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There's probably no more democratic image in sports than the sight of thousands of athletes and dreamers lined up in places like New York or Boston or Los Angeles or wherever they're about to test themselves against, in the end, themselves over 26 miles of running hell. The only thing the marathon discriminates against is the unprepared: age, sex, nationality, race, even physical disability all peel away when the mix of athletes, from the elite Olympian to the neighbor next door, responds to the report of the starter's pistol. This smart, agreeable compilation of oral histories recalls the first encounters of 37 marathoners, and the stories they tell are marvelous, inspiring, despairing, filled with hope, and wracked with aches and pain. The great Bill Rogers remembers not finishing his first attack of the Boston, and the equally great Greta Weitz recounts what it was like to smash the record in New York her first time out. But it is the voice of the common runner--some nationally famous, like writer Erich Segal, others only known to their loved ones--that consistently gives First Marathons its second wind as it details the drives and dreams that link all dedicated runners. Kislevitz, a marathoner herself, displays endurance by completing the book with a final section offering useful advice from top coaches, a comprehensive glossary of terms, and, to help maintain a steady rhythm, the favorite songs marathoners sing to themselves. Some of the more fitting: "Born to Run," "Groovin'" and, particularly appropriate for getting through the wall, "Running on Empty." --Jeff Silverman
Book Description
Introduction by Gail Waesche Kislevitz
"If you have the passion, you have the power."
I had already been pounding pavement for twenty-four years when I made the decision to run my first marathon. Growing up in the late sixties when women's sports was called cheerleading, I had no formal training in running techniques. I just ran, pure and simple. I ran for the joy of it, the thrill of it, the escape of it. During college, I played lacrosse because there wasn't a women's track team and it seemed like the next best thing to do. But I still remained faithful to my daily run. I ran through the bitter-cold winters of Michigan during graduate school, through two pregnancies and countless other miles that seem to blend into one long life's run.
I don't know when I made the transformation from running as a sport to running as part of my life. I can't separate the two. When I run, my mind and body fuse together, creating an energy source that empowers me. It is my private time, my therapy, my religion.
Ultimately I had to test myself, to see just how far I could go. I wanted to train correctly, so I bought running books filled with important information: training routines, nutrition guides, stretching techniques, injury prevention, speed work, pace and performance guidelines. Everything I needed to know about the technical aspects of running a marathon, except the most important thing to me-its soul. No book took on the task of describing the feeling, the heart, the core of a marathon. What would it be like? What would I feel out there? Would I hit the mythical wall? Could the last six miles be so difficult? This was the information I craved.
I spoke with friends (and strangers) who had run marathons. They answered my questions with such passion, such fever and excitement for the event that I was mesmerized. I inhaled their stories as they captured every moment of the race: the lows of utter despair and pain, the highs of inner strength. They became my role models.
That was the beginning of this book. I am going to let runners speak for themselves-famous runners, unknowns, fast and slow, old and young. Through their experiences, you will feel the pain and the glory of running the marathon. Their lives h
Customer Reviews:
TERRIFIC book.......2007-07-03
I have run a few half marathons and decided to read this book as I began to consider running a full marathon. Regardless of what type of runner you are (beginner or agro athlete) this book contains inspirational stories ranging from everyday runners to elite runners. There is truly something for everyone in this book whether you want inspiration to run around your neighborhood block, a local 5K, or train for a full marathon. Highly recommended.
Awesome Read.......2005-04-04
My running buddy told me about this book. We are both running our first marathons this year. This book made me laugh and cry and yet continued that "fear of the unknown" for my first marathon. The short narratives made it an easy read and a quick one, too.
Interesting reading, but gets monotonous.......2003-08-05
Interesting book for the first time reader. Not something that you will pick up and read over and over. As you get through several stories they actually get a little monotonous but it is still an interesting read. If you don't have to spend the money and can get it at the library, I would recommend that first.
Also, the dates of some of these runners stories are quite aged. Much of the book is like a history lesson where marathon running has come from over the past 70 years. Again interesting, but didn't do much for me.
Almost makes me want to try it!.......2003-02-11
I can only read one story every few days or else I start entertaining thoughts of running a marathon! Read one story at night before bed and you're sure to get up and run in the morning. It reminds you of all the good things about running- clearing your head, planning your day, getting away. It temps you with the pride and success you feel when you've accomplished something great- a marathon a hill or a problem in life.
Will Power.......2002-08-13
The different stories show how common people took up running. There is wide range of marathon finishers and therefore it is easy to find somebody in the book you can relate too.
What this book does best is inspire those who contemplate running a marathon. I took up running a few months ago, slowly building up my mileage. The incredible stories in the book show me that indeed it is possible to run 26.2 miles, or even more for ultramarathons. At one point it becomes a matter of mind over matter. Beyong running, this book is about the incredible abilities that lie within each one of us if we give ourselves the right training and believe we can achieve what we've decided to do.
Average customer rating:
- How to Run your First Marathon
- Perfect prep for first timer
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How to Run Your First Marathon
Ardy Friedberg
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Running & Jogging
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Similar Items:
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4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon,Updated
ASIN: 0671442066 |
Customer Reviews:
How to Run your First Marathon.......2001-02-08
I bought this book in 1982, a time before liquid carbohydrates, heart rate monitors, and tempo runs. What it lacked in technological mumbo-jumbo, it more than makes up with a stick to this running schedule and you'll finish a marathon period simplicity. The training program is not confusing because it's based on time and not on distance. You'll get to a point (something like 5 months into running) when you'll be logging hours on the road. That's the time when you'll be ready. Great book! A true comfort book for runners.
Perfect prep for first timer.......1998-10-07
It is a short easy read that doesn't go beyond the scope of novices, yet not too simple for short distance runners ready to attempt a marathon.
Book Description
Personal stories of making the mara-thon a part of your life.
This companion volume to First Marathons will inform, inspire, and educate any runner who wants to try the marathon, or wants to run several marathons a year. It picks up where that fast-selling book left off: it follows up with the 37 people profiled there, to see how their marathoning life has progressed since their first race. And it includes some 20 new first-marathon stories, as well as the stories of runners tackling their second or third marathon, and making the marathon an integral part of their lives.These stories are lively first-person essays, oral history on the subject of running marathons. Far more valuable than dry how-to books, this is powerful, heartfelt human experience.
Customer Reviews:
The Spirit of The Marathon.......2005-10-21
This book is great if you thinking about running a marathon. If gives some good insite into what you can expect in your marathon.
Average customer rating:
- We want to run a marathon now!
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The First Marathon: The Legend of Pheidippides
Susan Reynolds
Manufacturer: Albert Whitman & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Nonfiction
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Marathons
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ASIN: 0807508675 |
Book Description
Twenty-five hundred years ago, in ancient Greece, a small band of Greek soldiers faced the mighty Persian army on the plain of Marathon. A runner named Pheidippides ran to neighboring Sparta, one hundred forty miles away, to ask for the Spartans' aid. Afterwards he sped back to the battle, where he helped defeat the enemy. Then the weary runner did his duty yet once more; he ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver the miraculous news of the Greek victory.
The legend of brave Pheidippides has inspired the running of marathons worldwide.
Customer Reviews:
We want to run a marathon now!.......2006-12-08
I read this book to my six-year-olds and they were spellbound. By the end of the story I was bawling, but the author did such a wonderful job describing the hero and his courage that they understood why and felt the emotion, too.
I love the story of Phidippides and through this book, my boys now love it. The illustrations are a bit cartoonish, but it holds their attention and doesn't detract from the story. They have asked for it to be read many times and when we go to the gym they 'run a marathon'.
I'm so glad there's a book which makes the courage, bravery and nobility of Phidippides accessible to children. Most teens and adults would enjoy this book as well as it easily explains the story without dumbing it down.
Read it. And then go running!
Book Description
The story of the Marathon campaign is an epic of the Ancient World. When the Ionian Greeks revolted against their Persian overlords in 499BC, the cities of Athens and Eretria came to their aid. The Persian King Darius swore vengeance and in 490BC a fleet of 600 ships packed with troops was sent to take revenge on the Athenians. At Marathon the Greeks met the Persians in battle and drove them in rout back to their ships. The moral effect of this victory was enormous – for the first time a Greek army had defeated the Persians and demonstrated the superiority of hoplite tactics.
Customer Reviews:
More Questions Than Answers........2006-05-25
Mr.Forczyk said it all. Granted that both the written and archaeological evidence is choppy at best. Still Mr.Sekunda failed to answer any pertinent questions. Yes, the Greeks were victorious and the Persians got hammered. We all knew that before we picked up this book. He does not give any insights into the how and why this campaign went as it did. He did not even present a cogent theory. I give the color plates and maps 4 stars and the text 2.
Iran.......2006-03-25
Saddly, this book was ommiting the whole history and sought to illsustarate that Greek were dominating force in the battle.
Archaeology, not Military History.......2003-01-09
Trying to write coherent military history about a battle that occurred almost 2,500 years ago is a daunting and problematic task. Written sources are few and often unreliable or fragmentary. Terrain can change so drastically over such a long period that simple things like determining the exact location of key events can be impossible. Artifacts such as weapons, equipment and human remains have usually deteriorated so much over the centuries that their use as interpretative tools is difficult and controversial. No one can argue that the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC - where Greeks defeated the first Persian invasion of their land - was a historically important action. Had the Greeks lost then or ten years later against the second invasion, there would have been serious historical repercussions on the development of later European culture and society. However, the task of writing a coherent Osprey campaign title on that subject is another matter. In Osprey's Campaign series volume 108, Marathon 490 BC, Polish archaeologist Nicholas Sekunda has decided to attempt this difficult task. Unfortunately, Sekunda's effort falls flat for a number of reasons - primarily because the volume is too oriented toward archaeological issues rather than military history. However another telling weakness is the slippery slope of interpretation built by every author who ever attempted to study Marathon; as Sekunda writes just before he begins his narrative of the battle, "the reader should be warned that virtually every account of the battle written reconstructs it [the battle] differently." If it is true as Sekunda suggests, that different authors could write different narratives of this battle due to the controversial and fragmentary nature of the evidence, then why should anyone read this account?
Marathon 490 BC begins with short sections on the origins of the campaign, opposing commanders, opposing armies and opposing plans. The campaign narrative is 55 pages in length, but the battle itself is covered in less than 6 pages. The volume concludes with a short aftermath, notes on visiting the battlefield today, a campaign chronology and a bibliography. Marathon 490 BC includes three 3-D "Birds Eye View" maps (the Battle of Marathon in three phases - deployment, Greek charge and Persian rout), and five 2-D maps (the Aegean in 499-492 BC, the campaign in the Cyclades, the campaign of Marathon, the plain of Marathon in 490 BC, and Marathon today). Three battle scenes by Richard Hook are also in the volume: Philippides before the Spartan ephors, the Athenian charge and the Athenian reach the Herakleion after the forced march back to Athens.
Reading Marathon 490 BC, several facts soon become apparent. First, that Sekunda is very well-versed in archaeology, very familiar with classical Greece and very familiar with the Marathon topography. Second, Professor Sekunda's methodology is erudite, but uninformative. He spends far too much time using the limited space of an Osprey volume to contest or illuminate various archaeological issues about the battle - issues that properly belong in an archaeological journal article, not a campaign summary. At the very least, Sekunda could have include some of his major points in an appendix, rather than choking the campaign narrative with tedious explanations of various diggings. Third, Professor Sekunda does not know how to write military history or to analyze facts of a military nature. For example, Sekunda advances the poorly-supported theory that the reason that the Persians divided their forces at Marathon was that they could not employ their cavalry advantage due to the possible Greek use of abatis obstacles. This is patently silly for several reasons that Sekunda obviously failed to grasp. The Persians were on the battlefield for almost five full days before the Greek army arrived, so the Persians could have employed their cavalry before the abatis were in place. Furthermore, where would the Greeks get the materials for abatis - Sekunda notes that the battlefield was mostly beach and marshland, with few trees. On the other hand, Sekunda also fails to ask the blindingly obvious question of why didn't the Persians employ obstacles to their front on the beach. Persian control of the sea meant that they had the time and the means to bring in material from elsewhere and construct earthworks, which would have hindered an assault by hoplites. On the main issue - why did both Persian flanks collapse under the Athenian charge - Sekunda offers not a wit of insight. Sekunda ends up telling the reader what he already knows - that the Greeks won - but he cannot explain why this occurred.
The only really strong point of this book is the order of battle data, which does a good job pointing out the relative strength, composition and disposition of each army. The three battle maps are decent, but given the very small area of the fighting and conflicting evidence, they really can't show much but general movements. In the end, Marathon is just one more of those historical events of which many of the pertinent facts have now been lost to posterity.
Book Description
What runner doesn’t hope to compete in, and complete, a marathon? This 16-week program developed by nine-time New York City Marathon winner Grete Waitz—and used by her to train both amateurs and professionals for the biggest races—can make that dream come true. Written in an efficient and useful style, and featuring more than 50 photos, it discusses base fitness, stretching, proper posture, and staying healthy through it all, as well as how personality and motivation affect training. Waitz also covers the most current and cutting-edge trends in long distance running, including cross training with yoga, Pilates, and deep water running. There’s also a special 30-minute beginner’s program as well as advice specifically tailored to first-time marathoners over 40 years old.
Book Description
Take a fascinating look at the personalities and passions of the runners as well as the history and evolution of the Boston Marathon in this centennial race edition.
Customer Reviews:
The Boston Marathon until 1994.......2007-08-03
The book gets quite tedious towards the end, but the stories about the earliest races, as well as the arrival of women in the 1960s, are very interesting.
Each year's story concludes with a list of the top finishers, which after 1966 included women (although not officially until 1972). The way the earliest women runners dressed (Carol Brady blouses and beehive hairdos) almost merit another star in itself. In an unfortunate twist of fate, Uta Pippig, the German champion featured on the cover, was later stripped of many of her awards when it was discovered that she used performance-enhancing drugs.
Comprehensive Collection of Boston Marathon History--Run on!.......2001-09-26
I picked this book up while getting ready to run in the 104th running of Boston and it truly heightened the whole experience. It enabled you to pick out the landmarks throughout the course (Kenmore Square, Newton Hills, the 25 mile Citgo Sign, the screaming Wellesley girls/I high-fived one of them, the Brookline cemetery in the netherworlds of the last 5-6 miles) and most of all get a good grasp and appreciation on the history that had run before.
It's amazing what a complete detailed history the author was able to put together and how he was able to pick out a unique individual aspect from each race. What stands out are the American Indians running at the turn of last century with Tom Longboat, Clarence DeMar's dominance in the 20's, Kelly Senior and Junior, Bill Rodgers, Ibrahim Hussein, and Cosmas Ndeti. They are all there with details from the race, details from the runner's lives, details of the victories, and more interesting details of the not quite victorious. What really stands out is the focus on the plight of women runners in the marathon and how difficult it was for them to break the barrier in the 60's to enter the race. Bobbie Gibb, Kathrine Switzer, and Sara Mae Berman were true pioneers and had to face harassment from race officials to even be allowed to run in the prestigious Boston Athletic Association great race. Perhaps my favorite story though is that of Rosie Ruiz in 1980 that jumped the barrier from the ranks of the spectators and ran the last miles and took credit for the women's victory for a contentious period of time. She proved a little mentally unbalanced and to this day swears she won the race. This book captures all those quirky details and puts together a great history of what the 26.2-mile jaunt in Boston is all about.
I hold back giving this 5-stars because the non-runners may not find this book so engaging as myself, but if you care about the sport and especially if you are getting ready to run Boston don't miss picking up this book. Boston only gets more interesting year from year as a South Korean broke the Kenyan dominance last year and maybe just maybe Fatuma Roba will take the laurel wreath away from Catherine Ndereba.
The people of Boston love this race as is evidenced by not a single stretch of the course passing by without throngs of spectators handing you oranges, water, beer. Consequently the rest of the world has caught on to the enthusiasm of the Bostonians, as Boston has become the marathon to run. There is prestige, there is sweat, there is heartache and heartbreak, and there is a wonderful history all captured in this book. Run on.
As satisfying as a marathon PR!.......2001-06-08
Running fanatics will become as obssessed with reading this book as they are with completing their daily workouts. Derderian combines rich, journalistic descriptions of each year's race with engaging biographies of individual runners -- winners and non-winners alike -- many of whose stories are chronicled across successive chapters. The book should be especially pleasing to those interested in reliving the era of American marathon dominance in the 1970s and 1980s: they'll not only get to read more about Bill Rodgers and Joan Benoit Samuelson, but will also be treated to vivid and inspiring accounts of perennial also rans like Tom Fleming and Patti Lyons Castalano. Equally fascinating are the tales of the Japanese, Finnish, and Kenyan runners who have enjoyed their own periods of preeminence over the years. If you are training for an upcoming marathon, you should definitely keep this volume close at hand for motivation.
Average customer rating:
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Athens Is Saved!: The First Marathon (Coming Alive Series)
Stewart Ross
Manufacturer: Evans Brothers - Books for Children
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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ASIN: 0237517477 |
Book Description
Best Marathons takes you gently to your first and then to your fastest marathon with scietifically based programs to ease your legs to fitness and then to faster running.
Holt includes gentle yet quality hill training for strength, anaerobic threshold training for your endurance, and Interval training for your legspeed and efficiency, all of which are vital for marathon running.
Training programs at all mileage and levels of intensity, with the speed for YOU to run at based on your current abilities at 5K to the half marathon.
Jog, Run and then Train through the pages of Best Marathons, which also includes over 50 pages of nutrition advice and 50 pages on injury prevention and treatment.
Customer Reviews:
Brings you all the information to run the marathon.......2004-07-27
Holt starts you off gently and at your pace. Numerous programs, plus detailed science on the types of running to do to improve running form and enjoyment during your training.
Unlike the small marathon books, Holt includes extensive nutrition and injury advice, making this a complete marathon training book.
All you need for your first or fast marathons.......2004-05-02
David Holt takes you gently form 5Ks through practice 10Ks and half marathons before building you up for the marathon.
He uses graduated system of strength and endurance from hills and anaerobic threshold or tempo runs, before easing you into Intervals at 10K to slightly faster than 5K pace to make you economic while also strong enough to handle 26.2 miles.
Holt includes extensive nutrition and hydration skills advice, plus injury prevention and treatments, and motivation tips.
Programs for your first marathon or intensive training at 40 to 80 miles per week, and from one to three sensibly paced speed sessions per week.
Books:
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- Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China
- Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life
- Getting In: A STEP-BY-STEP PLAN FOR GAINING ADMISSION TO GRAD SCHOOL IN PSYCHOLOGY
- Girl with a Pearl Earring
- Gold and Iron
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
- H.P. Lovecraft: A Life
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
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The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer
The Spirit of the Marathon: What to Expect in Your First Marathon and How to Run Them for the Rest of Your Life
Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide
The Essential Guide to Running the New York City Marathon
