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We haven't done one of these in a while and Alan just got back from his time in the UK for the London Marathon! ...he may have also seen some family and stuff, but you probably don't want to hear about that. 

If you've been following us for a while, you know that Alan has been applying every year to try and get into the London Marathon via the lottery. He has been disappointed every single time. So how did he get in? We talk about that in this episode, along with how it went, how it compares to Boston, and how Alan was part of a Guinness World Record!

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Here we are again with another recap episode. Alan and Liz chat about their last ten reads:

• Running From Tragedy by Michael Salsbury
• Running Through the Dark, by Jen Scotney
• Built To Run, by Matthew Silver
• The Ultimate Guide to Parkrun, by Lucy Waterlow
• There Is No Finish, by Stephen Parker
• To The Limit, by Michael Crawley
• The Frontrunner, by Brad Fawley
• The Ultimate Ultra Running Handbook, by Claire Maxted
• Running Past 50, by Caolan MacMahon
• A Few More Laps, by David Chalfen

If you're behind in your listening then this episode is for you. You can get a feel for each of the last 10 books we read, before going back to the episodes in order of which books you're most interested in!

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 In this episode of Running Book Reviews, we had the pleasure of speaking with author Bill Donahue about his recent book, Unbound. 

Unbound is a collection of some of the best stories Bill has written about endurance sport for Runner’s World, Outside, Backpacker, Washington Post Magazine and others. The stories are divided into 5 subcategories which make up sections of the book:

• Running
• Cycling
• Exploration
• On The Snow
• From The Margins of Endurance Sport

Bill Donahue is a journalist. In reporting stories, he has searched for fallen meteorites in the Sahara Desert, snuck into Manuel Noriega’s abandoned beach house, and camped out with Army soldiers in the minus 30 degree chill of the Alaskan Arctic. He has worked in over 20 countries while writing for publications ranging from The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine to Harper’s, Wired, Bicycling, Runner’s World, Outside and Harvard Public Health. Bill’s work has been republished in several anthologies, including Best American Sports Writing and Best American Travel Writing and he has won the Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Adventure Travel Writing as well as the City and Regional Magazine Awards. Bill lives in rural New Hampshire where he goes out cycling or skiing almost every day.

If you’d like to know more about Bill Donahue you can find his website here: https://billdonahue.net

He is also on Instagram and Twitter (now X) under the username @billdonahue13 

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A Few More Laps is a compilation of stories and thoughts about high level distance running and training. A Few More Laps is a compilation of stories and thoughts about high level distance running and training . The book starts with a little about David and how he started running and his experience in the club environment in the UK, and later takes a deep dive into several areas David was exposed to through running and coaching, including the path to international level running (and how it can be hard to make that final leap), some history and Davids experience setting up a training camp in Kenya, and stories and thoughts from his long coaching career and some experiences he had being an agent.

David is a runner and coach with over 40 years experience, and 20 years in coaching with a focus on longer distances, up to the marathon.  In recent years he has coached more sub 2.25 marathoners than perhaps any other current UK coach, and currently coaches up to national elite level (28 minute 10k to 2.15 marathon). Qualified at Level 4 (Performance - 10k to Marathon) within UK Athletics coaching system, he has extensive and diverse practical experience to support the formal qualifications.  Formerly he was one of England Athletics Area Coach Mentors in Endurance. He has managed numerous elite runners, both African professionals and GB internationals, at big city marathons such as Berlin, Istanbul, Seville, and Lahore . He has also acted as England Marathon National Team Manager. A Few More Laps is not Davids first book; he also wrote Improve Your Marathon and Half Marathon Running. 

If you would like to get a copy of the book, it is only available through the author and can be found here: https://runcoach1to1.com/product/a-few-more-laps/

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In today’s episode we have the pleasure of interviewing athlete and coach Caolan MacMahon about her new book, Running Past 50. As you move past the age of 50, the physiological demands of running require adjustments in training intensity, recovery, goal setting, and mental outlook. Running Past 50 is your guide to addressing those demands so you can continue to enjoy, compete, and excel in the sport you love. Additionally, you will find 10-week training programs for beginner, intermediate, and advanced runners aiming to conquer a 5K or 10K; a half-marathon program for novice and intermediate runners; and 18-week training programs for marathon beginners, intermediate and advanced marathoners, and ultramarathoners.

A little bit about the author:

Caolan MacMahon has been dedicated to running since she was eight years old, and she continues to pursue her passion several decades later. She has completed more than 80 marathons and ultramarathons since turning 50, including six Boston Marathons and three New York City Marathons. MacMahon is the 2013 RRCA Grand Master 50K champion and has achieved dozens of overall podium and age-group finishes. She is the head coach and director of The Long Run Coaching LLC. She holds certifications from UESCA (Ultrarunning Coach; Endurance Sports Nutrition Certification), NASM (CPT), World Athletics (Elite L5), USATF (L3 Endurance, Youth Specialization; L2 Endurance/Speed/Hurdles/Relays, Youth Specialization), RRCA, and Lydiard (LI and LII). MacMahon is also a USATF L1 coaching instructor and is a coach and clinician at the USATF youth cross country camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Beyond her accomplishments in running and coaching, MacMahon is an educator, rock climber, former professor of philosophy, ethicist, animal activist, and writer. She has been a contributing writer for Runner’s World and provided race reports and contributions to Self, New York Times, Ultra Running Magazine, Colorado Runner, 5280, and Elevation Outdoors. She has also been blogging for The Chronic Runner since 2011.

If you are interested in getting a copy of the book then you can find it on the publishers website: https://canada.humankinetics.com/products/running-past-50?srsltid=AfmBOopwmUAXZBKs-v_dEQTylnl5jQ2opZ-tsCYcioxqG5C7FIxzxWZI

It can also be found on Amazon.

Caolan can be found through her website: http://www.thelongruncoaching

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When we had Matt on the podcast at the end of 2024 there were several topics we never got a chance to talk about. Two of them, running form and breathing, are things that Matt is passionate about because he believes they can make a big difference for runners. We obviously had to have Matt on again to talk about these topics, and he also talks about the importance of the foot and arch.

A little reminder about Matt's book. Built to Run is a book to help runners improve form, mobility and strength so that they can run injury free more often… because we all know we’ll eventually get some kind of niggle, but the idea is that we’re not sidelined for months at a time. The book has 8 chapters, starting with an explanation of your body as a system, moving on to training mobility and strength, and ending with breathing (yes, we can actually train that!) and common running injuries.

Dr. Matthew Silver is a coach, educator, physical therapist, and founder of Alpha Project Phyzio & Performance. He has been a distance runner for the past 13 years. While a freshman in high school, he fell in love with distance running and hasn’t looked back since. He was first exposed to physical therapy after suffering from runner’s knee and low back pain while running cross country. After high school, he ran collegiately for 2 years where he set his college’s 8K record and made the all-conference team. This was bittersweet as he could not finish the last two years of his collegiate career due to this recurrent and persistent knee and low back pain despite going to multiple medical practitioners. Believing his competitive running career was over, he decided to focus on his education by learning as much as he could about running injuries and physical therapy. He started to notice a trend of runners getting prescribed cookie-cutter exercises, being told they need “new shoes”, or, even worse, being advised to stop running altogether to avoid their pain, rather than addressing the underlying dysfunction that is causing their pain. Because of this, he has developed a unique interest in injury prevention and rehabilitation through movement quality.

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In this episode we have a repeat guest, Claire Maxted, and she talks to us about her new book, The Ultimate Ultra Running Handbook.

The Ultimate Ultra Running Handbook is not called “ultimate” for no reason. It goes through many topics in a beginner friendly way with lots of lists and pictures. If you have Claires previous book, The Ultimate Trail Running Handbook, then the format will be familiar to you. Almost every trail running question is touched on during the 7 chapters and there are also training plans for distances from 50k to 100 miles to get you started! The chapter titles are:

1. Quick Start
2. Preparation and Skills
3. Physical Training
4. Hydration and Nutrition
5. Beat Injury
6. Ultra Gear
7. Events

Claire Maxted is co-founder and former editor of Trail Running magazine. She now runs the YouTube channel Wild Ginger Running , creating films packed with trail and ultra-running advice, athlete interviews, gear reviews and race recces. Her website is www.wildgingerrunning.co.uk

We had the pleasure of speaking with Claire at the end of 2023 about her other book, The Ultimate Trail Running Handbook, and you can go back to listen to that episode if you enjoy this one.

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The Frontrunner is a fictional coming of age story about a boy named Russ who grows up without a mother, and loses his father to cancer when he's barely an adult. He grows up running everywhere, and later finds out that running can bring much more to his life. On the other side of the world in Russia, twin brothers are taken from their parents to participate in the countries sport program designed to make them into the best distance runners in the world. Eventually these three athletes race each other, but not before they've had a chance to grow up and fight a few internal battles.

Brad Fawley started running in 7th grade. He was a small college All-American in Cross-Country and 5000 meters. After earning a Master’s Degree in Oceanography and his law degree from the University of Virginia, Brad practices law as an intellectual property and environmental litigator and has learned the value of storytelling. He has been awarded three U.S. patents for automotive tools. Brad and his wife split their time between Vermont and California and, blessed with good genes and knees, most every morning you can find him either outside running or working on his next book.

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To the Limit sets out to explore why we voluntarily do exhausting things, like running ultra distances in the mountains and climbing mount Everest, and rediscover the joy of moving together as a group – whether it's running the length of the Lake District in a day, or navigating the descents of the Sindhupalchok International Trail Race in Nepal. It shows us how endurance activities can help bring people together, and even change the way we think about the natural world and our place in it.

Michael Crawley is an anthropologist, writer and runner based in Durham, UK. He has run a 2.20 marathon and represented Great Britain in road running. In 2019, Michael was awarded a PhD in anthropology by the University of Edinburgh, following fifteen months of research living and running alongside runners in Ethiopia. His book Out of Thin Air: Running Magic and Wisdom from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia (which we also covered in an episode released on January 15th 2021) won the prestigious Margaret Mead Award in 2022. Michael has written for the Guardian, Runners' World and Trail Running and his latest research is on endurance, self-tracking and doping which has taken him to Nepal and Mexico amongst other places.

You can find his book on Amazon or directly through the publishers website: https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/to-the-limit-9781399403429/

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In this episode, we have the pleasure of chatting with author Stephen Parker about his new book There Is No Finish; The Backyard Ultra Story. This book is all about the backyard ultra; how it started, who started it, and how it’s grown over the years (especially since the pandemic). There are 8 chapters. The book starts by introducing key characters like race organizer, Lazarus Lake, and his late dog, Big, and ends with the authors personal experience running and crewing backyards. In between there are many epic race stories which demonstrate the spirit of this unique event.

Stephen Parker has been running the streets and trails of Rochedale South, Australia, for over forty years. He adores his wife Ruth and four incredible daughters and is the Associate Academic Dean for the Australian College of Ministries. Since 1987 he has raced at least a half marathon every year, and since 2009 has been enjoying adventure races, rogaines, trail ultras and now Backyard Ultras. In 2016 he helped begin, and still is an Event Director of, Underwood Park parkrun.

You can find this book at Indogo stores (if you’re here in Canada), or on Amazon. You can also find it on the authors wbsite: https://runningforever.au

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