My top ten running reads, because books and blisters go together

I moved this pile from the floor next to my bed in order to make the picture more festive and holidayish. Note the Christmas tree, presents, absence of cat fur.

Running and reading go together like blisters and distance.  Sure, you CAN have one without the other, but what’s the point? 

When I’m bopping along those quiet back roads, and my legs start turning traitor, screaming you’re no good not worth it nobody cares, my weary soul grabs for inspiration and finds it in words. Here’s my take on some of the best running-themed books around. What makes my list different from all the other book lists out there? I own and have read every one of these books. I stand behind them. A few have changed my life. Maybe they’ll change yours too. 

1. Marathon Woman, Kathrine Switzer. 

Yes, the story of Switzer getting attacked on the Boston Marathon course by race director Jock Semple for having the audacity to run the then-male-only event is legendary.  This memoir is the story of how Switzer came to distance running, includes her take on that epic, literal in-your-face encounter with the prejudices of the day, and details how she’s continued to give back to the sport of marathoning ever since. It’s the first running book I ever read where I thought, “This author totally gets me and where I’ve come from.”  Maybe that’s one reason I burst into tears when I met her at a Boston Marathon expo a few years back. 

2. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Alan Sillitoe. 

The narrator, a petty thief named Smith, takes us on some runs, where he noshes on the only things that matter out there on the road: integrity, rebellion, and finding yourself in the purity of the moment. First read this in college, and it’s no accident that I’ve been trot-trot-trotting ever since.

Favorite quote: “The long-distance run of an early morning makes me think that every run like this is a life- a little life, I know- but a life as full of misery and happiness and things happening as you can ever get really around yourself.”

I get a kick out of rereading my college notes in the margins, from back when I still had legible handwriting.

3. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand.

This is the book to turn to when you feel like giving up.  The cover copy says it’s a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption. But in reality, the story is one for the ages. 

Favorite quote: “In the morning he rose to run again. He didn’t run from something or to something, not for anyone or in spite of anyone; he ran because it was what his body wished to do. The restiveness, the self-consciousness, and the need to oppose disappeared. All he felt was peace.”

4. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami.

This memoir about training for the New York City Marathon is, on a deeper level, a book about running and writing and how they sustain each other. 

Favorite quote: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

5. The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, The Oatmeal.

A 150-page cartoon, the Oatmeal, AKA Mathew Inman, brings to glorious four-color Blerch our biggest anxieties and most shameful desires, including cupcake love.  Runner’s World editor -at-large Mark Remy’s back cover quote sums it up: “All runners wonder, at some point or another, why we do what we do. Mr. Inman’s explanation is the best I’ve ever seen. And the funniest. Because he is clinically insane.”

Plus, the book comes with stickers.

6. If you have a sense of humor, or know a runner who badly needs to develop one, pick up anything by Mark Remy. These are all gems:  The Runner’s Rule Book, The Runner’s Field Manual, C is for Chafing.  Make sure to visit Remy’s World at www.runnersworld.com for weekly doses of silly, stupid, and sometimes spectacularly dumb running inspiration.

7. Running and Being, Dr. George Sheehan.

The late Dr. Sheehan was one of the first modern running philosophers. While some of his training advice is a bit dated, his thoughts on the spirituality of sport are timeless.

Favorite quote, from Chapter 5, Becoming: “I was determined to find myself. And in the process found my body and the soul that went with it.”

  

8. 26.2 Marathon Stories, Kathrine Switzer and Roger Robinson.

A great tribute, in words and pictures, to that glorious distance: the history, motivations, epic races, heroes, and my personal favorites, the back-of-the-packers.

Favorite quote: “Like a pilgrimage, the marathon makes me feel holy.”

9. The B.A.A, at 125, by John Hanc. 

Did you know that nine of the fourteen members of the U.S. team participating in the first modern Olympic Games in Athens were Boston Athletic Association athletes?  This is a terrific read for anyone who loves Boston sports history in general, and the Boston Marathon in particular.    

Favorite photo: Post-marathon pic of an exhausted, triumphant Roberta Gibb who, on April 19, 1966 became the first female to run the Boston Marathon.

10.  The Runner’s World Cookbook, edited by Joanna Sayago Golub with foreword by Olympian Deena Kastor.

Because runners need to chomp on something besides words, here are lots of quick, cheap, easy, nutritious recipes that actually taste really good.  Here’s a favorite for a vegetable I used to hate.

Maple-Glazed Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients: one pound fresh or frozen sprouts, patted dry, two tablespoons maple syrup, one tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, two teaspoons grainy mustard.

Preheat oven to 400.  Cut the Brussels sprouts in half.  In a bowl, whisk together all but the veggies, then add the veggies until evenly coated. Bake twenty minutes or until softened and browned.

Finally, here’s my favorite post-run recipe. I made it myself. 

I So Deserve This

Ingredients: one large jar Nutella, one soup spoon. 

First, open jar. Second, fill spoon. Third, open mouth. Fourth, insert spoon. Fifth, enjoy. Repeat steps two through five until jar is empty and/or shame kicks in.    

You’re welcome. Now go. Run. Read. Shop. Maybe snack on some Nutella, if you deserve it too.