Book of the Month August 2010: The Runners Rule Book

runnerHappy August, and happy running season.  With my goofy challenge training right around the corner, I thought I better learn the rules for running.  So this month, I chose The Runner's Rule Book: Everything a Runner Needs to Know--And Then Some by Mark Remy.  I really enjoyed the book, and was certainly filled with some great anecdotes about running.  The book does a great job at having fun at a sport many of us love, while still keeping it real.  However, in some sections of the book  you may have to take with a grain of salt.  I have never really ran in a race, like Mark or my good barefooting friend Jimmy, so I never got the idea of outrunning someone.  Maybe I should try, but I just like to run, enjoy the folks running with me, even the ones that pass, always make me smile. Ultimately this book will help you learn more about yourself as a runner.  The book proved to give me some insight into my own running style, and how I approach this great sport. .  Here are some of the rules I liked:

  • Rule 2.27 Run the Mile you’re in.  This is such a great rule, and I think whenever you run 3 miles or 26, just get the mile your on done, and worry about the rest.  If you get too forward thinking, you can get overwhelmed, we have all done, and what normally happens, our brain stops helping our legs run.  :-)
  • Rule 1.22 Join a Local Running Club.  Share the pain, and a great wait to keep you pace.  The main reason I blog my training schedule for Goofy, is my own accountability and in a sense if you read my blog, we are a club.  With that said, if anyone has any good running groups in Northern Cincinnati, please let me know.

The only rule, that I really did not like was this one (I understood it):

  • Rule 2.32 Do whatever it takes to finish ahead of the costumed runner

To me this had me generate a few questions, what if you are the costumed runner?  Do you take off the costume to finish?  I personally love the costume runners, and in some cases they are fun to run with, and help you smile.  Smiling while running, always seems to help!  Even if they are faster, so if you tried to do whatever it takes, you are in the wagon, on a van ride to the finish.  So still keep your pace, and enjoy the costumes.  Also those costumes do not breath really well, my hats off and admiration goes off to those guys, even if they are faster than me.

Overall if you are a runner, I highly recommend this book, and I will have to pick up Once a runner (I have never read this, but it is recommended in rule 1.19)

If you have read the book, let me know what you think.