Running on Full

Random thoughts, used to be about running

Books

running faster

The Art of Running Faster by Julian Goater and Don Melvin

Sophie–Books, Running–

Review of The Art of Running Faster: Improve technique, training, and performance by Julian Goater and Don Melvin  (2012)   ‘Don’t practice plodding,’ the key takeaway from The Art of Running Faster. And running is an art – just watch Paula Radcliffe or Mo Farah at their best if you haven’t already. Now I’ve been a plodder pretty much since I started running 5 years ago. It’s seen me through two marathons and my first ultra a few weeks ago. This is great and there is some real benefit to plodding. But, to be perfectly honest, I’m getting a little […]

Book cover for Zen and the Art of Running

Zen and the Art of Running by Larry Shapiro

Sophie–Books, Running–

Zen and the Art of Running: The path to making peace with your pace by Larry Shapiro (2009).   Want to add a little Zen to your running? This book might just be for you. The focus isn’t on running form or improving your results, though it does include some elements of this. The focus instead is on maximising the joy that is running through training the mind. It’s about being in the moment and being acutely aware of the world around. I started my own journey into mindfulness a number of years ago now. I was finding things tough […]

Cover of book with sprinter

How bad do you want it? by Matt Fitzgerald

Sophie–Books, Running–

Review of How bad do you want it? Mastering the psychology of mind over muscle. (2015)   How bad do you want it? This is the question asked by Matt Fitzgerald, author, coach and nutritionist. The inquiry begins from trying to understand how elite athletes are able to move beyond discomfort to maximise performance. Of course they work their arses off and work on all those other factors that effect performance (i.e. nutrition, rest etc) and there may well be some element of ‘natural’ talent, but what is it that moves a good athlete to a great one? And what […]

Fat Girls Guide to marathon running

The Fat Girls’ Guide to Marathon Running By Julie Creffield

Sophie–Books, Running–

Ah, the excitement of marathons. It’s hard not to get caught up. If you’ve ever had that crazy thought ‘I want to run a marathon’ but feel too fat, too old, too unfit, or indeed have naysayers in your life laughing at you for the mere mention of it, the Fat Girls’ Guide to Marathon Running is for you. Or indeed, if you’ve had someone say, ‘You’ll never run a marathon’*, this book is for you. Julie’s book is dedicated to ‘anyone who ever dreamed of running a marathon, and everyone stupid enough to actually do it.’ Yep, it’s hard […]

Footnotes

Footnotes: How Running Makes Us Human by Vybarr Cregan-Reid

Sophie–Books, Running–

Review of Footnotes: How running makes us human by Vybarr Cregan-Reid (2016)   Have you ever looked at a landscape painting or photo and wondered what it would be like to run through it? The crunch of leaves and gravel underfoot, the smell, the birdsong, the feel of the air on your skin? For Cregan-Reid Running has change me so completely that, now, even the sights of a landscape painting instils in me a deep desire to step into the frame, and beyond it. (xviii) I get this. I wonder what it would be like to run and experience landscapes […]

On why we run

On why we run

Sophie–Books, Running–

Running with the pack: thoughts from the road on meaning and mortality by Mark Rowlands (2013) – on why we run Mark Rowlands has been a runner for most of his life and is a professional philosopher. For him, the two – running and philosophy – are intimately linked. At the heart of Running with the Pack, he is seeking to answer the question: why do we run? Do we run to stave off middle age, for the company, to relieve stress, to exercise our dogs, for self-improvement? Or do we run for its own sake? Is running a form […]

Running free

Running Free: A runner’s journey back to nature

Sophie–Books, Running–

Review of Running Free: A runner’s journey back to nature by Richard Askwith (2015 edition)   You know you’re a runner when you wonder what non-runners dream about. Running Free is about freedom and liberation from the commercialisation of the sport we love so much. Askwith’s writing is a thing of beauty, his passion for the sport evident from the first page. This book is for you if you’ve fallen out of love with running. It’s for you if you’re feeling ‘mergh’ about running. This book if for you if you love running, with some handy hints on surviving running […]

sub 2 possible

Is a sub 2:00:00 marathon possible?

Sophie–Books–

Two Hours: The quest to run the impossible marathon by Ed Caesar (2015) I watched the men’s and women’s marathons at the 2012 London Olympics. I was standing in St James Park within spitting distance of the runners as they flew past. It was extraordinary to watch. It was more than just the pace – it was running form, tactics, drama and facial expressions – each runner pushing themselves to the absolute limit. The world record for the marathon stands at 2:02:57. It was set in Berlin in 2014 by Kenyan runner, Dennis Kimetto, and it was the first time […]

Review of Running Like a Girl

Running like a girl

Sophie–Books, Running–

Review of Running like a girl by Alexandra Heminsley (2014)   If you’re interested in the journey from wanting the perfect arse to running marathons and everything in between, then this is a book for you. It’s about finding freedom and confidence by pounding the road, mile after mile. Alexandra Heminsley writes about all of this with honesty and generosity. For the uninitiated, running can be a bit of a mystery, all that lycra and those sports stores. Why would anyone want to run a marathon, or even a 5k? As the author points out, running can really suck. It’s […]