Running Sports

Every sports fan loves a great comeback. Is there a special quality shared by top athletes who triumph over great challenges? And can anyone acquire it? In The Comeback Quotient, celebrated sports writer Matt Fitzgerald supplies the answer to both questions. He identifies these mega-achievers of astounding athletic comebacks as "ultrarealists", men and women who succeed where others fail by fully accepting, embracing, and addressing the reality of their situations.

At the verge of turning 40, Peter Sagal - brainiac Harvard grad, short, bald Jew with a disposition toward heft, and a sedentary star of public radio - started running seriously. And much to his own surprise, he kept going, faster and further, running 14 marathons and logging tens of thousands of miles on roads, sidewalks, paths, and trails all over the US and the world, including the 2013 Boston Marathon, where he crossed the finish line moments before the bombings.

Why do people race in Ironmans? Only a person whose good sense was severely impaired would decide to do a race marked by such agony and suffering - a race that makes no sense to normal people. Russell Newell would find out when he signed up for the second oldest Ironman in the country: Lake Placid, in the idyllic Upstate New York village nestled in the Adirondacks. Russell would then question his sanity and test his resolve as he attempted to finish the 2018 Ironman Lake Placid...despite almost drowning, crashing on his bike, and more.

Fueled by a passion for running dogs, Gary Paulsen entered the Iditarod - the 1,180-mile sled-dog race through the Alaskan wilderness - in dangerous ignorance and with a fierce determination. For 17 days, he and his team of dogs endured blinding wind, snowstorms, frostbite, dogfights, moose attacks, sleeplessness, hallucinations - and the relentless push to go on.

Aside from her rock star looks, Catra Corbett is a standout in the running world on her accomplishments alone. And, unbelievably, she's also a former meth addict. After two years of addiction, Catra is busted while selling, and a night in jail is enough to set her straight. She gives up drugs and moves back home with her mother, abandoning her friends, her boyfriend, and the lifestyle that she came to depend on. Her only clean friend pushes her to train for a 10K with him, and surprisingly, she likes it and decides to run her first marathon after that.

Unfortunately, with running comes injuries, as a result of wrong information and improper training. Author Jay Dicharry was tired of getting the same treatments from doctors that didn't heal his joint and muscle pain from running, so he decided to combine different fields of clinical care, biomechanical analysis, and coaching to help you avoid common injuries and become the best runner you can be.

Inspiration for the film "THE MENTAL MASTERY OF HITTING IN BASEBALL", Mind of a Superior Hitter: The Art, Science, and Philosophy takes an in-depth look into the key aspects of becoming a great hitter from a psychological, emotional and strategic perspective. The book is designed to enhance the intelligence of hitters in both baseball and softball on a level that is unprecedented. It includes quotes and advice from some of the top hitting coaches in the world, former professional players and prominent minds that have contributed to today’s leading hitting ideologies. Throughout, players ...

Written by the late, beloved Dr. George Sheehan, Running and Being tells of the author's midlife return to the world of exercise, play, and competition, in which he found "a world beyond sweat" that proved to be a source of great revelation and personal growth. But Running and Being focuses more on life than it does, specifically, on running. It provides an outline for a lifetime program of fitness and joy, showing how the body helps determine our mental and spiritual energies.

When Chris McDougall agreed to take in a donkey from an animal hoarder, he thought it would be no harder than the rest of the adjustments he and his family had made after moving from Philadelphia to the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country. But when he arrived, Sherman was in such bad shape he could barely move, and his hair was coming out in clumps. Chris decided to undertake a radical rehabilitation program designed not only to heal Sherman's body but to heal his mind as well - and so Chris decided to teach Sherman how to run.

Until five years ago, Alexandra Heminsley was decidedly not a runner. Nor was she athletic in any sense of the word. She was an ordinary, curvy woman who was convinced that sports of any kind, especially running, were beyond her. But she's made running part of her life, and gets to reap the rewards: not just the obvious things, like a touch of weight loss, health and glowing skin, but self-belief, and immeasurable daily pleasure.

Once the reserve of only the most hardcore enthusiasts, ultra running is now a thriving global industry, with hundreds of thousands of competitors each year. But is the rise of this most brutal and challenging sport - with races that extend into hundreds of miles, often in extreme environments - an antidote to modern life, or is it a symptom of a modern illness? In The Rise of the Ultra Runners, award-winning author Adharanand Finn travels to the heart of the sport to investigate the reasons behind its rise and discover what it takes to join the ranks of these ultra athletes.

At the beginning of the track season, Amy hurt her knee during a race. Now her doctor has given her the okay to get back on the track, but Amy's still shaky. Her knee may be healed, but her confidence is still broken. The biggest race of the year is coming up, and it's on the exact same track where she was hurt before. With help from an unexpected source, will she be able to race again?

After a decade-long addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol, Charlie Engle hit bottom with a near-fatal six-day binge that ended in a hail of bullets. As Engle got sober, he turned to running, which became his lifeline, his pastime, and his salvation. He began with marathons, and when marathons weren't far enough he began to take on ultramarathons, races that went for 35, 50, and sometimes hundreds of miles, traveling to some of the most unforgiving places on earth to race.

In 1982 Murakami began running to keep fit. Here he reflects on his running experiences. Equal parts travelogue, training log, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, this is a must-listen for fans of this masterful author and for the increasing number of people who find a similar satisfaction in running.

Welcome to the Barkley Marathons, a fever dream of an ultra event, inspired by a prison break, heralded by a conch blast, paid for in cigarettes and socks, and completed only by a select few. A race in which competitors haul themselves up mountains, through extreme weather conditions, beyond pain and exhaustion, mile after mile. Completed 60 miles? That’s just the fun run. In the Spell of the Barkley is a story of sporting obsession, exploring what drives individuals to challenge themselves at the limits of what is possible – and what it takes to succeed.

In Eat and Run, Scott Jurek opens up about his life and career - as an elite athlete and a vegan - and inspires runners at every level. From his Midwestern childhood hunting, fishing, and cooking for his meat-and-potatoes family, to his early beginnings in running (he hated it), to his slow transition to ultrarunning and veganism, to his world-spanning, record-breaking races, Scott's story shows the power of an iron will and blows apart all the stereotypes of what athletes should eat to fuel optimal performance.

You've probably heard a lot about Heart Rate Variability (HRV) lately. It's become a buzzword in the health and fitness community. Why all the buzz? Because research indicates that by tracking HRV you can optimize your workout routine, get better sleep, and even improve your mental health. And for the first time, the tools for tracking HRV are not limited to scientists, labs, or elite athletes. Thanks to Oura Rings, Whoop Bands, and Apple, Fitbit, Garmin and a host of other devices, HRV tracking is now available to everyone. But what is HRV? And how can you harness the power of your device ...

Why does it make sense to Ethiopian runners to get up at three a.m. to run up and down a hill? Who would choose to train on almost impossibly steep and rocky terrain, in hyena territory? And how come Ethiopian men hold six of the top 10 fastest marathon times ever? Michael Crawley spent 15 months in Ethiopia training alongside (and sometimes a fair way behind) runners at all levels of the sport, from night watchmen hoping to change their lives to world-class marathon runners, in order to answer these questions.

The sport of running is ever changing, be it the shoes we wear or the goals we set, the training methods we use or the role models we emulate. But there is one constant: For 40 years, Runner’s World magazine has been recognized worldwide as the leading authority on running. Now the collective wisdom of the most savvy running writers, coaches, and editors can be found in Runner’s World Complete Book of Running.

In Running with the Buffaloes, writer Chris Lear follows the University of Colorado cross-country team through an unforgettable NCAA season. Allowed unparalleled access to team practices, private moments, and the mind of Mark Wetmore - one of the country's most renowned and controversial coaches - Lear provides a riveting look inside the triumphs and heartaches of a perennial national contender and the men who will stop at nothing to achieve excellence.