Product Description
Run your way to a better life
Dean Ottati works for a large corporation, and seeks real meaning in his life, beyond the hardball negotiations that make up his long workday. He feels that capitalism and competition have made us all poorer—slaves of the clock, pursuing the illusory and the empty.
To find the substance of life, he runs. He runs on trails and roads and beaches, every day, alone or with friends, constantly challenging himself physically and intellectually. During these runs he re-evaluates his relationship
to work, his use of time, his marriage, his bond with his young son. He peels back layers of hardness from his heart. He finds a new balance in the forces of family, work, love, solitude, money, happiness, and time.
His conversations with running “mystics, sages, and philosophers” each become a chapter. The run along the beach with the friend who counsels him on marriage: “Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?” The glorious muddy run in the rain with Marc, who declares, “Each wet sock is a stinking foot soldier in the war against postmodernism!” The run with Big Jack, a senior executive of his company, who teaches him, “Before you speak, examine your intentions. If you can do that you’ll come to meet yourself, and it will transform you.” And his runs lead him to the philosopher who says that merely by pondering the question of meaning in our lives, we begin to find meaning.
Dean Ottati’s quest takes him on a fascinating path toward a common-sense, workable enlightenment. And he teaches us—runners or nonrunners—to find our own path.
This is a book that can change your life.
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Praise for "The Runner and the Path"
“Ottati takes us on the Runner’s Path, which is familiar to all runners everywhere, because it is the path to meaning. There are many books on the mechanics. This one is of the mind, and finding our way. Congratulations, and many thanks, to Dean Ottati for his inspiring and gripping journey into the runner’s heart.”
—Bernd Heinrich, author of Racing the Antelope
“The Runner and the Path is a book filled with wonder and delight—a long conversation you’ve been waiting to have and a running partner who makes it constantly engaging, challenging, and upbeat. Dean Ottati has the common sense and good humor to bring forward ideas of great depth and to illuminate their meanings with stories, new questions, and an appreciation for application in day to day life. He celebrates the mystery of life and offers a creative response. For everyone seeking a more fulfilling life, The Runner and the Path will engage you with its gentle prodding to go further, to run with courage, and to live with integrity.”
—Alan Briskin, author The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace
“This is not your typical ‘how to run’ book, but rather a personal memoir filled with stories that are sure to inspire, enlighten, guide, and engage runners and non-runners alike.”
—Nancy Hobbs, Executive Director, All American Trail Running Association, and co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running
“A thoughtful, sensitive book. Dean Ottati reminds us all that running is not a lonely, solo pursuit, but a joint effort of like-minded individuals. His conversations on the run—the questions raised, the answers offered—will ring true to every runner.” —John Hanc, Fitness Writer for Newsday, author of The Essential Runner and Running For Dummies
Dean Ottati works for a large corporation, and seeks real meaning in his life, beyond the hardball negotiations that make up his long workday. He feels that capitalism and competition have made us all poorer—slaves of the clock, pursuing the illusory and the empty.
To find the substance of life, he runs. He runs on trails and roads and beaches, every day, alone or with friends, constantly challenging himself physically and intellectually. During these runs he re-evaluates his relationship
to work, his use of time, his marriage, his bond with his young son. He peels back layers of hardness from his heart. He finds a new balance in the forces of family, work, love, solitude, money, happiness, and time.
His conversations with running “mystics, sages, and philosophers” each become a chapter. The run along the beach with the friend who counsels him on marriage: “Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?” The glorious muddy run in the rain with Marc, who declares, “Each wet sock is a stinking foot soldier in the war against postmodernism!” The run with Big Jack, a senior executive of his company, who teaches him, “Before you speak, examine your intentions. If you can do that you’ll come to meet yourself, and it will transform you.” And his runs lead him to the philosopher who says that merely by pondering the question of meaning in our lives, we begin to find meaning.
Dean Ottati’s quest takes him on a fascinating path toward a common-sense, workable enlightenment. And he teaches us—runners or nonrunners—to find our own path.
This is a book that can change your life.
------------------------
Praise for "The Runner and the Path"
“Ottati takes us on the Runner’s Path, which is familiar to all runners everywhere, because it is the path to meaning. There are many books on the mechanics. This one is of the mind, and finding our way. Congratulations, and many thanks, to Dean Ottati for his inspiring and gripping journey into the runner’s heart.”
—Bernd Heinrich, author of Racing the Antelope
“The Runner and the Path is a book filled with wonder and delight—a long conversation you’ve been waiting to have and a running partner who makes it constantly engaging, challenging, and upbeat. Dean Ottati has the common sense and good humor to bring forward ideas of great depth and to illuminate their meanings with stories, new questions, and an appreciation for application in day to day life. He celebrates the mystery of life and offers a creative response. For everyone seeking a more fulfilling life, The Runner and the Path will engage you with its gentle prodding to go further, to run with courage, and to live with integrity.”
—Alan Briskin, author The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace
“This is not your typical ‘how to run’ book, but rather a personal memoir filled with stories that are sure to inspire, enlighten, guide, and engage runners and non-runners alike.”
—Nancy Hobbs, Executive Director, All American Trail Running Association, and co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running
“A thoughtful, sensitive book. Dean Ottati reminds us all that running is not a lonely, solo pursuit, but a joint effort of like-minded individuals. His conversations on the run—the questions raised, the answers offered—will ring true to every runner.” —John Hanc, Fitness Writer for Newsday, author of The Essential Runner and Running For Dummies
