It’s Thursday! You know what that means? Well, other than the fact that we’re another day closer to the weekend, it’s also time for a Running and Reading Long post! Last week was an intro day, but today is the first post about Kara Goucher’s book – Running for Women.
I just finished Kara’s book yesterday, so I have a lot of things fresh in my mind that I was able to relate to Kara through. Even though she’s a professional runner (one that’s running the marathon for Team USA this summer), I still felt as though I could relate to many of her running experiences. There is a chapter in the book about staying injury free which really hit home for me. She has had many sports-related injuries which are all too common in my life. I’ve had swimming and running related injuries, and Goucher has had her fair share of setbacks as well. Just like she mentioned, stretching and icing are so helpful for injury prevention and recovery. I’ve totally seen such an improvement in my current injury (almost to the point where I can call it my past injury 
) through the stretching I’ve been doing.
I also really liked when Kara talked about marathons and how there will always be more marathons to run, so don’t necessarily get so hung up on one specific time or event. This is totally my life right now after getting injured before running the Pittsburgh marathon.
Something I learned about my own training is that it is much more important to look at running (or swimming or any one thing in life) as something that is included in the huge big picture of life. One simple thing does not determine you as a person. So (God forbid) you get injured like me, you are still a capable person without running. Running cannot define who you are. Kara says that she is not a runner, she is merely a person who runs. I love this aspect.
Overall, I loved everything about this book. There were so many tips for runners at every level and age, and also ways to continue running when things get rough and tough. I loved that she includes strategies for running as you age … and injury free, too!
I also love Goucher’s tip to find a healthy alternative to emotional eating. This is something I need to follow through with. I could use an alternative to the eating!
As for my training, I have been doing most of it while focusing on how my body feels as well. I have made it up to 2 miles running, but because of tight hamstrings, I haven’t been pushing myself too far!
Overall I am loving the camaraderie from the Running and Reading Long program as well as Kara’s book. I will have more about it next Thursday, but until then, if you’d like, join us tonight at 7 pm mountain time (9EST) to twitchat using #runreadlong. We’ll be chatting about our training as well as Goucher’s book!
What is some of the best running/work out advice you’ve been giving?
