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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"... running 100 miles distills my soul...", April 1, 2005
This review is from: Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon (Paperback)
Neal Jamison's collection of essays by ultrarunners is delightful in its diversity. There are racers who tell of their speed, and adventurers who describe their wilderness survival experiences. There are winners. There are amazing triumphs over incredible adversities.
But most fascinating are the honest remarks by people who fell short, who "failed", and who in the process succeeded in learning something important about themselves. My favorite of all, by Keith Knipling:
"In the process of completely exhausting myself, I connect with an inner part of me ordinarily veiled by the everyday distractions of life. During that short time spent on a trail in the mountains, my life is reduced to its simplest terms. Most ultrarunners are people who find goodness and joy in difficult times, who see beyond the misery to the beauty of nature, and who truly realize the elemental and important aspects of life. Going for a run always clears my head, but running 100 miles distills my soul."
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good book but a bit repetitive, June 7, 2005
This review is from: Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon (Paperback)
As a whole, I enjoyed this book. There are stories from well known ultrarunners; but the ones I most enjoyed were from the ordinary runners - the folks I could really identify with. And there were plenty to make this effort a worthwhile read. There's not much detail regarding any one run, course, etc. Rather, it's more focused on people's personal experiences with the Ultra. As someone who is considering a first Ultra experience, I gained some good insight by reading others' experiences; I also picked up some training tips and race management type stuff that, although not the focus, was sprinkled throughout.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So why do they do that?!?!, January 8, 2004
This review is from: Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon (Paperback)
So.......do you have friends or family that just shake their heads or roll their eyes when you mention your upcoming 100 miler? Would you really like to be able to answer the question "Why do you DO that?" Well there's no more eloquent answer to that question than is found in this collection of personal ultrarunning stories. The question isn't so much directly addressed but the joy of doing ultras comes through in the stories. How does the saying go? Don't *tell* the reader what you want them to know, *show* them. Jamison's book shows the uninitiated what we get out of what can be a rather punishing hobby. If you've heard of ultrarunning and are curious or if you're looking for a new challenge and want to see what doing ultras is all about then this is a great book for you. It's not a how-to book but then the best way to learn how to do something is to do it - not to read a book about how to do it. These are stories written by ultrarunners of all levels and they really do a great job of getting across what it is like for ordinary people to perform extraordinary feats.
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