runner – ~*LunaSea*~

Tales From Another Mother Runner: Triumphs, Tips, and Tricks From the Road: a Collection for Badass Mother Runners. McDowell, Dimitry and Sarah Bowen Shea, editors. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2015.

Reason read: for the title alone. I’m not a mother but I love a book with a great title.

Dimitry starts the introduction and right away you can tell what kind of ~~person~~ runner she is. Even with a bad stress fracture she “needed to go the distance” not as a spectator but as a runner at the Nike Women’s Marathon. Sounds like someone else I know.
I had to wait three months before getting this book from a library almost 200 miles away. It was worth the wait. Tales From Another Mother Runner isn’t just for running mothers. I should know I’m definitely not a mother and, with only two halves under my belt, I’m barely a runner. This book is for anyone who has to juggle running with other parts of their lives (and not just kids, too). Husbands, jobs, injuries, fears, you name it. These tales cover every aspect of running from first steps to last miles and features every kind of female runner from the speedies to the barely jogging (but just don’t call it jogging). Like the art of running there are highs and lows, funny stories mixed with sad ones. I identified with dealing with depression as well as the more lighthearted nuisances like trying to find a anti-chafe remedy for all areas (and I do mean, ahem, all areas). I enjoyed Tales from Another Mother Runner so much I’m going to look for McDowell and Shea’s other books.

Goucher, Kara. Running for Women: from first steps to marathons.New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011.

Reason read: running. Duh.

Kara Goucher is an Olympic distance runner. I decided to read her book partly because I was looking for a new perspective on an old theme, running for women. All in all, I found Goucher’s Running for Women to be informative, if not a little disorganized. I realize Goucher probably wanted the information approachable and therefor used a very deliberate tone, but I felt like it wasn’t serious enough or thought out enough. For example, in the section on running a marathon there is a little box titled “The World’s Simplest Marathon Training Plan (15 weeks)” (p 248), with the admonishment, “Before reading the plan, please review chapter 7 to learn…where you need to be fitness-wise…” (among other things). I went back to chapter 7 because I didn’t really remember that information. In searching the chapter I found Goucher’s personal marathon story, tips for organization before a race, advice on sex and food the night before a race, what to wear the day of a race (including extra deodorant), how to wear your hair and get your head space together…all sorts of interesting things, but nowhere did I easily find the information I was asked to review before reading the plan. Short of rereading the chapter I still don’t know where I need to be fitness-wise before running a marathon.
I mentioned disorganization. Let me elaborate. All of Goucher’s advice, quips, comments, answers to questions and personal stories are great, but they are all over the place. On page 106 she mentioned getting away from running every once in awhile. On page 110 she says the same thing, more or less, when she says, be okay with regular breaks from running.
Did I get anything out of reading Running for Women? Yes. I liked the nutrition section a lot. I appreciated her honesty when talking about her own relationship with food. I even enjoyed her advice for new moms even though I didn’t need the information.