The Runner
Four Years Living and Running in the Wilderness
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
'The most beautiful book I ever read.' – Rune Larsson, ultra-distance runner
Markus Torgeby was just 20 years old when he headed off into the remote Swedish forest to live as a recluse and dedicate himself to his one true passion: running. He lived in a tent in the wilderness, braving the harsh Swedish winters – for four years. This is his story.
A talented long-distance runner in his teens, Markus Torgeby excelled in training, but often failed inexplicably in competition. Pressurised by his coach and consumed by the suffering of his MS-afflicted mother, he chose to do something that most of us only dream of: escape the modern world.
In his stripped-back lifestyle in the woods, surviving with the bare minimum of supplies and enduring extreme cold, he found salvation and ultimately his true direction in life.
An international bestseller, this extraordinary book is a powerful exploration of running, resilience, loss, and self-discovery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Torgeby recounts his four years living a near-solitary, primitive existence in a Swedish forest in this introspective memoir of a life lived in contrast to the fast-paced modern world. As a teenager the author was an up-and-coming competitive runner with the talent to be a national and even Olympic contender. But unable to deal with the "heaviness" of expectations, the complexities of life and death, and his mother's multiple sclerosis, the 20-year-old takes up residence in a tent in the wilderness where in the winter temperatures dip below zero. He tries to clear his mind with hard work, running, solitude, and stillness, but at first he says he has no answers for his "restlessness." He occasionally competes in races and even trains with a team in Tanzania, where he speaks and eats little, but he is still left with the question, "Why am I doing this?" Back in the woods he continues his quest, describing his life with repetitive, self-aware prose: "the battle I am fighting within myself" and "I want to inhabit my body... and know myself." Finally in his third winter, after finding a rundown cottage to live in, he realizes that he doesn't have to run from everything; there are things love, purpose, family to run toward. This stirring treatise of living (and running) simply will inspire those struggling with finding their place.
