My Year Of Running Dangerously

Written and Narrated By: Tom Foreman

Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins

Don’t run? You’ll still NEED this!

My husband and I were watching The Iron Man contest once, and an 80-year contestant said something along the lines of, “You wanna be fit when you’re eighty? Watch what you do when you’re forty.” Uhm? So my husband had just finished his run and was eating a kale and beet sandwich. I, on the other hand?

I was sitting on the sofa eating an entire bag of Boom Chicka Pop.

So now you know where I am on THAT wellness spectrum. Yeesh…

But I loved, loved, loved My Year of Running Dangerously. Yes, it has tips on running, endurance training, diet advice; you know: stuff my husband would love. But for me? Jeeps, it’s all about motivation and inspiration. It’s about going on when the going has stuff that’s hit the fan. It’s about shouting down the voice in your head that whispers, “Quit… quit… quit…”, and “You’ll never make it.”

It starts with Tom shamelessly beating his 7-year old daughter in footraces, and goes on to him joining her, now grown, in a marathon. Her offhand request becomes his obsession. Marathons, ultra marathons, grueling, grueling races where you even buy night running gear ‘cause, yup. After a day of racing, you’re gonna be running well into the night. (And try asking your spouse about which running lamp you should buy after a sweet and sentimental date night: a mood killer if ever there was one…).

The book is about passion and joy, about struggling and not only surviving but thriving and wanting to go onto the next big thing. And it’s about humor because Tom is one funny, funny man. The only thing better than the line about being as graceful as a hog tossed from a train is listening to it in his own voice. He’s a super narrator. Not every author can narrate their own work, but I sure am glad that Tom did that here.

Get ready to laugh, to dream, to think big things (and while I’m desperately fond of the sofa, the book did get my feet moving. Walking, anyone?)