Life Is a Marathon
A Memoir of Love and Endurance
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- $29.99
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
An endurance athlete and coach reveals how the marathon transforms the lives of everyone who attempts it--and how it has helped his own family cope with serious adversity
Step after step for 26.2 miles, hundreds of thousands of people run marathons. But why--what compels people past pain, lost toenails, 5.30 am start times, The Wall? Sports writer Matt Fitzgerald set out to run eight marathons in eight weeks across the country to answer that question. At each race, he meets an array of runners, from first timers, to dad-daughter teams and spouses, to people who'd been running for decades, and asks them what keeps them running. But there is another deeply personal part to Matt's journey: his own relationship to the sport--and how it helped him overcome his own struggles and cope with his wife Nataki's severe bipolar disorder.
A combination of Matt's own How Bad Do You Want It? and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Life Is a Marathon captures the magic of those 26.2 miles. At the end of the day--and at the end of the race--the pursuit of a marathon finish line is not unlike the pursuit of happiness. You will pick up the book for a powerful personal story about what running does for the people for whom it does the most. You will put it down with a greater understanding of what it means to be alive in this world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A nutritionist and lifelong runner, Fitzgerald (The Endurance Diet) combines his expertise and experiences in this inspiring memoir that charts his desire to run eight marathons in eight weeks. While runners and athletes will find much inspiration and metaphor, as Fitzgerald opines that "To run a marathon is to practice life and to practice for life," it's the story of his wife, Nataki, who suffers from bipolar disorder, that is the book's heart. Chapters alternate between Fitzgerald's marathons and his courtship of Nataki, culminating in a pained discussion of her bipolar disorder. Fitzgerald treats the topic with empathy, and the narrative of their relationship and his care for her filled with anecdotes about manic episodes (at one point Nataki threatened him with a knife) and attempts at treatment will ring all too familiar to those who have firsthand experience with the mental illness. Yet through it all, Fitzgerald provides a positive and encouraging message for runners (a man named Rome, befriended by Fitzgerald while running the Boston marathon, needed 20 tries to qualify) and for those suffering from mental illness (the pursuit of happiness can be a long process for anyone). Though runners will undoubtedly be drawn to Fitzgerald's marathon stories and interviews with other runners, all readers will find a heartrending story of struggle and love.
