This is an easy read and an inspiring story. I admire him for successfully conquering his alcoholism. The amount of pain this man has gone through is unbelievable. It makes running a marathon look like an easy task in comparison.

Something very interesting I picked up from the book is the Hadd Method of endurance training which, in a nutshell, says you need to run slower (about 70& of your heart rate) to get faster over time.

The only thing that jars is his ‘plant-powered’ diet. He takes all sorts of weird supplements and needs to eat vast quantities of vegan stuff like avocadoes in order to power himself through endurance events. Both of these things seems silly and unnecessary to me.

I got a couple of books on running for my birthday:

I can’t say that either book made a huge impact on me. But ‘Kenyans’ was interesting in that there isn’t some big secret of the success of the Kenyans; it’s a combination of many factors:-
* tough, active childhood
* barefoot running
* altitude
* diet
* role models
* simple approach to training
* running camps
* focus & dedication
* desire to succeed & change their lives
* mental toughness
* lack of alternatives
* abundance of trails to train on
* time spent resting
* running to school
* all-pervading running culture
* reverence for running

‘Talk’ is more of a series of diary entries. There were lots of bits that I could identify with: his attitude on personal goals, ‘at least he didn’t walk’ and running to fill a void, to name a few. I enjoyed his introspective style. Although he doesn’t seem like he’d be much fun to hang around with, he’s a pretty good writer.