Running Reads

As if it wasn’t enough to spend 3-5 hours of my week running, sometimes I also read about running in my spare time. So I thought I would review a few of the running-related books that I’ve read in the past several months.

Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong

I wanted to like this book more than I did, but at the end of the day, I just can’t relate to Kristin Armstrong that much. I don’t have a gaggle of girlfriends with whom I go gallivanting through the streets of Austin. I don’t have kids, and I’m not nearly as fast. The book is primarily a compilation of Armstrong’s blogposts and writings for Runner’s World organized by topic (“mile marker”). However, that lends itself to being chronologically disjointed and occasionally confusing. I did appreciate how she combines running and her faith and her odes to the support and camaraderie of her running friends, but I had trouble relating.

Run to Overcome by Meb Keflezighi

It’s actually been almost a year since I’ve read this book, but with Meb’s Olympic Trials success, it would be a good read before this summer. In large part, the book is an answer to the critics who claim that Meb isn’t “really” an American since he immigrated from Eritrea. What is more American, more of an example of what our national mythology holds up than an immigrant coming to American and being able to find success? Additionally, the “real” American argument is pretty thinly veiled racism, but that’s a rant for another time. Meb’s good-guy personality and his hard work shine through this book, even if the writing is pretty second-rate. It’s a quick read for anyone interested in the back story of an Olympic runner. I’ll certainly be cheering for Meb when he runs in London.

 

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

Just in case I’m not the last runner in the world to read this book, there’s a reason that it’s so popular. I started it with some skepticism due to those militant barefoot runners who take so much inspiration from it, but there was very little barefoot propaganda in the book. The story is marvelously told, weaving in scientific discoveries and history with the main narrative of the “greatest race.” I couldn’t recommend it more highly, even if you’re not that into running. If you are into running, it will make you want to run more. While the book touches on veganism, barefoot running, and more, it isn’t about those movements specifically. At the end of the day, a well-written, fascinating story is really what this book is.  

What I Read

This is not a book blog, but I do enjoy reading, even more so now that I can read what I want when I want. Post-graduate school, that’s a pretty amazing feeling. Thanks to the influence of Abby and her boyfriend fiancé (!!!) John, I bought myself a Kindle to keep me company while Joe was gone. I had been using my brother’s first generation Kindle, but this one is SOOO much better – faster, lighter, smaller, and more awesome. I can tuck it in my purse and read anywhere, which, let’s face it, is far more productive than playing Bejeweled on my iPhone.

I ended up making a tentative goal to read 20 books this year, and I’m almost a quarter of the way through that goal, much to my surprise. In addition to my CPE/pastoral care reads, this is what I’ve been reading.

The Paris Wife – Paula McLain

I’m a sucker for historical fiction and have a particular love for the Roaring 20s and the drama between various artists. McLain writes from the point of view of Hadley, Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, detailing their introduction, courtship, and the course of their marriage as Hemingway rises to fame amidst the alcohol-infused Paris of the 1920s. Perhaps you should be a fan of Hemingway or the time period to enjoy this book, but it’s also about a relationship and what happens when both people change and grow apart. It’s about trying to live out one’s values in a culture that goes against those values. While I didn’t identify readily with Hadley’s conservatism, the heartbreak in the final pages of the book is palpable in McLain’s writing.

House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer’s Journey Home – Mark Richard

Southern Gothic memoir with a twist of religion and several stints in a rather frightening children’s hospital. A lot of reviews complain about the (somewhat odd) style of a memoir written in second person. It took me a couple of sections to find my stride with the style before it began to feel more natural, so I get that. But it is a hauntingly beautiful read and a very real story in both its spiritual and earthly components. It’s about writing and pain and growing up and dysfunctional families and relationships and the South and serendipity and wandering and God. It’s theological but not preachy. At just over 200 pages, I tore through this in just a few days, so it’s a very quick read but well worth the time and energy. It’s a book that I’ll be thinking about for quite a while.

Read anything good lately?