Explains that running is about much more than going farther and faster-it's about having your best possible experience each and every time out.

From the best-selling author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and After Dark, a rich and revelatory memoir about writing and running, and the integral impact both have made on his life. In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Haruki Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he’d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a slew of critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and—even more important—on his writing. Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and includes settings ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvellous lens of sport emerges a cornucopia of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs and the experience, after the age of fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in distance running.

A New York Times bestseller 'A sensation ... a rollicking tale well told' - The Times At the heart of Born to Run lies a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live quietly in canyons and are reputed to be the best distance runners in the world; in 1993, one of them, aged 57, came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing a toga and sandals. A small group of the world's top ultra-runners (and the awe-inspiring author) make the treacherous journey into the canyons to try to learn the tribe's secrets and then take them on over a course 50 miles long. With incredible energy and smart observation, McDougall tells this story while asking what the secrets are to being an incredible runner. Travelling to labs at Harvard, Nike, and elsewhere, he comes across an incredible cast of characters, including the woman who recently broke the world record for 100 miles and for her encore ran a 2:50 marathon in a bikini, pausing to down a beer at the 20 mile mark.

***WINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2021 – SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR*** 'Utterly joyous!' - Bryony Gordon 'The best book about running I have read' – Nick Cohen, The Critic 'The funniest book about running I have ever read. In fact it is the only book about running I have ever read, but it is HILARIOUS!' - David Walliams '...insightful, inspiring and laugh-out-loud funny!' - Michael McIntyre 'Pain. Hope. Misery. Joy. All the big stuff. Excellent.' - Dara Ó Briain 'This book is funny (which I expected) and concerns running (ditto), but it is also exceptionally moving and profound. Don't be fooled: it's not really about completing a marathon. It's about life and all its joy and weirdness. Recommended to all...' - Miranda Sawyer 'Very good book... very funny, very insightful, very inspiring' - Chris Evans, Virgin Radio 'Fabulous book' - Radio 2 The hilarious trials and tribulations of stand-up comedian Paul Tonkinson as he attempts to beat the much lauded 3-hour mark at the London Marathon. With a supporting cast of fellow comedians, this is a warmly written and wonderfully honest adventure-through-sport that will both entertain and inspire. Along the way, we are introduced to the characters helping Paul with his quest. Celebrity names such as Bryony Gordon, Russell Howard, Roisin Conaty and Vassos Alexander pop up with wit and wisdom, alongside an alpine adventure to the Mayr Clinic with Michael McIntyre that pushes Paul to the limit. And not forgetting the 'words of wisdom' and derision from Paul's anti-running friend, Richard.

Put on your running shoes - it's time to hit the road, the trails and the great outdoors. In this comprehensive runner's companion, you'll find 50 of the world's greatest running routes - from short city runs and must-do marathons to cross-country trails and challenging ultras - plus a further 150 courses around the globe to satisfy runners of all abilities. Each run is accompanied by stunning photos and a map and toolkit of practical details - where to start and finish, how to get there, where to stay and more - to help you plan the perfect trip. Suggestions for similar runs around the world are also included. Organised by continent, Lonely Planet's Epic Runs of the World takes runners past giraffes, zebras and rhinos in Africa, along courses the length of Vancouver's Stanley Park Seawall in the Americas, offers spectacular views of Hong Kong from Victoria Peak in Asia and jogs along Rome's Tiber River in Europe, while inviting athletes to push themselves to the limit in Oceania's Blue Mountains Ultra. Runs in Africa include: The Lewa Safari Marathon (Kenya) Marathon Des Sables (Morocco) The Great Ethiopian Run The Comrades Ultramarathon (South Africa) Run in the Americas include: The Big Sur Marathon (USA) Havana's El Malecon (Cuba) Rio at Dawn (Brazil) An Illuminating Ascent in La Paz (Bolivia) Runs in Asia include: The Great Wall Marathon (China) Angkor Wat Half Marathon (Cambodia) A Temple Ascent in Pokhara (Nepal) Kyoto's Riverside (Japan) Runs in Europe include: Amalfi Coast's Path of the Gods (Italy) A Classic Fell Run in the Lakes (England) The Athens Marathon (Greece) Dublin's Wild Side (Ireland) Runs in Oceania include: Great Ocean Road Marathon (Australia) The Kepler Track (New Zealand) Freycinet Peninsula (Tasmania) A Ghost Run in Waihi Gorge (New Zealand) About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.

The New York Times–bestselling classic set amid the mountains and streams of early twentieth-century Montana, “as beautiful as anything in Thoreau or Hemingway” (Chicago Tribune). When Norman Maclean sent the manuscript of A River Runs Through It and Other Stories to New York publishers, he received a slew of rejections. One editor, so the story goes, replied, “it has trees in it.” Today, the title novella is recognized as one of the great American tales of the twentieth century, and Maclean as one of the most beloved writers of our time. The finely distilled product of a long life of often surprising rapture—for fly-fishing, for the woods, for the interlocked beauty of life and art—A River Runs Through It has established itself as a classic of the American West filled with beautiful prose and understated emotional insights. Based on Maclean’s own experiences as a young man, the book’s two novellas and short story are set in the small towns and mountains of western Montana. It is a world populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, but also one rich in the pleasures of fly-fishing, logging, cribbage, and family. By turns raunchy and elegiac, these superb tales express, in Maclean’s own words, “a little of the love I have for the earth as it goes by.” “Maclean’s book—acerbic, laconic, deadpan—rings out of a rich American tradition that includes Mark Twain, Kin Hubbard, Richard Bissell, Jean Shepherd, and Nelson Algren.” —New York Times Book Review Includes a new foreword by Robert Redford, director of the Academy Award–winning film adaptation

A feast of stories and statistics about players, ballparks, and teams--all arranged so that calculations can be skipped by general readers but consulted by statisticians eager to follow Schell's methods or to introduce students to the basic concepts of statistics. Illustrations.