Running Sports

The road from a high school track to an Olympic starting line is long and sometimes shadowy. Obstacles like chronic injuries, under-fueled nutrition, and coercive coaching can threaten to derail careers before they’ve even begun. Frustrated by seeing young talent burn out before reaching their potential, professional distance runner Molly Huddle and college coach Sara Slattery have teamed up with trailblazing running legends and sports medicine professionals to create an essential guide to reach your running potential.

Are you a runner who wants to push yourself even further? Are you constantly looking for the ultimate fuel that can power you through endless miles? Did you know that it exists in your own body? For many runners, the search for external fuels that will help them to ever greater performances is always ongoing. Magic pills and performance-enhancing supplements are just that; short term fixes that rarely work. But there is something that we all have that can make an enormous difference.

There is No Finish introduces the exploding world of the Backyard Ultra. Birthed from the high school musings of Lazarus Lake, renowned for the Barkley Marathons, the running event has spread globally—to over eighty countries— with sky-rocketing numbers. Runners have up to one hour to complete a 4.1-mile lap. At the start of the next hour, again they attempt to complete the same lap. The race keeps going, with no finish, until all except one person gives up. The winner is the last one standing who does one lap more than anyone else.

When “Renaissance runner” (New York Times) Alexi Pappas - Olympic athlete, actress, filmmaker, and writer - was four years old, her mother died by suicide, drastically altering the course of Pappas’s life and setting her on a search for female role models. When her father signed his bereaved daughter up for sports teams as a way to keep her busy, female athletes became the first women Pappas looked up to, and her Olympic dream was born. At the same time, Pappas had big creative dreams, too: She wanted to make movies, write, and act.

The former middle-distance Olympic runner and high-end escort speaks out for the first time about her battle with mental illness and how mania controlled and compelled her in competition but also in life. This is a heartbreakingly honest yet hopeful memoir reminiscent of Manic, Electroboy, and An Unquiet Mind.

David Clark went from the rock bottom of bankruptcy, addiction, and obesity to becoming an accomplished athlete. In this compelling story of his life, he not only shares his journey with complete honesty, but he also lays out a blueprint for change that anyone can use to redefine what is possible.

I used to be one of those people who thought that meditation was just not for me. I thought it was something reserved for yogis sitting cross-legged on mountain tops. I struggled to sit still even for a moment—how on Earth was I ever going to meditate! If this sounds like you, then this book is definitely for you. In the last two decades, I have discovered what meditation really is and how it can help you become a finer version of yourself in any area of life.

At the age of 55, record-breaking ultrarunner Mimi Anderson embarked on her most ambitious adventure yet. She wanted to become the fastest woman in history to run across America from Los Angeles to New York. For 40 days, the determined mother of three pushed herself on and on for more than 2,000 miles across the vast continent, despite the onset of severe pain, until she was forced to make a crushing decision: carry on and risk never being able to run again, or give up on her all-time goal.

From day one at Newbury Park High School, Brosnan made a promise: Give me your total commitment and I’ll give you a state championship in four years. He did them one better: Brosnan’s runners would take an unprecedented three consecutive national championships, smashing records, winning Division I scholarships, and representing their country in the Olympics. With expert insights and a deep love for the sport, Sean Brosnan’s Beyond Fast offers a riveting chronicle of that journey.

Hansons Marathon Method tosses out mega-long runs and high-mileage weekends—two old-fashioned running traditions that often injure and discourage runners. Runners using the Hansons method will gradually build up to the moderate-high mileage required for marathon success, spreading those miles more sensibly throughout the week. Running easy days mixed with precisely paced speed, strength, and tempo workouts, runners will steel their bodies and minds to run the hardest final miles of the marathon—and finish strong.

In 490 BCE Pheidippides ran for 36 hours straight from Athens to Sparta to seek help in defending Athens from a Persian invasion in the Battle of Marathon. In doing so he saved the development of Western civilization and inspired the birth of the marathon as we know it. Even now, some 2,500 years later, that run stands enduringly as one of greatest physical accomplishments in the history of mankind.

Why is running considered by many to be the best form of exercise? Running is simple, inexpensive, convenient and a very effective way to lose weight! When you purchase this book, you'll discover what happens in our bodies when we run. You'll find out how to create running goals and fit this plan into your lifestyle. With this advice, you can reinvent yourself as a healthier, happier person!

Horrified by the thought of breaking off his life-long love-affair with running, Richard Askwith began to think seriously about a question with profound implications for every enthusiastic runner: how can you keep running, happily and well, for the rest of your life—ideally, well into your nineties and beyond? Askwith's quest for the secrets of running longevity takes him on a long, mystifying journey: to laboratories and running tracks, cities and remote mountain villages, on several continents.

More than a century ago, a woman ran in the very first modern Olympic marathon. She just did it without permission. Award-winning journalist Maggie Mertens uncovers the story of how women broke into competitive running and how they are getting faster and fiercer every day—and changing our understanding of what is possible as they go.

Vassos Alexander shares his insight from interviews with legends of the sport and his own gruelling but rewarding experiences of extraordinary endurance racing - including the legendary 152 mile Spartathlon, widely regarded as the world's most relentless race. Vassos dissects and explores the tenacity that propels many to keep on running and running and running....

Toby Brandt would rather be hitting jump shots than doing chores on his Grandpa’s farm. But he’s about to learn a new appreciation for the great outdoors. His cousin Chloe and her friends soon convince Toby to join them on their nature runs. Before long, he learns to enjoy running with them through the woods and navigating their homemade obstacle course. However, when they tell Toby about the upcoming Wild Run, he doesn’t want to risk getting hurt and letting down his friends.

Eighth-grader Nimo Mohamed has made the varsity cross-country team and she's determined to keep up with the older girls. So she's training harder than ever, maybe too hard. Soon the runner's grades are tumbling, her times are slipping, and her body is completely exhausted. Can Nimo learn to pace herself and stop this running overload?

Anna McNuff had never run a mile without shoes on before. And yet, one British summer, she set off to run a (very) wiggly route from the Shetland Islands to London–on a mission to cover the distance of 100 marathons…in bare feet.

I don't want you to quit running! I don't want you to get injured! These 26 tips will save you time and help you avoid injury along your running career. As a beginner runner, I gathered these tips during my first marathon training. This book is concise and drills down into what to do and what not to do including actionable steps for each tip.

Today, millions of women and girls around the world enjoy running and entering races. It wasn't always so. First Ladies of Running tells the inspiring stories runners who refused to give up despite the cultural and sports barriers they faced. Legends such as Doris Brown, Francie Larrieu, Mary Decker, Jackie Hansen, Miki Gorman, and Grete Waitz are chronicled by Runner's World editor Amby Burfoot.