Books: Quarantine Running Double Feature

Like a lot of people, I've taken up running as a way to get exercise in the COVID-19 era, with my goal being to run the half marathon event at the Palm Beaches Marathon in December (I'm crossing my fingers that it won't get cancelled this year). Here's a couple of books that have helped me in my quest to cover 13.1 miles.

Run Forever: Your Complete Guide to Healthy Lifetime Running, Amby Burfoot



There are a million running books out there if you want complex training schedules, micromanaged meal plans, and the latest jargon about your VO2 max and lactate threshold. Run Forever, by former Runner's World editor Amby Burfoot, is a little different. Rather than bombard you with information masquerading as wisdom, the book distills a lifetime of running knowledge into simple straightforward advice to run well into old age. Burfoot may only be half as fast as he was when he won the Boston Marathon, but what he's lost in speed he's made up for in perspective.


Becoming Boston Strong, Amy Noelle Roe

The Boston Marathon bombing is in the news again due to a recent appellate court ruling, and Amy Noelle Roe's memoir opens with a raw first-person account of that awful tragedy. But Roe doesn't let the bombing define her relationship with the world's greatest marathon. To the contrary, Becoming Boston Strong is more about Roe overcoming a directionless period in her life to find the sport of running and reach her dream of qualifying for Boston, despite injuries and personal setbacks. If you feel like reading a frank personal odyssey, full of life's ups and downs, then you'll like Becoming Boston Strong.