Slow AF Run Club
The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run
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4.0 • 15 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A practical guide and a celebration of running for runners of all sizes and athletic ability, from the founder of the Slow AF Run Club.
Ten years ago, Martinus Evans got some stern advice from his doctor: “Lose weight or die.” First defensive, but then defiant, Evans vowed that day to run a marathon, though his doctor thought he was crazy. Since then, Evans has run eight marathons and hundreds of other distances in his 300-something pound body, created his own devoted running community, and has been featured on the cover of Runner’s World.
This book is a blueprint for those who may not fit the image of a “traditional” runner—that is, someone who is larger in size, less athletic, out of shape, or dealing with any kind of health issue that slows them down—to feel empowered to lace up their shoes and embrace the body they have right now.
As Evans says, the incredible benefits of running—better sleep, strong muscles and bones, better cardiovascular and mental health, and a sense of community—can and should be available to all of us. This practical handbook contains specialized advice to make getting started less intimidating, covering everything from gear and nutrition to training schedules, recovery tips, races (it’s okay to come in DFL! [i.e., dead f*cking last]), and finding a running group. Full of essential advice and humor from a former newbie who fell off a treadmill on his first run (literally), The Slow AF Run Club is for anyone who wants to pick up running for the sheer joy of it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Evans, whose Slow AF Run Club blog offers tips for "slow and beginner runners," debuts with an empathetic guide on how "nontraditional runners" (those "in larger bodies," with disabilities, or in their later years) can take up the sport. He recounts becoming a runner in 2012 to spite his physician, who told Evans that his interest in running a marathon was the "stupidest thing he had ever heard in all his years of practicing medicine," and shares how readers with a variety of body types and abilities can get started. Explaining the basics, he covers proper form (back straight, chest out) and breathing technique, advising that runners should breathe from their diaphragm, not their chest. To maximize one's energy, Evans recommends consuming lots of carbs, which power the "body's cells, tissues, and organs," as well as protein, which "builds and repairs your muscles." Evans brims with positivity, encouraging readers to recite such affirmations as "no struggle, no progress" and to nix negative self-talk. The advice aimed at slower runners will appeal to those who enjoy the activity but don't aspire to run competitively ("It's all about the process over the results," he writes on dealing with the disappointment of not finishing a race). Practical and compassionate in equal measure, this will get readers moving.
Customer Reviews
Great book. An inspiration
A vert good book. An inspiration for all us slow runners
Inspirational and informative.
Inspirational and informative. A running guide for everyone.