and form drills, runners will move from heel striking to a midfoot or forefoot strike."Natural Running" is the newest way to run and also the oldest. By discovering how they were meant to run, runners will become more efficient, stronger, and healthier runners.
Personal Record
Rachel Toor was a bookish egghead who ran only to catch a bus. How such an unlikely athlete became a runner of ultramarathons is the story of Personal Record, an exhilarating meditation on the making, and the minutiae, of a runner's life. The food, the clothes, the races, the injuries, and the watch are all essential to the runner, as readers discover here, and discover why. A chronicle of Toor's relationship with the sport of running, from her early incarnation as an Oreo-eating couch potato to her emergence as a hard-bodied marathoner, this book explores the sport of running, the community it brings into being, and the personal satisfaction of pursuing it to its limit. An homage to running, a literary take on how an activity can turn into a passion and how a passion can become a way of life, Toor's book runs all the way from individual achievement--a personal record--to the world of friendship and community.
The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing
Are you a triathlete, runner, cyclist, swimmer, cross-country skier? Learn how to stay healthy, achieve optimal athletic potential, and be injury-free. Dr. Philip Maffetone's approach to endurance offers a truly "individualized" outlook and unique system that emphasizes building a strong aerobic base for increased fat burning, weight loss, sustained energy, and a healthy immune system. Good nutrition and stress reduction are also key to this commonsense, big-picture approach. In addition, Dr. Maffetone dispels many of the commonly held myths that linger in participatory sports--and which adversely impact performance--and explains the "truths" about endurance, such as: The need to train slower to race faster will enable your aerobic system to improve enduranceWhy expensive running shoes can actually cause foot and leg injuriesThe fact that refined carbohydrates actually reduce endurance energy and disrupt hormone balanceAnd more.If you are looking to increase your endurance and maximize your athletic potential, The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing is your one-stop guide to training and racing effectively.
Marathon
Get the everyperson's guide to running, and experience the unforgettable lifetime accomplishment of running a marathon.If you haven't already begun training for a marathon, you've probably thought about doing so. Former Olympic athlete and record-setting distance runner Jeff Galloway is here to say, "You can do it!" With Marathon, he'll guide you every step of the way. Jeff has developed unique programs that show runners how to train for--and finish--a marathon.His revolutionary Run Walk Run(R) method of training has enabled tens of thousands of people to complete marathons, and you can be among them. This innovative method opens up marathon-running to everyone, including those who may be out of shape, overweight, or past their athletic prime. Discover how to set up a personal training program, stay motivated, avoid injuries, burn fat, and more. This updated edition includes the new "magic mile" time trial, fat-burning techniques, adjustments in your weekly schedule to prevent injuries and improve performance, and quick fixes to keep runners motivated during latter stages of a marathon.Benefit from topics like the following: Training and inspirationFood and fat-burningDealing with injuries and getting olderJeff's first book, Galloway's Book on Running, is an international best-seller, with more than 600,000 copies sold in North America alone. Take advantage of his knowledge, and get on track to achieving the goal of your dreams.
Triathlons for Women
For over 20 years, Sally Edwards has cheered, prodded, and even pushed hundreds of thousands of women across the finish line of their first triathlon. That's because Sally believes triathlon changes women into healthier, happier people. As spokesperson of the Danskin Women's Triathlon Series and the Trek Women Triathlon Series, Sally has inspired women to take up a new challenge and find a renewed passion for a healthy, active lifestyle. Sally will guide you from the first day of training to race day, with plenty of encouragement along the way. Sally leaves no question unanswered, from workouts to the transition zone to the most common question of all--what to wear. Triathlons for Women has everything you need to get started: Begin training with a comprehensive 8-week training plan Keep your training fun with a wide variety of workouts Improve your technique with simple drills for swimming, cycling, and running Follow Sally's commonsense advice for better nutrition With Sally's help, any woman can renew her passion for a healthy, active lifestyle.
Heart Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot
John L. Parker, Jr. is one of running literature's great luminaries. As the author of Once a Runner and Again to Carthage, he is revered, quoted, and imitated. He also wrote this wonderfully accessible, witty guide to training with a heart-rate monitor. His common-sense approach aims to force you to take easy days--easier than you can even stand at first. And mix these in with periodic hard days, all precisely calibrated to your resting heart rate and maximum heart rate, to achieve levels of running fitness you had never before been able to attain. His program is very specific, with numerous tables and graphs for runners of all levels. He imparts his wisdom with extraordinary clarity and wit, making the whole experience one of hiring a wise, encouraging, and amusing coach.This third edition of Heart Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot brings Parker's work up to date and back into print. Heart monitors are now cheaper and easier to use than ever, and any runner wanting to break his or her personal records would be well-advised to buy this book and train with Coach Parker.
How to Run a Personal Record
Training tips for record-breaking distance running from the author of 4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon. The only running book targeted specifically to help runners set a personal record, this indispensable guide offers specific training programs for each of the four most popular race distances: 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and marathon. It also includes a common-sense discussion of the training process (a time-tested, three-pronged approach), information on everything runners need to know from day one to crossing the finish line, plus race-day strategies to squeeze out precious minutes and seconds from that finish line clock. How to Run a Personal Record features a 32-page training log where the reader can log their progress through the 16-week training phase.
Run for the Diamonds
In this modern world of professional runners, televised marathons, and hundred-dollar racing shoes, Berwick, Pennsylvania's Run for the Diamonds has the authenticity of an old boxing gym. A nine-mile race with a grueling two-mile uphill, contested on Thanksgiving since 1908, this is a throwback event that reflects the history of running in America.Some of the world's greatest runners have competed at Berwick. Boston legend Johnny Kelley said, "Except for the Boston and Olympic marathons, there is no race that I would rather win than Berwick."The first race was contested between the locals over unpaved roads and followed by a "referee" on horseback. The frontrunner in 1909 was a diminutive Hopi named Louis Tewanima, who became the race's first star. (Although he was captured by the US Cavalry in 1906 and forced to attend Carlisle Indian School, Tewanima went on to win an Olympic silver medal for the United States.)Berwick also attracted some of Finland's greatest runners--Hannes Kolehmainen (the first "Flying Finn") and Ville Ritola (the "Flying Wolf"), both of whom went on to win Olympic gold medals.The race also brought in two of the first African American distance stars: Earle Johnson and Gus Moore, both of whom played major roles in some of Berwick's most dramatic duels.Publication of the book will coincide with the 100th anniversary (2008) and the actual 100th running of the race (2009). Newspaper clippings and dozens of old (and more recent) photos will bring this race alive. It's a fantastic story of running Americana that has never been told.
The Runner and the Path
Dean Ottati works for a large corporation and seeks real meaning in his life, beyond the hardball negotiations that make up his long workday. He feels that capitalism has made us all poorer--slaves of the clock, pursuing the illusory. To find real substance, he runs--on trails and roads and beaches, alone or with friends, constantly challenging himself physically and intellectually. He peels back layers of hardness from his heart. He finds a new balance in the forces of family, work, love, solitude, money, happiness, and time. Ottati's quest takes him on a fascinating path toward a common-sense enlightenment.Now available in paperback.
Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon
Learn how to run faster, unlock your potential, and reach peak performance with this practical guide featuring training advice from a former Olympic trials marathoner and coach to Olympians."Reading this book can help take you to the next level and keep pushing you up as far and fast as you want to go."--Sarah Toland, former NCAA All-American, USA National Cross-Country Team member, and Olympic Trials qualifier for the 5,000 and 10,000 Brad Hudson is the most innovative running coach to come along in a generation. Until now, only a handful of elite athletes have been able to benefit from his methods. With Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon, Hudson shows all runners how to coach themselves as confidently and effectively as he coaches his world-class athletes. Becoming your own best coach is the ticket to running faster at any distance. First, you will learn to assess your abilities. Then you'll learn how to devise a training program specifically geared to you. Filled with easy-to-follow sample training programs for distances ranging from the 5K to the marathon and abilities ranging from novice to advanced, this is the cutting-edge guide for optimal performance. With Hudson's guidance, you can train smarter and more effectively--and avoid injury. And you'll soon be running faster than you ever thought possible!
Amped
When above-the-knee amputeeswalk, we generate seven to nine times the force of our body weight right into the point where the prosthesis meets our residual leg. For me, that's almost 1,500 pounds slamming into that socket. For any amputee, learning to walk with a prosthetic leg is a painful, grueling ordeal. Soon after army medic Kortney Clemons, who lost his right leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, began the process, he had more than walking in mind. He wanted to run, and run fast. Barely three years after the awful attack that changed his life forever, he aimed to join the elite corps of international athletes vying for gold in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. His account of his recovery from this catastrophic wound and his drive to become the first Iraq veteran to win Paralympic gold is one of the most remarkable, inspiring, and compelling stories in the history of sports.
My Life on the Run
Dubbed the "Mayor of Running," Bart Yasso is one of the best-known figures in the sport, but few people know why he started running competitively, how it changed his life, or how his brush with a crippling illness nearly ended his career a decade ago. With insight and humor, My Life on the Run chronicles the heatstroke and frostbite, heartache and triumphs he's experienced while competing in more than 1,000 competitive races during his nearly 30 years with Runner's World magazine. Yasso gives valuable and practical advice on how to become a runner for life and continually draw joy from the sport. He also offers practical guidance for beginners, intermediate, and advanced runners, such as 5-K, half-marathon, and marathon training schedules including his innovative technique known as the Yasso 800s. Recounting his adventures in exotic locales like Antarctica, Africa, and Chitwan National Park in Nepal (where he was chased by an angry rhino), Yasso recommends the best exotic marathons for runners who want to grab their passports to test themselves on foreign terrain. With the wit and wisdom of a seasoned insider, he tells runners what they need to know to navigate the logistics of running in an unfamiliar country. Yasso's message is this: Never limit where running can take you because each race has the potential for adventure.
Runner's World Training Diary
Join 300,000 other runners in using the bestselling training diary from the world's leading running magazine. Runner's World provides the outline, with a useful format and generous space for charting an entire year's running. You fill in the facts about each day's run, such as your pace, the distance you ran, your pulse rate, and weather conditions. You'll also find charts to record racing results, best times, and a year's running at a glance, plus valuable running hints and more.
Runner's World Training Diary
Join 300,000 other runners in using the bestselling training diary from the world's leading running magazine. Runner's World provides the outline, with a useful format and generous space for charting an entire year's running. You fill in the facts about each day's run, such as your pace, the distance you ran, your pulse rate, and weather conditions. You'll also find charts to record racing results, best times, and a year's running at a glance, plus valuable running hints and more.
God on the Starting Line
"It captures the deeper joy of watching young athletes embrace unfashionable ideals of commitment, sacrifice, courage, and faith."--Sports Illustrated"Marc Bloom coaches as every coach in the sport should. I recommend this book without reservation. Read it, commit it to memory, and you will be better for it."--American Track & Field"At its core a spiritual book. It will inspire the reader who values small works of goodness and the courage to face big challenges."--Jewish Book World"More than a story of different religions, Jewish and Catholic, meeting on the cross-country course. There is an even more eternal struggle: old versus new. Bloom preaches the value of pain, hard work, suffering, and delayed gratification. His cross-country kids are, well, kids. They want to have fun, chase girls, and enjoy the loosey-goosey life. In Bloom's inspiring tale, both coach and kids learn surprising lessons from each other."--Amby Burfoot, executive editor of Runner's WorldMarc Bloom, an observant Jew, winds up the coach of a local Catholic high school cross-country team. The common ground he finds between the two faiths helps to propel his team to a state championship. Marc Bloom, an award-winning journalist, is a features writer for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Runner's World.
First Triathlons
Over 40 inspirational stories told by athletes about their first triathlon experience. PLUS: Coaching advice from the experts: Terry Laughlin, Chris Carmichael, Bart Yasso, and Dave Scott These inspirational stories told in the voices of athletes--of all ages and abilities--give the clearest picture of what it is like to move up to the triathlon. Whether you are a swimmer, a cyclist, a runner, or "none of the above," you can train for a triathlon and experience the incredible joy of accomplishing this challenging multisport event.The stories in this book cover every bit of inside knowledge you need: What was hard? What was easy? What gear do I need? What should I eat? How can I make it through the transitions quickly? How does training differ in moving up from a single sport? What are the technical and mental barriers that must be overcome? How can I train to be a better swimmer, biker, runner? What is the inner experience of doing a triathlon? How do triathlons change people's lives?First Triathlons covers "sprint-distance" triathlons, Olympic-distance races, and the full Ironman, for athletes of all levels who are ready for their next big challenge--to do your first, or to do them for the rest of your life.
Women Who Run
Women run for all kinds of reasons. We run for health, to ease tension, for strength, to challenge ourselves, to be social with friends, as professional athletes or the dream of being one, to turn our minds on, and to turn them off. Whether running a marathon, taking a quick jog around the neighborhood, or trying to reach the top of Pikes Peak, women of all ages and abilities have discovered running. In Women Who Run a wide range of women, including Olympians, marathoners, ultra runners, young track phenoms, and recreational runners, talk about why they run, what drives them, and what continues to spark their interest in the sport. Women Who Run features Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon; Louise Cooper, breast cancer survivor and finisher of the grueling 135-mile Badwater Marathon; Kristin Armstrong, who found solace and camaraderie in running with other women post-divorce; Olympic runner and two-time LA Marathon winner and Kenyan Lornah Kiplagat, Wall Street Journal reporter and Muslim women's activist, Asra Nomani; Pam Reed who ran 300-miles in one run--and many more. This book will inspire and motivate you to get off the couch and find your inner runner.
The Last Pick
"If you can dream it, it can happen." In this heartening book, Boston Marathon race director and motivational speaker David McGillivray shares the challenges he has overcome to inspire readers to similar triumphs in their own lives.Always the last pick for team sports because of his small stature, David McGillivray drove himself to excel at individual sports. Whe he was 16, he set himself up for the one "failure" that would motivate the rest of his life. He attempted to run in his first Boston Marathon - without training for the event. Not crossing the finish line could have been a crushing blow. Instead he went on to complete 115 marathons and eventually to become the Boston Marathon's race director. At age 23, McGillivray completed his celebrated 3,452-mile run across the United States to raise money for cancer research. The story of his journey and what he learned about himself will give all readers a new understanding of how to prepare for and achieve success. McGillivray's many accomplishments will convince readers that virtually any goal is possible. This book will motivate them to overcome the mental obstacles that often keep dreams from becoming reality.
Marathon And Half Marathon
Over 20 million Americans run recreationally, but doing it right is more than a matter of buying an expensive pair of shoes and heading for the track. Building on the popularity of The Beginning Runner's Handbook, this practical, easy-to-use guide provides a step-by-step program for running a half or full marathon for the first time. It shows readers how to get motivated and set realistic goals, choose the proper shoes, eat right, build strength and endurance, and avoid sore muscles and injury. The book includes tips from elite runners on such subjects as staying motivated when the weather is extreme, running technique, running with a dog, and running partners. Finally, the book describes strategies for the race, what to expect on race day, and the psychological effects of finishing a half or full marathon. Most importantly, it includes a full training program designed to ensure that that crucial first race is a winner.
Sole Sisters
More than 11 million women run regularly, a number that's growing every year. They tend to be educated and affluent-the perfect audience for Sole Sisters.Half of all runners are women, and they are changing the face of the sport. It's a social outlet, a healthful way to improve mental well-being, and an opportunity to form bonds with like-minded women.Sole Sisters: Stories of Women and Running is a gripping collection of stories that captures the inspirational heart of the women's running. Authors Jennifer Lin and Susan Warner have interviewed women of all ages from all walks of life and all parts of the country. All of their subjects have one thing in common: Running has transformed them. There are both heartrending stories of grief and survival and lighthearted tales of friendship. Among them are: * Sisters who competed in a 5K race to honor a sister who survived breast cancer.* A 9/11 widow who ran her first marathon to honor the memory of her husband.* A 65-year-old woman who overcame obesity and alcoholism to finish the grueling Ironman triathlon.* An unknown runner from Norway named Grete Waitz who decided to run a marathon-and changed the face of the sport.Sole Sisters: Stories of Women and Running is not just for women who run. It appeals to all women who know what it means to have the support of others who share their trials and triumphs. Sole Sisters: Stories of Women and Running is sometimes touching, sometimes funny, and always inspiring.
The Running Trivia Book
Mark Will-Weber is the genius behind The Quotable Runner, which sold over 30,000 copies in hardcover, and started the successful Quotable series. Now, in the same gift-book format, he has gathered a series of delightful trivia questions sure to entertain, perplex, and astonish everyone who loves running. The questions vary in difficulty from "Bronze" for beginners to "Gold" for the experts, with a few bonus questions even beyond Gold--brain-busters that might elude the most hardened veteran of track trivia.Who was the first man to run four minutes for the mile?Roger Bannister? No! England's Derek Ibbotson ran exactly 4:00.0 in 1955. He eventually set a world record of 3:57.2 in 1957, after Bannister, of course.When New Zealand's John Walker became the first man to break 3:50 in the mile at Gothenburg, Sweden, in the days of enforced amateur status, he was rewarded with a small amount of appearance money and what else? A. An audience with King Gustav VI B. A case of beer C. A silver stopwatch with 3:49.4 engraved on it D. A date with a Swedish model(Answer: B for Beer. The Kiwi runners such as Walker and Dixon were quite fond of it.)And there are 999 more in this ebullient celebration of running. It is all endless good fun and a sure hit among the rabid running crowd.
The Perfect Mile
In The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb, the New York Times bestselling author of Faster, presenst the riveting, true story of the three world-class athletes who individually became the first runners to break the four-minute mile.There was a time when running the mile in four minutes was believed to be beyond the limits of human foot speed, and in all of sport it was the elusive holy grail. In 1952, after suffering defeat at the Helsinki Olympics, three world-class runners each set out to break this barrier. Roger Bannister was a young English medical student who epitomized the ideal of the amateur -- still driven not just by winning but by the nobility of the pursuit. John Landy was the privileged son of a genteel Australian family, who as a boy preferred butterfly collecting to running but who trained relentlessly in an almost spiritual attempt to shape his body to this singular task. Then there was Wes Santee, the swaggering American, a Kansas farm boy and natural athlete who believed he was just plain better than everybody else.Spanning three continents and defying the odds, their collective quest captivated the world and stole headlines from the Korean War, the atomic race, and such legendary figures as Edmund Hillary, Willie Mays, Native Dancer, and Ben Hogan. In the tradition of Seabiscuit and Chariots of Fire, Neal Bascomb delivers a breathtaking story of unlikely heroes and leaves us with a lasting portrait of the twilight years of the golden age of sport.
