2 posts tagged “book review”
While I was traveling to and from the Ottawa Race Weekend, I read through Pam Reed's "The Extra Mile." It was a worthwhile read, although I wasn't crazy about her writing style.
First off, this book is worth the read just because of all Pam's amazing ultrarunning accomplishments: two wins at Badwater, 24-hour US run record, 48-hour US run record, first non-stop 300 mile run, transatlantic triple marathon in less than 48 hours, plus a host of others.
One of the best parts of this book deals with Pam's battle with anorexia. While I expect that Pam's experiences with anorexia are very different from the average person, I learned a great deal about this eating disorder from reading this book.
I had hoped that Pam's book was going to be a collection of race reports. Instead her stories tend to focus on the time around her various events. I did find the stories she tells surrounding her various Badwater innovations very interesting.
As expected, there is a part of this book dealing with the supposed Pam Reed / Dean Karnaze feud (enough said).
My recommendation would be to borrow, not buy, this book. For those interested in ultrarunning, it is certainly a good read although not a book I intend to re-read.
I especially liked the 'race report' portions of the book: his 30th birthday run, his first WS100, and The Relay. I really wish that he would have included more of these detailed race reports in the book (more detail of the Badwater would have been awesome). This is probably because I'm interested in eventually participating in some type(s) of ultra-running event.
This book was very inspiring and I've now flagged a few pages and copied down a few quotes from the book to help motivate me when training gets tough.
In the end I'm left with the thought "how the hell does he find the time to do all of this?" He seems so dedicated to both his sport and family that I cannot seem to figure out how he can make it all work.
