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buckeyebreezey's review against another edition
3.0
Finn writes an interesting account of his six months in Kenya training for his first marathon.
The story itself was intriguing and wonderful to hear about. The amount of priveledge that went into it, however, along with the constant name dropping, was an irritant to the story. He made it out to be like ANYONE could just show up at this place and train and that very much is not the case at all.
That said, it's an interesting memoir of his time in Kenya and the poverty and hope that still exists in that area of the world.
The story itself was intriguing and wonderful to hear about. The amount of priveledge that went into it, however, along with the constant name dropping, was an irritant to the story. He made it out to be like ANYONE could just show up at this place and train and that very much is not the case at all.
That said, it's an interesting memoir of his time in Kenya and the poverty and hope that still exists in that area of the world.
canyon3087's review against another edition
5.0
If you're a runner, read it for the story, not to try and find the secret of Kenyan runners. You probably already know or suspect what the secret is, anyway, but its a great story and well-written.
pm2562's review against another edition
5.0
Finn’s best book, which is saying something. His Ultra and Japan books were both phenomenal, but this book goes so in depth into the culture and passion for the sport in Kenya. Highly recommend for any distance runner.
craigt1990's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyable book, I read it after Adharanand's follow up book where he trains with the Ekidens in Japan and I enjoyed the story of that much better I thought it was a better written book but this was enjoyable.
alisarae's review against another edition
This book was fine but not exceptionally compelling. One major takeaway for me was how simply even succesful Kenyan runners live. They train in very basic camps, they eat the same simple foods day in and day out, they don’t complain.
Today I was grumbling about not having a track to train on (the closest one available to me is an hour travel time just to arrive there). But then I thought about Kenyans. They don’t train on tracks. They run and they run fast. Their workouts are pretty straightforward— easy runs seem to build to negative splits or perhaps ladders, fartleks are 1’ on 1’ off and repeat for an hour, routes routinely include hills, and most don’t use a watch. The book mentions one runner who ran on an indoor track for the first time in his life at a European championship and he won. Another complains about using spikes. So the lesson here is that doing speedwork on a track won’t make you faster.... doing work will.
May their monastic dedication be a lesson to us all.
Today I was grumbling about not having a track to train on (the closest one available to me is an hour travel time just to arrive there). But then I thought about Kenyans. They don’t train on tracks. They run and they run fast. Their workouts are pretty straightforward— easy runs seem to build to negative splits or perhaps ladders, fartleks are 1’ on 1’ off and repeat for an hour, routes routinely include hills, and most don’t use a watch. The book mentions one runner who ran on an indoor track for the first time in his life at a European championship and he won. Another complains about using spikes. So the lesson here is that doing speedwork on a track won’t make you faster.... doing work will.
May their monastic dedication be a lesson to us all.
abhireadingnotes's review against another edition
3.0
I read this in preparation for a half marathon. Shows you how the best long distance athletes become the best long distance athletes.
shaysreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
Really inspiring and interesting book :)