Showdown at Shepherd's Bush: Book Review and Giveaway Contest

I’ve often made reference to the fact that for a very long period of my running career, I was something of a marathon fanatic.  I ran several races per year, routinely travelled hundreds of miles to find new courses or revisit old favorites, and excitedly watched every major marathon I could find on television.

I also absorbed every piece of information I could find about the history of the event, which I considered nothing less than the most epic and legendary race in the history of the world (I was a bit younger then, and a bit more inclined to hyperbole).  Although I now have a different perspective on the race – it’s not nearly as epic as I once imagined, but perhaps just as legendary – I’m still fascinated by the marathon as an event, particularly in the details of its formative years.

Accordingly, for the past couple of weeks I’ve been completely geeking out over Showdown at Shepherd's Bush, a captivating history of the marathon at the most critical time in its existence: the years immediately before and after the 1908 London Olympics.  Most folks know the ancient Greek origins of the marathon; very few, however, recognize how pivotal the London race was in cementing the marathon as one of the preeminent athletic pinnacles and cultural touchstones of the 20^th Century.

The book is also the story of three remarkable runners whose paths converged on that fateful day in London: Dorando Pietri, a determined and hard-nosed Italian who almost literally ran himself to death in front of the Queen and 80,000 spectators; Johnny Hayes, an opportunistic working-class Irish-American who rose from an often tragic upbringing to achieve athletic immortality; and Tom Longboat, an Onondaga Indian from Canada whose sheer athletic talent was rivaled only by the severity of the persecution that followed him to every corner of the globe.

Dorando Pietri at the 1908 Olympics; photo from Getty Images

Author David Davis culled literally hundreds of source documents to create a vivid narrative (along with a cool collection of vintage photos) of the three runners in the years before 1908, and follows them throughout their post-Olympic notoriety.  At the center of it all is an extended account of the 1908 Olympic Marathon, which has to go down as one of the most dramatic and controversial of all time.   I won’t go into all the details here, but suffice it to say if something similar took place today, it would cause a fair amount of hysteria among Olympic aficionados or sports junkies.

Aside from putting some wind into my geek flag, another pleasure of the book was its depictions of the training conditions and prevailing exercise science wisdom of the day.  Davis reports that before key events, “competitors were given breakfast [of] milk and a couple of beers apiece”, and that during long footraces, “If a runner was in extremis, he downed a shot of whiskey or brandy.”   Other anecdotes are particularly amusing in light of the current natural running craze: Davis notes that the “primitive, arduous” footwear the runners used were nothing more than a leather upper and rubber outsole.  He doesn’t mention that today, modern minimalists shell out upwards of 100 bucks for similarly primitive gear. 

With another London Olympic marathon just around the corner, the timing of this book is just about perfect.  If you’re a marathon geek like me, or if you simply enjoy the historical intersections of athletics and sociology, Showdown at Shepherd’s Bush makes for a very entertaining read.  And for one of my readers, you’ll get a chance to check out the whole story for free.

Showdown at Shepherd’s Bush retails for $17 from Amazon.com (or $13 in Kindle format), and the publisher has provided one copy for me to give away as a contest prize.  But since I’m celebrating my inner geek in this review, I want to give my fellow running geeks out there an edge of sorts in winning. 

So here’s the deal: you get one contest entry for leaving any old comment, one additional entry if you identify a memorable world-class marathon moment (for example, German Silva turning the wrong way in NYC or Bob Kempanien puking Gatorade at the Olympic Trials – and no, you can’t use those), and a third entry if that moment happened in an Olympic marathon (like Deena entering the stadium in Athens – and that one’s now ineligible as well).  Also, there’s no copying someone else’s moment; if there are duplicate memories listed, I’m only giving credit to the earliest entrant.  As I said, the advantage definitely goes to the geeks on this one.

Leave your comments in the box below to enter, and I’ll announce the winner this Saturday, July 8.  Thanks very much to St Martin’s Press for sponsoring this contest, and good luck to everybody!

*Product provided by St. Martin’s Press

**If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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Muir Project Trailer; Running Water Book Review and Giveaway

Sure, the calendar says it’s winter, but it’s never a bad time to start thinking abut epic outdoor adventures for long sunny days ahead. On that note, today’s post offers two glimpses of the adventurous life – and in both cases, you have an opportunity to enjoy the stories in more detail for yourself at some point.

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A couple of months ago I embedded a trailer called “Almost There” by The Muir Project, which was a teaser for an upcoming feature-length documentary about a group of artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers who spent 25 days hiking 230 miles on the John Muir Trail. The clip managed to capture both the chill vibe of going off the grid for an extended period of time, as well as the epic beauty of the trail.

Their film now has an official name: Mile … Mile and A Half, and is currently in the finishing stages of editing. The filmmakers are looking to secure final funding, and have completed an official trailer to generate increased awareness of the project. The trailer follows below, and you can contact The Muir Project website to contribute and help the project get completed.

“Mile … Mile and a Half Official Trailer” by The Muir Project (click to play):



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“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
- John 7:38 (New International Version)

This next outdoor adventure has a very similar premise to another I recently reviewed: it’s the story of a guy who runs across America.

However, the manner of Abraham Louis Clark’s journey is about as fundamentally different than Marshall Ulrich’s as you can imagine. Abe didn’t have a support staff or film crew to keep him company, and didn’t have an RV for shelter and comfort (a relative term in this case, but you get the idea) along the way.

Abe and Ruby on the Atlantic coast

Instead, Abe took the solo approach, and in 2010 became just the 15th person to run across America alone and unsupported. His only companion was an amazingly durable running stroller named Ruby, although he did utilize the support of others at various points along the way to replenish his food supplies and borrow an occasional warm bed or hot shower.

He also had a higher purpose in mind, as described in his book Running Water: his intent was to raise money for Living Water International to support its relief efforts in the earthquake-ravaged nation of Haiti. Abe describes himself as a “Christian-focused endurance adventure athlete”, whose mission is to take on epic adventures that will “inspire people to dream more, give more, and be more.” As an encore to his cross-country run, in 2011 Abe led a group on a 9,200-mile bicycle tour circling the lower 48 states that raised $30,000 for the creation of wells in Ethiopia.

Two epic adventures

By the end of his solo run, Abe raised nearly $90,000 for Living Water International, and Running Water is a detailed account of Abe’s remarkable journey from nervously dipping his feet in the Pacific Ocean to joyously splashing in the Atlantic roughly four months later. Along the way, he demonstrated a somewhat contradictory combination of extreme self-reliance and extensive community outreach.

On most nights, Abe slung his tent hammock anyplace he could find a secluded patch of real estate. His exploits in finding a warm dry place to sleep often border on the heartbreaking, such as when he was rousted in the middle of the night by a policeman so that he’d move his setup about 20 feet, or when he was turned away at the door of a church by a pastor who told him, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do for you.” (Seriously.) One of the most dramatic moments happens fairly early in the trek, when Abe is forced to dig himself a snow cave to wait out a long cold night in the Rockies.

However, in various small towns along the way Abe had set up host families who took him in for a night or two, and in those situations he shared his vision and objective with anyone who would listen. He booked guest spots on radio shows, spoke to school children, and visited church groups to spread the word about Living Water International and solicit donations. (If you’re wondering, whenever he was picked up off the road, he returned to the exact same spot before resuming his run – in many cases being driven in the opposite direction he needed to be heading.)

Running Water reads like a series of journal entries from nights spent along the road, which in essence it really is. It’s a self-published work, so you’ll find the occasional typo or odd grammatical arrangement – which will be a bigger issue to some (guilty!) than to others. I found that the story frequently gets too bogged down in details – what shoes he was wearing, how his stomach and bowels were functioning, what supplies he stocked up on - while too rarely describing the larger significance of the effort.

Living Water International is certainly a worthy organization, but Abe never really describes exactly how that organization or the plight of Haiti in particular weighed upon his heart. It’s unclear if he had some prior involvement with the organization, or some other personal experience that shaped his vision, and there’s very little discussion of the actual impact that water restoration will have on the impoverished community. I found myself wanting to sit in on one of his presentations to a church group so I could hear more details about the missionary aspect of his endeavor.

Another frustration I have is that the book is chock full of photos taken along the way, but they’re all black and white, and the quality is so bad at times that it’s hard to see what’s being described in the caption. Many of the scenes such as sweeping vistas, open landscapes, or characters he met would lend themselves very well to sharp color prints, but the shots in the book don’t do them nearly enough justice.

I guess my overall reaction is that Abe’s story deserves to be told in a bigger, grander way – but Running Water is still a fairly compelling account of a remarkable adventure that supported a noble cause. The book is available for $15 from Amazon.com, and Abe has graciously agreed to provide a signed copy to one reader of my website. Leave a comment below this post to enter, and I’ll announce the winner this Saturday night. Good luck to everybody, and thanks very much to Abe Louis Clark for sponsoring this contest.



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Run Barefoot, Run Healthy: Book Review and Giveaway

One indicator that the barefoot revolution has attained some significant critical mass over the past few years is that minor factions are beginning to develop. Like any grassroots movement, as this one grows and expands, there are bound to be some differences of opinion on the nuances and complexities of a full-fledged paradigm shift. (And if you don’t believe me, look at the Occupy movement, whose most outspoken proponents can’t seem to agree on much of anything.)

Today’s review and giveaway touches on a few of those issues; more specifically, I’ll point out some examples of areas where I have a difference of opinion with author Ashish Murharji. That’s not to say his book isn't worth reading – only that you should read it for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

The book in question is Run Barefoot Run Healthy: Less Pain More Gain For Runners Over 30, and it’s essentially a question-and-answer compilation on a variety of topics related to barefoot running. Murharji – who also goes by the moniker “Unshod Ashish” – is a longtime runner who dealt with chronic injuries over a twenty-year period before finally kicking off his shoes in frustration and realizing that virtually all of the problems he had ultimately disappeared. His experience is representative of a great many runners who have found that the first step toward wellness was to ditch their traditional footwear.

Ashish now runs up to 70 barefoot miles per week, and runs marathons on a regular basis without any of the injuries that used to hamper him. His book discusses the biomechanics that explain such a transformation, and it also draws heavily upon anecdotal reports from several other barefoot runners who have found success without shoes. The book references dozens of research papers, but also makes some assertions that are based as much on anecdotes as they are on scientific analysis. For example, he points out that elite runner Haile Gebrselassie grew up running barefoot, and implies that he only wears shoes today because he’s paid endorsement money to do so, and that his shoes were the cause of injuries Geb faced later in his career.

Another point of contention I have is Ashish’s position on minimalist footwear. In response to a question about Vibrams, he notes that his cousin and next door neighbor both suffered stress fractures in them, then cites an article which points out that shoes interfere with sensory feedback of the feet. He remains fairly absolute in his assertion that barefoot is always the best option for running, which for my own purposes I’ve found completely untrue. I’ll happily trade a little bit of sensory feedback for protection from the discomfort of gravel, burrs, dried oak leaves, thorny grass, lava rock, or countless other potential hazards I find on the trail, especially since the biomechanic advantages of minimal footwear are the same as going barefoot.

One more issue is that Ashish tends to play up the inevitability and severity of running-related injuries in shod runners while minimizing the very real and often extensive problems that new barefoot runners can encounter. At one point he even states that blistered toes don’t happen to barefoot runners, but later clarifies that to say blisters can happen if you’re practicing bad form. From my own experiences, both anecdotally and as a physical therapist, I’d reply that novice barefoot runners are equally likely to get injured as novice shod runners, and that people can enjoy many long and fruitful years of running in either traditional or minimalist footwear.

As you might have guessed, my overall impression of Ashish’s book is that it tends to be a little overzealous in its defense of purely barefoot running above all else, but that’s the nice thing about where the barefoot movement is today: we don’t all have to agree on everything to learn and benefit from each other’s point of view. There’s a lot of good instructive material in Run Barefoot, Run Healthy, and it would be especially helpful if you happen to be bothered by chronic injuries from regular shoes and are just starting to consider going barefoot.

Run Barefoot, Run Healthy is available for purchase from Amazon.com, but Ashish has agreed to provide one signed copy to a reader selected randomly from the comments below.  However, I’m adding one new wrinkle to the ground rules on this contest for a couple of reasons …

1) There’s a perception in the barefoot community that females are significantly underrepresented in comparison to men (I’m not sure whether this is actually true, but the notion is out there), and …

2) I had two contests last week that featured prizes only for men.

You can see where this is headed then: I’m making this giveaway contest open only to the ladies. Obviously, the more women we get onboard this movement, the better it will be for all of us. So if you have double X-chromosomes, leave a comment below to enter, and I’ll announce the winner this Saturday, January 21.

Thanks very much to Ashish Mukharji for providing this book for review, and good luck to everybody!



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Barefoot Running: Book Review and Giveaway

Honestly, it’s getting hard to tell all these barefoot running books apart nowadays – and sometimes it seems like authors need to have either a remarkable story or some eye-raising claims in order to get noticed. Michael Sandler has both, and his Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth is probably one of the most interesting reads on the subject that I’ve encountered so far.

First, the backstory: Sandler was a professional-level cyclist and inline skater before suffering a freak accident during a training session that quickly developed into a near-death crisis. Several surgeries and an extensive rehab process later, he was left with a titanium rod in his femur and a significant leg length discrepancy, and he was told that he’d never be able to run again.

Sandler defiantly tried to run, but had multiple recurrent injuries that couldn’t be solved by orthotics or modern shoe technology. It wasn’t until he started going barefoot that his pain dissipated, and he gradually increased the frequency and duration of his barefoot running until he no longer had any use for shoes.

Today Sandler runs 10 to 20 barefoot miles per day, on all kinds of terrain. He also founded a website called RunBare, which has become one of the best online resources for novice and experienced barefooters. He has coached elite level athletes for more than 20 years, and continues to instruct athletes of all abilities who want to improve their efficiency through natural running techniques.

In other words, there aren’t too many more dedicated or authoritative barefoot advocates out there. And when it comes to the pure mechanics of barefoot running, his book is probably the best overall manual I’ve seen. The central focus of Barefoot Running is several chapters that explain the anatomy, biomechanics, proper technique, progression, and complimentary drills and exercises associated with starting or refining your barefoot running. All of them are simply excellent.

I also mentioned some eye-raising claims, and there are plenty to choose from in the beginning and closing segments of the book. Some of Sandler’s positions I very much appreciate, while others I find quite far-fetched.

We may as well get the bad parts out of the way first: in his book, Sandler makes a lot of claims that strike me as either pseudo-scientific or way too New Age-y for my liking. For example, he spends a lot of time talking about becoming “grounded”, and how the simple act of taking your shoes off can have a tangible impact on your overall well-being by equalizing your body with the polarity of the Earth. Among other things, he claims that being barefoot can help you sleep better, regulate your hormonal cycles, accelerate recovery from trauma, decrease chronic inflammation, decrease chronic pain, and prevent musculoskeletal injury. He says going barefoot connects us to Schumann Resonances, and throws around terms like electro-pollution and geopathic stress to explain how going barefoot keeps our bodies healthier by becoming synchronized with the planet.

Knowing Sandler’s experience, it’s easy to see why he believes in the all-healing capacity of going barefoot, but it seems like a step too far in terms of what’s actually provable. Sandler also voices a strong spirituality in his barefoot exploits, but it’s along the lines of simply being meditative in the moment or tapping into “The Source” of energy and life. While I completely identify with the spiritual impact that running (barefoot or otherwise) offers, my own beliefs differ from Sandler’s, so these spiritual allusions mean something completely different to me than they do to him.

However, there are a lot of things I like about Sandler’s philosophy of barefoot running. First and foremost, he preaches the need to progress extremely slowly and cautiously, and emphasizes the risk of injury and the importance of frequent rest periods to let your body accommodate to the new stresses placed upon it. He’s also very blunt about just how much a moderately fast shod runner will have to slow down in order to properly run barefoot, and acknowledges how frustrating and potentially deal-breaking this aspect might be. From personal experience, this was one of the biggest obstacles for me in my barefoot progression, so I always cringe when I read books or articles suggesting that going barefoot is a magic bullet, and if you just get rid of your shoes, your running will quickly or automatically improve.  It's not nearly that easy or certain, and Sandler points both of those caveats out.

Sandler also scores high marks with me for recognizing that there are times when barefoot running isn’t safe or appropriate for the conditions, and that there are some runners who will be just as content and satisfied by wearing minimalist footwear. He is clear that his own preference is to go barefoot, but he doesn’t have any problem with runners who stick with minimalist footwear without any interest in losing the shoes entirely. He realizes that going completely barefoot doesn't have to be the end destination for everybody - but this contradicts some other barefoot gurus (e.g., Barefoot Ken Bob) who believe that going “naked” is superior in every way, and that even minimalist shoes like Vibrams are agents of destruction.

In fact, there’s a whole chapter devoted to considerations of using minimalist footwear; it's one of many aspects of Sandler’s book that I’d recommend.  Even though I found some portions objectionable, there’s far more to like here than not. Barefoot Running is available for $12.40 from Amazon.com and is also available in Kindle format, and it would be a standout selection in your expanding inventory of barefoot instructional books.

Additionally, in conjunction with this review, the publisher has agreed to provide a copy of Barefoot Running to one lucky reader. Leave a comment below this post to enter, and I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, October 22. Thanks very much to Random House Publishing, and good luck to everybody!



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Barefoot Running Step By Step: Book Review and Giveaway

Before today’s barefoot-related post and giveaway, a barefoot-related announcement: earlier this year, VIVOBAREFOOT offered a workshop in New York City with barefoot running expert Lee Saxby. The multi-day event provided practical and theoretical components of barefoot running, and participants earned certification to join a growing network of barefoot coaches.

If this sounds like your sort of thing, the company is offering the workshop again, this time a little further west. The next session is October 26-30 in Denver, CO, and will again feature Lee Saxby and the same curriculum as the New York course. The cost is fairly steep ($3000), but if you’re passionate about barefoot running and looking to develop or enhance your personal training resume to share the benefits of barefooting as a career move, this might be an investment worth making. Check out the VIVOBAREFOOT Training Clinic website for details.

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Of course, another way to enhance your knowledge on a particular subject is to do a lot of reading - and when the topic is barefoot running, there are more and more options out there to choose from. One of the most noteworthy offerings comes from another well-known guru, Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton, whose new book Barefoot Running Step by Step is coauthored by Los Angeles Times fitness columnist Roy Wallack.

In the interest of disclosure, I should say that I was interviewed to contribute to this book, and ended up on the cutting room floor (or, in digital parlance, in the recycle bin of the writer’s hard drive.) Roy Wallack contacted me through this website, and we had a long phone conversation about my rationale for taking up barefoot running and whether I was going to stick with barefoot running for life. (This was shortly after I had published my multi-part Barefoot Files series, which is still available for reading on my right sidebar).

I’m not particularly upset about being left out of the book – in fact, now that I’ve read it, my exclusion makes a lot of sense. As I’ve described before, I don’t have a particularly dramatic back story about becoming a barefoot runner; it was just something I had thought about for a while, and one day finally decided to try it. And after an extended, generally successful progression to barefoot running, I ultimately decided that my long-term preference would be to use minimalist footwear for my ongoing exploits in ultrarunning. As it turns out, those factors made me something of an oddball among everyone else featured in the book.

Barefoot bliss, Summer 2010

That’s not to say I disliked the finished product, however. More than anything, Barefoot Running Step By Step is a comprehensive instruction manual for anybody interested in becoming a barefoot runner. It draws heavily from Barefoot Ken Bob’s website, which for many years was the only Internet outpost to provide any instruction or support for barefoot runners. (And honestly, I always found the website quite cumbersome to navigate, so having all the important information in one collection is quite refreshing.) Ken Bob was one of the earliest advocates of barefoot running - his website started in 1997, which is a relative epoch in the timeframe of the modern barefoot movement - and over the course of several years has certainly became the most prominent. He has taught workshops to barefoot runners all over the world, been featured in hundreds of magazine profiles, and has been an easily recognizable fixture at countless road races for the past two decades.

Barefoot Ken Bob; photo from BarefootKenBob.com

By all accounts, Barefoot Ken Bob is a force of personality, and that spirit is apparent throughout his book, which is filled with humor and strange observations and insightful “Barefoot Ken Bob-isms” developed over many years of experimenting and refining his technique. Several chapters are chock full of helpful advice on proper barefoot form, and the book has extensive color photographs to better visualize the concepts involved. If you’re starting your barefoot endeavors from scratch, this book is an ideal tool to walk you through the process.

Among the material in the final chapters are multiple profiles of barefoot runners, from the famous (Abebe Bikila, Zola Budd) to back of the pack amateurs, all of whom have compelling stories to tell about the benefits of going shoeless. I was impressed to see that one story actually included a runner who had a miserable experience on a gravel path during a race; it echoed my own frustrations with running on gravel fire roads, which in turn influenced my preference for minimalist footwear.

That leads to the main criticism I have of Ken Bob’s book: he’s very dismissive of minimalist footwear, Vibrams in particular. The rationale is that your sensory feedback isn’t as good as when you’re barefoot – but the authors also make the claim that because of this, you’re more likely to get injured wearing Vibrams than you are by running purely barefoot. I happen to disagree with this point; it’s well-established that plenty of new barefoot runners develop injuries, and I believe the benefits you gain from a bit of protection outweigh the sensory advantage of having naked feet. In my opinion, successful progression hinges more on patience and proper form than on sensation or protection.

Aside from that point of contention, Barefoot Running Step By Step is a very thorough overview of the why and the how of barefoot running. It would be a valuable tool for novices, and I’m confident that even experienced barefoot runners would find some useful pointers. It’s unlikely that many of us have been at this longer than Barefoot Ken Bob, and it’s never a bad idea to seek the advice of our forerunners when trying to improve our own experience.

Barefoot Running Step By Step retails for $15 from Amazon.com and is also available for $10 on Amazon's Kindle. Also, in conjunction with this review, the book’s publisher has generously agreed to ship one copy directly to a winner selected from this post. Leave a comment below to enter, and I’ll announce the winner on September 17th. Good luck to everyone!


*Product provided by Fair Winds Press
**See other book and product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.




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Relentless Forward Progress: Book Review and Giveaway

This book review is unlike others I’ve done recently, mainly because I know the author personally, and I happen to be a big fan.

I’ve had opportunities to spend time with Bryon Powell both on and off the trail, and can attest that his dedication to the sport of ultrarunning is absolutely remarkable. He’s probably the first-ever beat reporter that our sport has ever seen; Bryon’s been known to drive back and forth across the country and even travel overseas in order to provide front-line coverage of major events for his iRunFar website. And while he has very impressive talent of his own – sub-20 hours and age group winner at Western States, top 10 at Leadville – he has spent the better part of two years publicizing the exploits of countless other top ultrarunners all over the world.

He also has a mission to strengthen and support the ultrarunning community through various avenues. His website is an outstanding interactive resource with contributions from elites and midpack runners alike. He offers coaching services for runners of all abilities, and is a contributor to several major publications such as Outside, Running Times, and Trail Runner magazines.

It’s that same spirit of helping others that is the premise of Relentless Forward Progress, an ultrarunning instruction manual that was released this spring. The book contains excerpts from previous articles, extensive original content, and contributions from many elite runners – and it’s definitely the most comprehensive overview of trail running and ultrarunning that I’ve ever seen.

Bryon essentially starts from square one – what is an ultramarathon, basics of trail running, and so on – and touches on pretty much every conceivable angle that ultrarunners consider in training and racing. Although it’s generally targeted towards novices, it’s a great resource for experienced ultrarunners as well, if for no other reason than to compare notes with people who have achieved a great deal of success in the sport. I’ve been an ultrarunner for almost 10 years now, and I quickly found a few tips that I started implementing into my own training and racing this spring.

One of the things I really appreciate about the book is that while it’s chock full of specific instructions like day to day training schedules, hydration strategies, and trail etiquette, Bryon also recognizes that there’s no magic formula that works for everybody. For example, I was especially interested to read Bryon’s take on barefoot and minimalist running, because it’s a topic he and I have discussed at length in the past. In Relentless Forward Progress he essentially lays out the rationale for minimalism without specifically endorsing or dismissing it; he then includes an appendix by noted barefoot experts Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee from RunBare.com. Similarly, with topics such as speed work, cross training, weekly mileage, and selecting an ideal race, he presents all the pertinent information and lets you decide for yourself.

Considering how much the popularity of ultrarunning has exploded in recent years, a book like this was long overdue, and Bryon was probably the perfect person to write it. And luckily for one of my readers, Bryon thought that I was the perfect person to give one away. I have a signed copy of Relentless Forward Progress that I’ll give away to one reader; leave a comment below this post, and I’ll announce a winner this weekend. If you’d rather not wait, the book is available for $11 from Amazon.com, and for $10 in Kindle format.

Very big thanks to my friend Bryon Powell for providing this book for review, and good luck to everyone who enters!




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Running on Empty: Book Review, Video Trailer, and Giveaway

One of the most common descriptions you’ll hear about Marshall Ulrich is how humble he is – and before I even started reading his book this spring, I had two examples of exactly what those people are talking about.

The first one occurred after Marshall happened to send me an unsolicited e-mail in response to a recent Monterey Herald column my friend Mike and I wrote about Marshall’s one-time running companion Charlie Engle. Marshall told us he enjoyed reading the article, and informed us that he had a book coming out describing his misadventures with Charlie while running across America, and said he’d be happy to give us a copy to read.

That’s not such an unusual proposal … except for the fact that I already had Marshall’s book, Running on Empty, in my possession, thanks to his professional publicist. It was almost as if he wasn’t aware that he was a celebrity – even before the book was released, Marshall was one of the most widely respected ultrarunners in the world - and was trying to share his story by making connections with one reader at a time. When I told him that I was already working with his publicist, his response was something like, “Oh, OK … great to hear that you have a copy.  Thanks for taking the time to review it.”

The second example of Marshall’s humility was an e-mail exchange between him, Mike, and me as we peppered him with a few questions about his running experiences. When Mike asked him why he hadn’t written a book before now, this was part of Marshall’s reply:

The reason I didn’t write a book sooner is that I didn’t feel qualified. I didn’t want anyone saying, “Marshall who? He has done what?” I wanted to have walked the walk.

For the record, here are portions of the resume that Marshall Ulrich felt left him unqualified to write about his experiences: 9-time Eco-Challenge competitor, finisher of over 100 footraces of 100 miles or more, 4-time winner of the Badwater Ultramarathon (in the old days, on the 146-mile course that went to the summit of Mount Whitney), only person to do a self-supported quadruple Badwater run, only person to do the Leadville 100 and Pikes Peak Marathon on the same weekend, and climbing all Seven Summits. You know … the stuff anyone can do.

Indeed, all of those accomplishments serve as a warm-up act to the main narrative of Running on Empty, which is an account of Marshall’s transcontinental run that he completed in the fall of 2008, and was the subject of the feature-length documentary Running America (linked and previewed below). Marshall breezes through the first couple of chapters talking about his upbringing, the tragic loss of his first wife, and his early endurance sport exploits, then spends the rest of the book detailing his two-month odyssey from San Francisco to New York, which he also decided should be an attempt to take down the world record for the fastest crossing of the United States on foot. The previous record was set by 28-year-old Frank Giannino, and had stood since 1980; at the time of his own attempt, Marshall Ulrich was 57 years old. He defies age barriers just like any other obstacle, overcoming them mainly through sheer willpower and determination.

I won’t spoil the ending of whether he set the record or not, because the run is really just the backdrop for many other issues that Marshall explores while on the road across America – and those, as much as the athletic endeavor, are the true appeal of Running on Empty. Marshall is one of those people who runs as a means of escape, both from personal demons and from soul-crushing external circumstances. He discusses what drives an extreme athlete to persevere no matter how daunting the next challenge might be – and how that single-mindedness often comes at the expense of career, relationships, and even family bonds.

One other point stands out about our e-mail exchange with Marshall: he told us that in hindsight, he’s glad that he waited so long to write a book. He said that his perspective and priorities have changed since his younger days, and that he wouldn’t have been capable of acknowledging his own shortcomings or developing any meaningful insight if he had tried telling his story sooner. In that regard, it’s a great thing that he waited, because Running on Empty is equal parts heartfelt personal journey and wonderful adventure tale. You’ll identify with him on the personal stuff, and admire him for the athletic feats.

Running on Empty is available for $17.16 from Amazon.com, or $12.99 for the Kindle version. I’ve also been given an extra book to offer as a giveaway prize, so one of my readers will receive a free copy; leave a comment below this post to enter, and I’ll announce the winner on Sunday, May 8.

Thanks very much to TLC book tours for setting up this review and providing a copy to give away.

**
As a special bonus, here's a great video clip of Marshall's run across the USA, excerpted from the film Running America:





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Big Sur Marathon Re-Route; Book Review: Long May You Run

Admin note: two separate topics today, with no relation to each other except that the timing seemed right. Sometimes that's the way it goes.

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Over the weekend, a few people asked me to comment on a local breaking news item that’s had ripple effects across the running community: the status of this year’s Big Sur International Marathon.

If you haven’t yet heard, here’s the short version: the marathon normally traverses 26 miles of what’s perhaps the most ruggedly beautiful stretch of road in the world on California’s Highway 1. Unfortunately for runners and drivers alike, as of last week a 60-foot chunk of that road now sits in the Pacific Ocean after unexpectedly crashing down the face of a coastal cliff.

Highway 1 landslide; photo from AP

With the race less than 6 weeks away, the race committee had no choice but to come up with an alternate route, most likely a down and back affair starting from Carmel, similar to what was done in the wake of yet another landslide just before the event in 1998. Truthfully, with Highway 1, the surprise isn’t that landslides happen frequently – it’s that they can even maintain a road there at all. When people say this coastline is rugged and unpredictable, they mean it.

(For more details, this video from our local TV news station has good coverage of the landslide and its implications for the race.)

Almost immediately, discussion reached fever pitch on the marathon’s Facebook page. Initially there was a fair amount of questioning about whether the race might offer refunds, as well as griping from folks who were disappointed to not do the “official” course, before cooler heads prevailed with the vast majority of people seemingly trying to make the best of it.

Since I’m not personally involved in this year’s race, I’m not emotionally invested one way or the other, so I’ll refrain from weighing in on what the right way to handle the situation should be. I do know what it’s like to have your dream race go up in smoke at a moment’s notice by the fickle hand of Mother Nature, and that feeling pretty much sucks. And for all those runners traveling here from very far away (including many from overseas) who have just found out that they’ll only see half of the scenery they’ve heard so much about, I can definitely sympathize.

However, I know that if I had an option to do a full-length race using an alternate route that still included half of the original course when my goal race was cancelled 72 hours prior to start time, I would have jumped at the chance. I also happened to run the Big Sur Marathon in the one other modified course year, and the experience was as memorable and rewarding as any of my other BSIMs. The race board is a first-class organization that will do everything in their power to ensure that runners have the best experience possible under the circumstances. Whether that’s enough to ultimately satisfy thousands of disappointed marathoners remains to be seen.

**

This winter I was contacted by Chris Cooper to do a review of his book, Long May You Run, which was published last October by Simon and Schuster. It actually turned out to be kind of a strange experience – because in reading Chris’s background and going through his book, I was struck by a lot of similarities between the two of us.


Chris is a lifelong amateur runner with some pretty-good-but-not-fantastic accomplishments on his athletic resume. He’s been a writer for many years and has a blog where he writes on a variety of running-related topics. His book is a collection of essays, stories, and observations generally written in a lighthearted tone with ample bits of humor thrown in. And every single one of those descriptions could just as easily apply to me.

So I was more than a little bit curious to see what his book had to offer. Long May You Run is an informative and well-researched overview of virtually every aspect of running you can think of. It’s an extensive advice manual for new runners looking for ways to improve, energize or revamp their running. The format is such that it doesn’t need to be read from start to finish; the 200 various subjects each stand alone as separate articles, so you can pick and choose subjects from the table of contents that look interesting and jump right in. The articles are also interspersed with snippets of training advice from 19 world-class runners that can be applied to everyday runners.

One main characteristic of Chris’s writing is brevity: none of the articles here exceed three pages in length, and several are nothing more than lists such as favorite running songs or famous quotes about running. It’s almost designed as a coffee table book that you can pick up and thumb through for a few minutes at a time until you eventually manage to see every page. His subject matter is historical – with brief profiles of many of the most famous runners through the years – as well as timely, even including a brief assessment of the barefoot running movement.

Taken on the whole, Long May You Run is a quick and easy read, and makes a very useful guide for beginning runners, with a few items that experienced runners may learn from as well. It retails for $16.39 from Amazon.com as well as other online vendors.

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Natural Running Book Review and Giveaway

Shortly after reviewing the Newton Terra Momentus shoe last fall, I received an advance copy of the book Natural Running by Newton cofounder Danny Abshire. That book is now available to the public, and I have an additional copy to give away at the end of this post - but first, the review.


I have to admit that I was intrigued to hear what Abshire had to say about the whole barefoot and minimalist running phenomenon, because his business and professional background sometimes seems at odds with the underlying philosophy of barefoot activity. Before starting Newton Running, he spent many years making custom orthotics for athletes in a variety of sports, ostensibly to ensure a level position and proper balance of the lower extremities regardless of what type of footwear was used. And Newton has made its mark in the endurance sports community by straddling the two often-disparate worlds of natural foot motion and high-tech shoe construction.

So what exactly is natural running? Is it the science of correcting and augmenting the position and motion of our feet towards a certain set of objective parameters (weight distribution, center of balance location, lower leg geometry, and so on)? Or is it the willingness to let go of all the science and conventional wisdom of the modern shoe era and let your feet function as if they were completely unencumbered? And was this simply going to be a 170-page advertisement for Newton shoes? Those were some of the questions I had before starting the book.

With those thoughts in mind, Natural Running is a very interesting read. Abshire – along with contributor Brian Metzler, who has written extensively about barefoot running for Running Times and Outside magazines – explains the basic biomechanics of midfoot and forefoot running, and how the modern running shoe has progressively prohibited runners from practicing this technique. He presents a nice synopsis of how the conventional wisdom of running shoe design has evolved over the past four decades, and how recent biomechanics studies are causing the entire industry to rethink everything they thought they understood about how their products contribute to performance and injury prevention.

More than anything, though, this is an instruction manual for how to give up your heel-striking habit and learning to run more forward on your feet. If you think of Chris McDougall’s Born to Run (see my review of that book) as the battle cry for running naturally, consider Abshire’s book the field manual. He emphasizes proper posture, forward weight shifting, and the correct positioning your center of gravity, which in turn leads to a shorter stride length and correct foot strike. In addition to detailed explanations, the book is filled with multiple photos and diagrams that make the concepts of natural running form very easy to understand.

Abshire’s approach is fairly conservative, which is generally a good thing, with several reminders to adjust your running pattern gradually and to progress from traditional to minimalist footwear in small doses. From my standpoint he’s a little overcautious when it comes to true barefoot running – for example, recommending that you get your feet screened by a doctor to determine whether they’re they right “type” to run barefoot – but I wholeheartedly agree with his assertion that you get virtually all of the biomechanical benefits from a good pair of minimalist footwear as you do going barefoot.

Speaking of footwear, let’s return to one of those questions I had to start with: whether Natural Running was mainly an extended promotional brochure for Newton shoes. To his credit, Abshire keeps his bias towards Newton fairly well-contained, with his emphasis strictly on natural running form, without much regard to the kind of shoes you’re wearing. Of course, most people (myself included) will tell you it’s a heck of a lot easier to do this with minimalist footwear, but Abshire essentially leaves this decision up to you.

As an instruction guide, I was fairly impressed with how extensively and effectively Natural Running makes the case for changing your running form away from heel striking and toward midfoot or forefoot striking. I’ve already sent my copy of the book into circulation among my fellow training partners, and I’m happy to be able to offer an additional copy to one reader as well. Leave a comment below this post, and I’ll pick one random winner to receive a free copy of Natural Running, with the winner announced this weekend.

Otherwise, the book is now available in bookstores, and for $13 from Amazon.com as well as other online booksellers.

*Book provided by Backbone Media
**See other book reviews on sidebar at right.

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The Barefoot Running Book Review

I think it’s safe to say that barefooters are becoming more recognized in the running community, even if we’re still regarded as the weird nonconformists of the family. However, a couple of years ago it was considered complete lunacy by mainstream observers, which caused barefoot practitioners to seek security in each other’s company, often through online forums.

The most popular of these was the Runner's World barefoot forum, which is where I turned when starting down the road (so to speak) of my own barefoot journey. Like any forum, members came and went, and it was often hard to discern meaningful information amongst the chatter, but there were a few people who emerged as reliable sources of in-depth, practical and effective advice about starting as a barefoot runner. One of those people was Jason Robillard.

Jason was the author of several “start here” threads with comprehensive information to frequently asked questions about getting started as a barefoot runner. He also teaches barefoot running clinics in and around his Michigan hometown. When the volume of inquiries he received increased, and the level of detail needed for proper answers expanded, he began communicating similar information through his Barefoot Running University website, and eventually through The Barefoot Running Book.


Now in its second edition, The Barefoot Running Book is basically a very long “start here” thread for someone who has never run a step in his life, someone who has never cast off his shoes in public, or anybody who has never done either. Jason takes you by the hand and explains in great detail nearly every consideration of becoming a barefoot runner.

His approach is extremely methodical, which can be a plus or a drawback, depending on your point of view. My own experience with starting barefoot running was pretty simple – I just took off my shoes and tried it one day. Jason takes beginners through a veeeeeery gradual buildup, with a whole series of “pre-running” activities such as foot exercises, deep breathing awareness, wall drills, and walking in place. If you’re somebody who likes to read step by step specifics in the instruction manual before trying your new camera or smartphone, you’ll really love his approach; if you’re someone who just turns the gadget on and figures it out on the fly, you can probably skip a few of these early lessons. (Yes, I’m in the latter group.)

I did find two points of instruction that were extremely helpful for me: the idea of a “foot kiss” on the ground instead of foot strike - or visualizing a very gentle touchdown and immediate liftoff of each step - and focusing on increased cadence to improve running speed. This second item was of particular interest for me, as I’ve been experimenting lately with improving my baseline speed in minimalist footwear (separate post coming later), a process that has been very frustrating at times. Keeping these two thoughts in mind seemed to help me through some of my recent speed workouts.

One of the things I appreciate most about Jason’s instruction is how reasonable he seems to be in the context of the whole “barefoot or minimalist or shod?” debate. By now we’re probably all aware that there are some crazies on either side of this issue who have no tolerance for anyone who differs with them: barefooters who will scream at you for even mentioning Vibrams, or shod runners who call you a lunatic for following the “fad” of downsizing your footwear. (It gets even crazier: even among barefoot purists, there’s debate over which method of running is correct – Chi, Pose, Evolution, Alexander and so on. You wouldn’t believe some of the nuances people go to war over sometimes.)

Thankfully, Jason recognizes that what works best for one person might not be best for another. He doesn’t preach adherence to one particular method, and expresses understanding for those who prefer minimalist running to going predominantly barefoot. He even concedes that for some people, there may be no reason to give up your shoes in the first place. I know this seems like common sense, but believe me, it’s a precious commodity among some barefoot advocates.

The second half of the book revisits Jason’s accomplishment of running a 100-miler, and dovetails into basic training advice for anyone who wants to get started in trail running and ultras. Then you’ll find an assortment of running and cross-training programs for various road or trail racing goals, and several excerpts from other prominent barefooters’ books and websites. As with the barefoot instruction, Jason’s overall training approach is very methodical and would be effective for a novice runner – but I have to say I found this portion of the book somewhat disjointed. It seemed like the barefoot topic was set aside in favor of a general training guide that wasn’t necessarily related.

I suspect (although I’m not certain) that this was the material added to the second edition, and it’s not grossly out of place – after all, ultrarunners and barefoot runners are actually kindred spirits in many ways. However, the second half of the book jumps from one topic to another rather incongruously, somewhat like walking through a nice little house that’s had a lot of new rooms built onto it here and there. No individual component is particularly objectionable, but the parts don’t flow very smoothly into a cohesive whole.

That’s a stylistic objection on my part – but on the whole, Jason has very sound, practical advice to share, and The Barefoot Running Book would be an effective tool for anyone interested in starting from scratch to become a barefoot runner. It is available from BarnesandNoble.com as well as directly from his website.

*Book provided by Jason Robillard
**See other book and gear reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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The Best Running Books Ever!*

*Or, more modestly, A Runner’s Fall Semester Reading Curriculum


In my school days, one of the highlights of starting a new academic year was receiving the required reading list for the semester. A good list usually featured a combination of classics that lend themselves well to multiple readings, well-known titles that I’d always heard of but never dove into, and some less-established selections that turned out to be pleasant surprises.

In my running years, fall has always been an ideal time to stoke my running mojo. Refreshingly cool temperatures, leaves on the trail, and a crowded race calendar make it easy to find motivation to get out the door and log some high mileage before drifting into a winter hibernation.

So in the spirit of both those ideas, I’ve compiled a recommended reading list for runners to tackle over the next few months; some you’ve probably already read, others you’ve heard of, and some others you might not have. Obviously, the selection process is biased, and although the books listed here happen to be my personal favorites, they may or may not appeal to you; that’s what Amazon.com reviews are for, which I’ve linked for each one. Pick one that looks interesting - or if you’re really ambitious (not to mention really bored), dive into the whole list.

Since the inspiration for this post was a Monterey Herald article I published here in July, I figured I’d make this an audience participation exercise, and include links to all of the reader recommendations that I received following that post. If for some reason I’ve still missed something, feel free to let me know in the comments below.

And since someone’s bound to ask: no, Once a Runner isn’t on this list. Here’s my brief take on Parker’s book: it’s a fair novel which happens to focus exclusively on running – and because it was released in a time when running-themed books were a rare commodity, it somehow developed this fantastical cult following that I’ve never fully understood. I’ve written about this before, so I won’t belabor the point any further here.

That seems like enough of an intro … so let’s get to it, shall we?

*
Top 5 Running Books of All Time (in my humble opinion, and in no particular order):

The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb: I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that breaking the 4-minute mile was the greatest athletic accomplishment of all time. I mean, more than a few people – respected scientists among them – believed that such an extreme effort would cause an athlete’s heart to burst, resulting in sudden death. In the aftermath, Bannister’s milestone run was the ultimate representation of breaking through the wall, forever changing the way distance runners – and athletes of any persuasion, for that matter – pursue accomplishments that others think impossible.

The fact that the race to 4 minutes also became a three-way intercontinental drama involving two of the most popular athletes in the world, as well as one who never truly got his due, just adds to the compelling nature of this tale – and Neal Bascomb’s account of this golden age of running is the most comprehensive I’ve ever read. It also manages to be a good page-turner, even though you pretty much already know the outcome of Bannister’s quest.

The Four-Minute Mile by Roger Bannister: Hey, have I mentioned before that I’m a big Roger Bannister fan? My father gave me a copy of this book when I was a kid, and back then I thought Bannister’s properness and humility were way too old-school. Thankfully, I re-read the book about 10 years ago – and this time, I found everything about Bannister to be nothing short of admirable. To think that he broke a world record (a death-defying one, at that) while enrolled in medical school, and that he walked away from a competitive running career to focus on his more noble professional calling is simply unfathomable nowadays. For my money, you’ll never find a better role model than Bannister, and his memoir is one of the most impressive reads I’ve ever enjoyed.

Running with the Buffaloes by Chris Lear: Lear caught lightning in a bottle during the season he embedded himself with the University of Colorado cross country teams, featuring superstar runner Adam Goucher and soon-to-be-superstar coach Mark Wetmore. My lasting impression from this book is the work ethic that is required to succeed in intercollegiate XC. Here’s one example: Lear describes a typical exchange between Wetmore and any students who express an interest in trying out for the XC team. Wetmore’s response was basically, “Run 100 miles per week, every week for a year, and then come talk to me.” Even more astonishingly, one kid actually did it.

Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes: Sure, Karnazes is a polarizing guy now, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that his personal story is quite inspirational, and this book helped launch the fringe sport of ultrarunning into the national conscious. Karnazes encouraged legions of new ultrarunners (including me) to give the sport a try, and he’s probably more responsible for the modern day perks (plenty of ultras all over the country, with new ones every year) and drawbacks (lotteries, early registration periods, and hints of “celebrity” culture) of modern day ultrarunning than any single person.

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall: A modern day classic. Launched the current barefoot renaissance. And I’ve already written a full review of this one, so we’ll stop there.

*
So there you have my top 5: are you inspired yet? If not, perhaps a secondary category would help? …

Best Non-Running Books that Runners Will Enjoy (at least, I did, and I’m a runner … so maybe you will too):

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer: One of the most gripping tales of adventure, danger, hubris, and athletic extremism you'll ever read. This book ushered in a whole new genre of non-fiction: the high-mountain drama, which has since been imitated by countless authors, very few of whom combine their climbing chops and gift for storytelling quite like Krakauer. The original remains one of the best and most memorable in the category.

Lance Armstrong's War by Daniel Coyle: Sure, Lance’s autobiography got all the attention, but this account was more memorable to me for two primary reasons …

1) Without reading this book, it’s almost impossible to fully appreciate the single-minded focus and determination that Armstrong (along with his coach, Johan Buuyneel) devoted to the Tour de France every year, and how ferociously he devoured every perceived obstacle in his way – even, in some cases, those from within his own team. Also …

2) There’s a classic description of how the cyclists and coaches can all tell who’s in shape and who isn’t by looking at each other’s backsides. More specifically, there’s this explanation:

“The ass check is an unobtrusive art. It is practiced from a distance, and requires not only a keen eye but also experience. An ass, properly examined, is one of the best available calibrations of potential … ‘First you have to know the guy. Then you have to know the ass.’ Bruyneel says. ‘After you know it, it tells as much as powermeter numbers.'”

For some reason that passage stuck with me – but maybe I shouldn’t say that out loud.

The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz: No physical discomfort you ever encounter in life will seem significant after reading this book, but there’s another reason I mention it here: Gretchen gave it to me as a thank-you after I paced her at Tahoe. In other words, the story of a Siberian prison camp escapee who endured the most horrific pain and mental anguish imaginable on an endlessly laborious journey through extreme depths of despair naturally brought to mind the long night she spent with me. I’m not exactly sure if that’s a compliment.

*
And we’re into the homestretch with our final category …

Reader Recommendations from July (and whatever random comments I can come up with, since I haven’t read most of these):

A Step Beyond by Don Allison: I’ve never read it, and don’t know anything about it, except that apparently Amazon doesn’t carry it – but according to the lone reviewer, Ultrarunning magazine does.

Run Like a Mother by Dimitry McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea and The Barefoot Running Book by Jason Robillard: Two things are notable about these:

1) They’re both self-published, which means they don’t have as much street cred as anything from established publishing houses – but some independent authors are just as qualified to see their work in print as a lot of authors out there, and even have a good shot of being financially successful. I honestly believe that. Firmly, fervently, passionately believe it. And yes … that’s also a bit of foreshadowing.

2) I received a copy of Robillard’s book in the mail this week, and I’ll have a review posted here in the near future. Stay tuned.

Lore of Running by Tim Noakes: I looked at this in a bookstore once; it seemed awfully thick. Based solely on probability, there must be some good stuff tucked away in there.

Daniels' Running Formula by Jack Daniels: I actually have a fantastic story to share about an interaction between coach Jack Daniels and my friend Mike, but I can’t tell it, because all of the funny parts are rife with F-bombs. Here’s a hint: they didn’t come from Mike.

The Complete Book of Running by James Fixx: My dad had this book as well; I think he purchased it during the two weeks he tried to become a runner. It pretty much sat on the shelf and gathered dust after that, but it’s still kind of a nice memory.

Fixing Your Feet by John Vonhoff: Never heard of it, although my first impression is that it runs contrary to the barefoot philosophy that there’s nothing wrong with our feet just the way they are, thank you very much.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami: This is the book that’s most intriguing to me, only because no fewer than three people mentioned to me that they thought I’d love it, as Murakami’s writing style is similar to mine (although since he’s the one with the mainstream publishing contract, I guess that means my writing is similar to his). From the Amazon review, it’s apparently about diary entries, reminiscences, life advice, pop culture references, all revolving around a lifelong habit of running. So … yeah. I think I should probably read that one someday.

As for you, you’re all set to get reading anything on these lists during the new school year – and best of all, there’s no test at the end of the semester. Feel free to share your thoughts on these or any other books in the comments below, and maybe we can start our own little discussion group.

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