I recently received an e-mail from Rachel Toor announcing her new book, Personal Record: A Love Affair with Running. Actually, I receive a lot of these e-mails, and I do my best to get a copy for review, so I can share with the club something external about running.
If you have been running a long time, then you have your own sets of stories to tell, and amongst your friends, well, they have heard your stories countless times. If you are new to running, then you have a few stories of your own, but what drives you to try new things, seems largely dependent upon your running friends or what you have read in the club newsletter.
One book I reviewed several years ago, Beginning Running for Women, was interesting, in that, it mirrored my personal experience in running, or at least, in getting my start in running. Most runners I had met to that point had run in high school, and were slowing down, rather than just starting out in running.
Now, if you started running in high school or college, it might have been to participate in a sport, and how fast you ran, or the races you did, were probably based upon what your coach told you.
For most of us, however, it is conversations with other runners or stories that we read, which influence how or what we run. My 50 mile/marathon weekend double idea came from reading an article in the Dallas Morning News during Christmas 2005. Perhaps my experience will convince someone else to try this (stupid) double once, or convince that person to NEVER try it.
The inside cover of Personal Record is intriguing, yet corny. It describes Rachel Toor as “a bookish egghead who ran only to catch a bus.” Flipping in a few more pages is the table of contents, with… (wait for it) – 26.2 chapters.
This is a GREAT lure for someone who is intrigued by the marathon distance,but I was fully prepared for the book to be cheesy, instead I was pleasantly surprised. I have read several running memoirs, and they are, for the most part, chronological and linear. For every action or effect, there is a cause, and taking one step leads to the next step.
But Personal Record is different. This is because Rachel Toor is a WRITER.
Each chapter is a lovely little vignette on running. The first chapter doesn’t even begin to explain how she got into running, but is instead, an intriguing description of her runner’s body.
As you move through each of the chapters, there is some order to how her story unfolds – these are not just disjointed stories.
With each passing chapter, I can see some similarities between myself and Rachel – how non-runners treat you, as well as the build-up up to running my first marathon.
As it turns out, Rachel has some skill in the longer distance trail runs (or what we call “ultras”). Most people who come into running “later in life” generally do not have this experience, but it is still thrilling to get another viewpoint of someone who has qualified for Boston or realized they are leading a race for the first time, just as we are thrilled when someone from the club qualifies for Boston or wins a race. Rachel also has skill in maintaining a consistent pace and often runs marathons as part of the Clif Pace Team. The kind of story that is most rewarding for the Runner-Who-Has-Done-It-All is when someone reaches their goal in a race, because YOU paced or trained that person.
From a personal standpoint, there were races in Personal Record that I want to try, having read of them (though I am not sure that a “Ride and Tie” would be a good idea). I also would like to meet the author, because we could have a really great running conversation (and she has hashed, too!). Plus, we have both had articles published in “Marathon & Beyond.”
Personal Record is a great book for someone who has been running for a while, because it brings back memories of how things once were, but also gives one ideas of what to try and goals to achieve.
But Personal Record is also a great book for someone who has recently got into running, because it is inspirational to see that a regular person became obsessed with (and also really good at) running.
And finally, Personal Record is a great book for someone who has never run a single step, because the stories are really interesting (it would be easy to read the book in one sitting), and that non-runner might just be inspired to start up running themselves.
The book can be purchased at Amazon.com or from University of Nebraska Press at: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu
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