When I saw this book on the summer list of TLC Book Tours, I immediately wanted to check it out. I used to be a workout runner before I was diagnosed with lupus, so running culture is really interesting to me.
About Run the World:
From elite marathoner and Olympic hopeful Becky Wade comes the story of her year-long exploration of diverse global running communities from England to Ethiopia—9 countries, 72 host families, and over 3,500 miles of running—investigating unique cultural approaches to the sport and revealing the secrets to the success of runners all over the world.
Fresh off a successful collegiate running career—with multiple NCAA All-American honors and two Olympic Trials qualifying marks to her name—Becky Wade was no stranger to international competition. But after years spent safely sticking to the training methods she knew, Becky was curious about how her counterparts in other countries approached the sport to which she’d dedicated over half of her life. So in 2012, as a recipient of the Watson Fellowship, she packed four pairs of running shoes, cleared her schedule for the year, and took off on a journey to infiltrate diverse running communities around the world. What she encountered far exceeded her expectations and changed her outlook into the sport she loved.
My thoughts:
This was an interesting read. I definitely enjoyed the adventure aspect of traveling the world – such a crazy and exhilarating tour Wade took! I also loved learning the differences between how each culture trains and how they eat. There are even recipes from each country.
Although I did enjoy reading Run the World, I did get a little bored at times, because there are certain aspects of the running world I didn’t know or care so much about. There’s a lot of name dropping in this book, as Wade meets some of the most famous and successful runners in the world. I did recognize some of the names (like Usain Bolt, for instance), but she would go on tangents about how amazing certain runners were and what their times were for certain races, and these parts were a little snooze-ish for me.
If you like running and/or running culture, you’ll enjoy this read. I found myself skimming through some of the parts I found boring, and enjoying the parts that were interesting to me. I would definitely like to try the ugali recipe!
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