BOOK SHAPE
Sunday morning in the backyard. Six weeks and two days until The Long Run hits stores. It's going to be 90 degrees today. Now might be the best time to hit the trails and log a few miles before it gets too hot. But I'll ride the Peloton instead. Weekends are when the electric bikers and horse people crowd O'Neill. The solitude I crave is nowhere to be found. Weekdays I have the place to myself but Saturday and Sunday is for the masses.
Besides, Matt Wilpers of Peloton just paid me some fine compliments about TLR:
The Long Run is a gift to the sport of running. Martin Dugard beautifully captures how the marathon went mainstream and the stories behind the legendary athletes that made it happen. This is a must read for all runners and coaches.
I'm a longtime fan.
I'm not training for a marathon or even a 10k. I am training for the book. The tone of The Long Run is conversational, you and me having a discussion during a Sunday long run. That's not me getting cute with the title — it's a comment more than a few early readers have stated about the feel of the book.
But I tend to do my longer endurance efforts on the Peloton, keeping my idea of a "long run" to about three miles. It would be nice to log a good 60 minutes on the trails, or even 90 for that matter. You'd think that after a lifetime as a runner and endurance athlete this desire would have faded by now. It has not. My competitive side plays out more often in coaching and book sales, and I have no desire to run another marathon. But the simple act of running is there for all of us. I think it speaks to running's great allure that I still want to get back out there and lose myself in the miles.
I never really made it back after my knee surgery, when the doctors told me my days as a runner were over. They told me to quit running altogether, a diagnosis reversed a few years ago. In a nod to age I have begun taking creatine, collagen, and protein powder to strengthen the muscles and joints. It has worked. I am vain enough not to log my runs on Strava. The former racer in me can't accept that my old idea of a slow jog is now my idea of a brisk run. No need to let the world in on that secret.
I never lost my love for running but writing The Long Run reminded me why it's so foundational to who I am. Being a coach all these years kept my foot in the door and made me think about the sport from a new perspective. The book made me relive my early years as a runner, telling me I needed to be out there doing it, not just using my knowledge to tell others how to do it. I can assure you, dear readers, that The Long Run is not a philosophical ramble like the one you are reading now. Nor is it pure history. It's not a memoir nor a love letter to running, but you'll keep turning the pages late into the night even if you're not a runner. It's an amazing story with amazing characters. So it is incumbent upon me, for reasons that I feel but cannot explain, to put in at least one long run between now and pub day.
And so I train.
