The Richmond Marathon is one of the top 15 marathons in the US, and was named America’s Friendliest Marathon by Runner’s World Magazine. On Saturday, November 16 almost 20,000 runners will run (and walk) on Richmond’s streets in the marathon, half marathon and 8k.
Planning on running, cheering, or staying as close to your couch as possible? Here’s some titles from Reynolds Library help you get up to speed on the sport of running.
Strides: Running through history with an unlikely athlete by Benjamin Cheever
Explores the role of running in human history from Pheidippides, who ran the first marathon in 490 B.C. (bringing news to Athens of the Greek victory on the plains of Marathon), to our own soldiers in Iraq today, interspersed with recollections of Cheever’s own decades-long devotion to the sport, and an exploration of the impulse to run, described by Cheever as “the desire, the need, to escape into ecstasy.”
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami (Audiobook)
Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers Murakami’s four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon. Author and runner Murakami is considered to be an important figure in postmodern literature.
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
McDougall reveals the secrets of the world’s greatest distance runners–the Tarahumara Indians of Copper Canyon, Mexico–and how he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of super-athletic Americans. This book brought barefoot and minimal running to mainstream culture.
The non-runner’s marathon trainer by David A. Whitsett, Forrest Dolgener, and Tanjala Mabon Kole
The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer is based on the highly successful marathon class offered by the University of Northern Iowa. This is marathon running for real people, people with jobs and families and obligations outside of running.
Running for mortals: a commonsense plan for changing your life through running by John “the Penguin” Bingham and Jenny Hadfield
You don’t have to run fast or competitively to reap the rewards that running has to offer. What you do need is the courage to start. That is the “Penguin mantra” that has enabled John Bingham to inspire thousands of men and women to take up the sport for fitness and the sheer enjoyment that running brings them.
Details: Click on the images for more info about the book or to place a hold. All books are available for checkout with your Reynolds ID! Descriptions taken from the library’s catalog.
