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Run Like a Girl: How Strong Women Make Happy Lives [Paperback]

Mina Samuels
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 22, 2011
Run Like A Girl is about the impact that participating in sports has on women—how the confidence and strength that it helps to build spills over into all of our experiences, making us stronger and better prepared for life’s many challenges. In this inspiring book, Mina Samuels uses the varied personal stories of women and girls of all ages and backgrounds—as well as her own—to take a broad look at the power that sports have to help us face, and to overcome, obstacles in all arenas of life.

Myriad voices fill the pages of Run Like A Girl: a US-ranked amateur triathlete who’s raising an autistic son; a thirteen-year-old girl who discovers and falls in love with cross-country running; a woman who runs her first marathon at age sixty; an investment banker who quit her job to become a yoga teacher and adopt a daughter on her own; a young mother with scoliosis who cycled her way back to health and became a jewelry designer along the way; and countless other women—including Kathrine Switzer, Rebecca Rusch, and Molly Barker—who have been changed by their experience with sports.

Run Like A Girl makes the important argument that physical strength lends itself to psychological strength, that lessons learned on the field (or track, or slopes) can help us face challenges in other areas—and that for many women, participating in sports translates into leading a happier, more fulfilling life.

Frequently Bought Together

Run Like a Girl: How Strong Women Make Happy Lives + Sole Sisters: Stories of Women and Running + Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run
Price for all three: $36.62

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Get inspired to meet any fitness challenge with Mina Samuels’s new book, Run Like a Girl, a chicken soup for the athlete’s soul. Its interviews with hundreds of women will fire your desire to reach personal bests in all areas of life.

SELF, March, 2011

A well-rounded investigation into the profound impact of sports on women of all ages and walks of life.

Samuels (The Queen of Cups, 2006) may celebrate the successes of professional female athletes who have thrived in a traditionally male-dominated arena, but her main focus is on the ordinary women who have achieved enlightenment through sports. The author illustrates the theme of sports as a metaphor for life, and is herself a testimony to this concept. Samuels credits her own discovery of distance running at 27 as the catalyst for her transformation from attorney and human-rights defender to writer and sports advocate. She suggests that women who approach life from an athlete's perspective are better equipped to find balance and harmony and are more courageous in the face of challenges than those who do not. She argues that the stamina and endurance built up by athletes is good practice for the resilience needed to persevere when they stumble off the pitch. The book is built on lighthearted accounts of women who become comically engrossed in their sport as well as uplifting tales of women who have overcome life-altering trauma. Samuels’ anecdotes may at times seem redundant or excessive in quantity, but they are neatly interwoven with background information on the female athlete’s plight from a political, psychological and social standpoint. As such, they serve a purposeful, rather than ornamental, function.

An enthusiastic tribute to women who replace the stigma attached to the term running like a girl with a sense of power and honor.

Kirkus Reviews March, 2011

There are lots of good sports books, but rarely beautifully-written ones. Run Like A Girl is both.

—Mary Brophy Marcus, USA Today

…Inspiring…

Running Times, March, 2011

[A] compelling argument that women who run are much more likely to lead fulfilling lives in any number of ways…

Canadian Running, April, 2011

[A]n engaging read that will have most women nodding their heads in agreement and motivated to keep at the sports they love.

Vermont Sports, April, 2011

A book that is needed and important and life changing—all the things running has been for us!

—Kathrine Switzer, author of Marathon Woman: Running the Race to Revolutionize Women’s Sports, Running and Walking for Women Over 40 and co–author of 26.2 Marathon Stories.

A compelling and insightful book about using sport and physical activity to balance the extraordinary challenges women face…a must read for women athletes and non-athletes alike.

—Donna Lopiano, founder and president of Sports Management Resources; formerly CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation

I was hooked after the first page. Run Like A Girl reminds me, once again, the power and importance of sport in young girls and women's lives. As a mom and an athlete, I will continue to proudly run like a girl and support my kids as they do the same!

—Summer Sanders, Gold Medalist and TV personality

Run Like a Girl celebrates the power of sports and fitness in all aspects of life. It speaks to the true gift and value of sport— defining who we are.

—Julie Foudy, Former Captain of the US Women's Soccer Team and Founder of the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy

About the Author

A former trial lawyer and human-rights advocate, Mina Samuels is the co-author of the recently published New York Times bestseller The Think Big Manifesto, with Michael Port. She was a regular contributor to Vermont Sports for two years, and her essay “Tomorrow Might Not Be the Same” appeared in the collection How Running Changed My Life. Her first novel, The Queen of Cups, was published in January 2007, and she has also published personal essays in Alimentum and The French Literary Review. Samuels has also ghostwritten numerous books.

When she’s not writing, Samuels can often be found running, cycling, swimming, cross-country skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, kayaking, climbing, or doing yoga. She competes in sprint, Olympic-length, and half-ironman triathlons, marathons, and shorter-distance road races, and has participated in the Canadian Ski Marathon, a two-day, 100-mile cross-country ski event. She has hiked and backpacked in Chile, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania, Europe, Canada and the United States. She lives in New York, NY.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Seal Press; First Printing edition (February 22, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1580053459
  • ISBN-13: 978-1580053457
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mina Samuels is a freelance writer and editor, and in a previous incarnation, a litigation lawyer and human rights advocate. In addition to many ghostwriting projects, her previous books include a novel, The Queen of Cups, and The Think Big Manifesto, co-authored with Michael Port. When she is not writing she might be off running over hill and dale, biking, cross-country skiing, tri-ing, yoga-ing, rock climbing, kayaking, snowshoeing, or hiking in far off places.

Customer Reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
(24)
3.6 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring February 25, 2011
By lz72
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I loved this book! Run Like A Girl is filled with entertaining and poignant stories of dozens of women whose lives are enriched by sports/exercise, the challenges women face and how sports activities positively affect relationships, confidence, coping skills and happiness. I felt inspired and empowered and will re-read it again and again whenever I need some encouragement. Excellent gift for the women in your life...the men should read it too:-)
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Happier Women March 10, 2011
Format:Paperback
I'm not a runner. But there is a steady message in Mina Samuel's Run Like a Girl that I found helped me stay disciplined in my fitness efforts. Her book takes the form of cases of real women she has interviewed, stories of people with serious health problems or weight challenges or depression. Samuels doesn't suggest that running is the only way to get hold of yourself, but she offers so many inspiring examples I couldn't help but feel I was in a growing community of happier women.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring May 2, 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In less than two months, I have a 1/2 marathon to run. Rain, sickness and a busy schedule have left me feeling low and wary of this upcoming run. "Run Like a Girl" is the perfect read for me right now. It is inspiring and gets me up and out on those runs. It is nice to hear stories I can relate to and feel inspired by. So glad I bought this book at a crucial time for me.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
This book has some really good stories and analysis in it, and a couple of quotes that really made me think. However, it was a little basic.
Published 26 days ago by Andrea Stephenson
4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and Quick Read
A quick and inspiring read! There were a few typos throughout and that really bugs me, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment of the book too much.
Published 2 months ago by Victoria Foley
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!
This is a great book, with a bit of not-so-distant history lessons on female breakthroughs in sport, a bit of inspirational story from women athletes, and a bit of personal memoir... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Selka Kind
1.0 out of 5 stars Wish I Didn't Buy It
I bought this book without trying it first based on some good reviews I read somewhere. I've never really made it very far into it. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Krista Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational
The stories and commentary are inspirational. For all of us who want to make our lives richer and fuller, this book is a gift. A wonderful read.
Published 12 months ago by Eva Mekler
4.0 out of 5 stars Run Like A Girl
This book does an excellent job of addressing challenges and mindsets faced by women(and girls). It encourages and guides toward the confidence,fortitude and means a parent wishes... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Runner's Dad
1.0 out of 5 stars Uhg
Looking for some inspiration to reinvigorate my running. Found an attorney that feels like she needs to pass a bunch of laws to make women feel empowered (title 9). Read more
Published 13 months ago by Michellet
4.0 out of 5 stars great read
I read this book all the time. My goal this year is to become a runner and this book has helped inspire me to get moving. :)
Published 13 months ago by Amy Jo
2.0 out of 5 stars Boring
I thought this book was going to be about exercising and working out. It is about women finding their strength through exercise. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Kataleen
1.0 out of 5 stars too much memoir, not enough substance
I was expecting a book about running, or about the obstacles women have gone through to break into running. Read more
Published 19 months ago by run for fun
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