It was a Saturday morning following a beautiful morning run in Barrington. After ten miles with some of my friends from High school, including our former coach who is pictured on the left, I rushed back home to join my wife in taking our kids to the library for 'story time'. That was fun, but my mind was still on running, and at some point I found myself standing near a display with several books on running at eye level. Let's just say I took that as a sign.
With the start of the year for me comes the beginning of marathon training, once again, this time for Boston. It feels like I just finished marathon training for New York, but the break is over, and it's time to ramp up again. Physically, I'm not especially feeling it quite yet. And mentally, I'm not even close. So maybe the books will help.
The first book I chose was by sportswriter Liz Robbins on the New York marathon. Since that was the last race I ran, I figured I might as well read up on it a little. It's an 
interesting read, but I'm not sure If you would have much interest if you aren't a marathon runner, or from New York. It contained a lot of personal stories from runners who were first-timers to professionals including past winners. Along the way it offered descriptions of the people and places along the route that make it such a special race.
I enjoyed the book, as I enjoyed the race. Perhaps I suffer from the '2nd city' chip on my shoulder, however, because I tend to think that while New York is a great race, it's really no better than Chicago. The Chicago marathon, in many ways is a better race. Because it's the center of the media universe, it attracts more celebrities, and media attention. But the race itself is no more interesting or diverse than Chicago. New York may just be more self-important.
Speaking of self-important, the second book I chose is by a runner who apparently has a reputation among some of the ultramarathon crowd for taking himself a little too seriously. Whether that is deserved or not, Dean Karnazes is an amazing runner. I read his last book 'UltraMarathon Man', and enjoyed it tremendously.
Dean has the ability to write about his adventures in an interesting way that helps the average runner relate to his experience. I also believe he has a good sense of humility about him. This book is about his run of 50 marathons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days. All of the races were run on certified marathon courses, with other runners, though few of them during the actual race days. One of the races that he ran on the actual race day was Chicago in 2006. He finished with the New York marathon on the actual race. Of course.
I'm not quite done with this one yet, but it seems very good so far. More importantly, both books are helping to get me motivated again to train for Boston through our typically 
difficult winter.
I'd be curious to hear your suggestions for books on running. I've read a few, but there are many more I haven't gotten to. Meantime, if you are training for a spring marathon, good luck!
See you on the roads.....
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