Already 10 books since the last recap episode and also another marathon under our belts. This marathon didn’t go well for either of us but we’ll have another chance in October. Here are the books we chat about in this episode: The Mock Olympian, by Michael LongYou can get a copy here: https://a.co/d/3Fu37FX Fast 5k, by Pete MagillYou can get a copy here:  https://a.co/d/cqjh7cg Out And Back, by Hillary AllenYou can get a copy here:  https://a.co/d/1kIdHa3 A Runner’s High, by Dean KarnazesYou can get a copy here: https://a.co/d/7k7hfo3 Taking Life in Stride, by Harvey MitroThe proce ..read more

In this episode, Alan and Liz chat about Kara Goucher’s recently released book, The Longest Race. They’ll tell you what they learned, what they thought, and why they wanted to read the book in the first place. Kara Goucher grew up with Olympic dreams. She excelled at running from a young age and was offered a Nike sponsorship deal when she graduated from college. Then in 2004, she was invited to join a secretive, lavishly funded new team, dubbed the Nike Oregon Project. Coached by distance running legend Alberto Salazar, it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime. Although Alberto initially ..read more

A Beautiful Work in Progress is Mirna’s memoir and the story of how she got into ultrarunning and subsequently finishing her first 100k race. Although the book starts with her running, she goes back to her childhood and talks about her family, how she grew up surrounded by cousins, and the time she spent outside with them. Mirna grew up in a body positive environment where all the women who surrounded her were curvy, and where she was never described as “fat” until much later in life. She also watched her mother lose both her best friend and her youngest brother to heart attacks, and she has m ..read more

Run Your Best Marathon is a guide to training and racing the marathon distance. The marathon has many challenges if you are trying to run at your full potential; you need to run at a hard effort while managing fuel stores and try to stay focussed for several hours. This book uses science as a base, for concrete tips and recommendations for approaching everything from training, to race day execution and many other topics in between. The book has 19 chapters which are divided into 6 sections: Section 1: On Training Section 2: The marathon programmes Section 3: The practicalities Section 4: Body ..read more

The Villanova Track Story is the story of Villanova University’s dominance in the DMR, distance medley relay, at the Penn Relays from 1966 to 1981. The book features this piece of running history, the athletes involved, and the circumstances that brought it all together. The author, Jerry Bouma, was himself a scholarship athlete from 1970 to 1974, but he tells the story by piecing together information gathered from many people who were present during a more than 16-year span. Jerry Bouma grew up on a family dairy farm in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, and was the first Canadian to receive a tra ..read more

Taking Life in Stride is Harvey’s memoire divided into short stories. The stories are divided into themes, and each theme section has an introduction story. There are 6 themes: Racing Moments Fun on the run Life’s Little Difficulties People Family The stories can be read independently but some characters are featured in multiple stories throughout the book, like Harvey’s first dog Chachka. Harvey Mitro is a husband and father who lives in Toronto. With a degree in Kinesiology, he has been working as a personal trainer and has guided exercise for people ranging from age 4 to 101. He has been a ..read more

A Runner’s High; My Life in Motion is the story of Dean Karnazes’ return to Western States 100 in his 50’s, at a time when he is also wondering about the future of his running career. He is waitlisted, so doesn’t feel the motivation to train. As he gets to within only a few months of race day, Dean enters a 100k race to kick off his training. Throughout the book Dean reminisces about the past, talks about his family and how they have supported him throughout his life and his running career, and recounts anecdotes about people he meets during ultras. Who is Dean Karnazes? What do you mean you ..read more

Out and Back; A Runner’s Story of Survival Against All Odds is about Hillary Allen’s miraculous survival and recovery after she fell off a ridge in Tromso Norway during the 2017 Tromso Skyrace 57k. Hillary’s survival and recovery was not only due to her perseverance and desire to live, but also because she had the right help at exactly the right time. During the race there was another competitor, Manu, that was tracking Hillary less than 10 seconds behind her and he saw the fall. He immediately scrambled down to Hillary’s broken body and realized she was still alive. Manu has trained in mounta ..read more

Fast 5k; 25 Crucial Keys and 4 Training Plans is about two-thirds reading and one-third training plans. The reading consists of 25 short chapters, each one about a key to running a fast 5k. There are 15 training keys, 5 lifestyle, diet and gear keys, 5 race day keys, and a bonus key for masters athletes with age-related adjustments and advice. There are various charts and tables throughout the book to demonstrate the principles visually. Pete Magill is a masters runner, coach, and writer. In addition to Fast 5k, he is the lead author of the book Build Your Running Body, and author of The Born ..read more

The Mock Olympian is the story of author Michael Long’s journey to run in every Olympic city, 23 in total, between the 2012 and 2016 Olympic games. Although he tried to combine trips if he was in a particular corner of the world, this goal required a lot of travel and even a month off once it was time to run in North America, which luckily, Michael’s employer approved. The book is divided into 25 short chapters. The first 2 chapters are general background about how the idea came about and a little about Michael. The 23 remaining chapters are dedicated to each of the 23 Olympic cities that Mich ..read more