Running Reads for Summer
I was having dinner with some friends recently when one of them started gushing about a book he just read: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. His fiancée laughed and said he’d talk about the book to anyone who would listen.My friend finished his first race—a half-marathon no less—in May, and when I asked him after the race if he was ready to tackle a full marathon, he answered with an emphatic, “No.”
But reading Born to Run changed things. He said it got him excited about running. He said it made him want to get back into a regular training schedule. And he said it made him want to run a marathon. In other words, it inspired him to run.
Good running books will do that. They make you want to fling your book or e-reader across the room and pick up your shoes. They motivate you to tackle a new distance, a new workout, a new training plan, or they get you to run for the joy of running.
Since summer is here, and you’ve probably got some down time scheduled on the beach or by a pool, here are a few of the all-time great running reads. I’m not talking about books about training or how to improve your times; I’m talking about books that delve into the who and why of running, not just the what and the how. Some of these books I’ve read. Some of them I haven’t. But all of them have earned reputations among runners as reads that will put some pep in your step. Read the rest of this entry →
