Running Sports

A journey into Japan's fabled running culture from the award-winning author of Running with the Kenyans. Welcome to Japan, the most running-obsessed nation on earth, a place where a 135-mile relay race is the country's biggest annual sporting event. Thousands of professional runners compete for corporate teams in some of the most competitive races in the world. Marathon monks run a thousand marathons in a thousand days to reach spiritual enlightenment.

Without the right mindset, no one will reach their health and fitness potential, and that's exactly what James Atkinson focuses on in this book. James Atkinson knows what it takes to set a goal, and only through sustained, consistent motivation will that goal ever be met. This book is for anyone who wants to make a change in their life but doesn't know where to start, or doesn't think they have the motivation to meet their goals because after all, motivation is a shared quality in any type of fitness goal.

Predictably Irrational meets Moneyball in ESPN veteran writer and statistical analyst Keith Law's iconoclastic look at the numbers game of baseball, proving why some of the most trusted stats are surprisingly wrong, explaining what numbers actually work, and exploring what the rise of Big Data means for the future of the sport.

The ultimate endurance athlete, Marshall Ulrich has run more than 100 foot races averaging over 100 miles each, completed 12 expedition-length adventure races, and ascended the seven summits - including Mount Everest. Yet, his run from California to New York - the equivalent of running two marathons and a 10k every day for nearly two months straight - proved to be his most challenging effort yet. In Running on Empty, he shares the gritty backstory of his run and the excruciating punishments he endured on the road.

Sydney McLaughlin knows about facing down obstacles. She has mastered not only racing over hurdles on the track but also tackling challenges in her personal life—from lifelong battles with perfectionism and anxiety to persistent questions about her identity and whether she was "enough." Her pursuit of perfection and people-pleasing continued for years until God broke into her story with his overwhelming grace, transforming love, and empowering truth. In Far Beyond Gold, Sydney will share aspects of her life story and personhood she has never shared publicly before.

Dean Karnazes has run 350 continuous miles through three sleepless nights, ordered pizza during long runs, and inspired fans the world over with his adventures. Now in this heart-pounding book, Dean reveals how he pulled off unfathomable feats with a determination that defied all physical limitations. But Dean goes beyond the story of the Endurance 50 marathons to share his invaluable secrets and advice for athletes of all levels.

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.