I was intrigued about this book as one of the authors (Jerry Lockspeiser) is at the same running club as I am. It was co-authored by Andrew Roberts. I love hearing the stories of runners; what they love about running, what they hate, what helps them to thrive and what helps them survive. Running Stories does this. The book profiles 88 people with only one thing in common; they run.
The stories are themed into six sections; Running Got me Through, Running Journeys, Racing Tales, The Competitive Spirit, It’s About Other People Too and It Makes Me Feel so Good. I love seeing how in each section the benefits of running are laid bare. I particularly loved the stories on the connections we make with others through a shared passion for running – the sense of belonging to a brilliant community that the whole book embodies feels like food for the soul when you are missing being able to run with lots of others.
We are all unique with our own stories and background and journeys but in sport psychology we know that a brilliant way to boost our own confidence is through vicarious confidence – seeing other people a little bit like us doing really well. I would imagine most of us could find a number of people in this book who feel a little bit like us. When we find one of these people we start to think… ‘maybe I could do that too’. In profiling so many everyday people who run, the authors are giving us inspiration and motivation. Accomplished runners will recognise the discomfort, the racing efforts, the injury talk. Potential runners will realise that becoming a runner is more possible than they have imagined.
If you fancy reading Running Stories is available here: Running Stories
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