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86th out of 88 books
—
238 voters
Paula: My Story So Far
Paula Radcliffe has been hailed as one of the finest female distance runners of all time. Her amazing run of record-breaking victories in 2002 and 2003, including smashing the women’s world marathon record in Chicago and then again in London, showed an athlete at the peak of her powers. Such was her dominance that a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens seemed alm...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
October 1st 2005
by Simon & Schuster UK
(first published November 28th 2004)
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Having realised that walking up my own house stairs had me almost passing out I decided to take up running (walking was a good start in my case) and within 6 months I completed my first 10K. Passing that finnish line I was the proudest and most elated I have ever been in my life and it was then that I realised what this "buzz" people kept talking about was. I felt amazing!
Not long after this I picked up Paula Radcliffe's autobiography and was hooked. I started reading and became in awe of someo...more
Not long after this I picked up Paula Radcliffe's autobiography and was hooked. I started reading and became in awe of someo...more
I really really admire Paula, and I generally really enjoy sports biographies. Bearing all this in mind, I was very much looking forward to reading this book, and perhaps my expectations were too high. I am sorry to say that I found this book to be one of the most poorly written biographies I have read. The structure was messy and unclear, the pace was choppy and the language was uninspired. I finished it purely because I found the subject matter interesting.
I liked this as I am a big fan of running. Hearing Paula's story was great. What I didnt like was her husband putting his two pennies worth in. It was almost as if he was justifying everything he did. The only person he needed to do that to was Paula-not the world. We/I want to hear about paula and her determination to be the best. Not the reasons he shunned he after a very tough race. the end.
Poorly written. I am not a fan of running or of autobiography. Received as a Christmas present as Paula is a 'local'. There were some interesting accounts of the struggle to be am elite athlete but as a piece of writing this was weak-obvously churned out for Christmas to capitalise on the year's events. Still I suppose if it supports her running career then good luck to her.
Led me to run my first marathon, taking a little longer than Paula. This is a great and honest book. Paula is one of the greatest women athletes the world has ever known, and this book makes plain the sacrifice and talent that is required to reach such a level. Left me quite proud to be British :-)
I enjoyed Paula Radcliffe's autobiography was interesting, and a pretty easy read. I'd recommend it to anyone who is a runner as there are lots of things that you'll be able to identify. It could sometimes get too technical for someone who is not so interested in the sport side of things. I think it would have been better if she had talked of other episodes in her life, beyond the running as it would have given more of an insight into her character. Overall though it weren't so bad.
Having a marked interest in high-performance athletes, I couldn't put this one down! A few good stories, but I'm not sure what I got out of it all except a damn good story and some mental tips!
This book was a good summary of Paula's racing and gave a great insight on what it really takes to be an elite athlete. However, I found it tended to jump all over the place - one minute she's talking about 1999 then 2000, and back to 1999 again. It made it a little confusing and hard to follow.
Good factual read. Makes you understand just how hard an athlete works.
boring
A good read for all Paula fans but otherwise you may find it a bit slow.
It's always interesting to have an insight into the mind of one of the world's great achievers, see what motivates them and their path to the top. I enjoyed reading this for a bit of inspiration to head out on the coldest of nights. As always sports (auto)biographies are a good lesson in what dedication is!
It's always interesting to have an insight into the mind of one of the world's great achievers, see what motivates them and their path to the top. I enjoyed reading this for a bit of inspiration to head out on the coldest of nights. As always sports (auto)biographies are a good lesson in what dedication is!
This book was very repetitive and it made Paula seem like she made A LOT of excuses for her poor performances. I think I would still have a higher opinion of her if I had not read this book
I found it an inspiring book, which had a lot of insights to the way professionals train and prepare themselves for top races, which I have found useful for my own training.
The books biggist weakness is that often the author jumps from scean to scean, and some times back again, although in someways as she is a professional runner not a writer and this should have been corrected by her co-writer. But having said that, it is one of the things that makes the book authentic.
The books biggist weakness is that often the author jumps from scean to scean, and some times back again, although in someways as she is a professional runner not a writer and this should have been corrected by her co-writer. But having said that, it is one of the things that makes the book authentic.
Dull & poorly written
This was a fun read - sort of interesting to see how the life of an elite runner is. The narration is a little choppy and jumps around in spots (there were places in the middle of the book where I wasn't sure where I was, chronologically), but overall it was enjoyable.
I am currently reading this book loaned from a friend who's helping me train for my first 1/2 marathon. I get excited about running when I read this book.
i can't honestly say she is the best writer ever...but i did enjoy her story...but not sure if that's because i'm a runner (or pretend to be runner) myself...
Feb 20, 2008
Shannon
added it
Paula Radcliffe is arguably my favorite runner in the world. Even if this book wasn't very good (it IS good so far) I would still love it.
Nov 02, 2008
Steven
added it
Gave up on the book, not because there was anything wrong with it. I just struggle to read any Biography.
Jun 15, 2013
Meg Hare
marked it as to-read
May 19, 2013
Stu
marked it as to-read
May 19, 2013
Diana Boticaria
added it
May 18, 2013
Carmen
marked it as to-read
May 04, 2013
Pearson Smith
marked it as to-read
Apr 12, 2013
Laura
marked it as to-read
Apr 08, 2013
Steven Harbin
marked it as to-read
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Paula Jane Radcliffe, MBE is a British long-distance runner.
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