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Run or Die: The Inspirational Memoir of the World's Greatest Ultra-Runner
by Kilian JornetRun or Die by Kilian Jornet - the autobiography of the world's most dominating athlete in ultra runningShortlisted for the 2014 William Hill Sports Book of the Year AwardNational Geographic Adventurer of the Year 2014Marca Legend Award 2014 'This man can run 100 miles. Up and down mountains. Without stopping. After skipping breakfast. Meet Kilian Jornet, the world's greatest ultra-runner' The TimesAt 18 months he went on his first hike. At 3, he climbed his first mountain. At 10, he entered his first mountain race. At 26, he plans to run up Everest - without an oxygen mask.Kilian Jornet has conquered some of the toughest physical tests on the planet. He has run up and down Mt. Kilimanjaro faster than any other human being, and struck down world records in every challenge that has been proposed - all before the age of 25. Dominating ultra marathons and races at altitude, he has redefined what is possible in running, astonishing competitors with his near-superhuman fitness and ability.In Run or Die Kilian shares his passion, inviting readers into a fascinating world rich with the beauty of rugged trails and mountain vistas, the pulse-pounding drama of racing, and an intense love for sport and the landscapes that surround him. In turns inspiring, insightful, candid, and deeply personal, this is a book written from the heart of the world's greatest endurance runner, for whom life presents one simple choice: Run. Or die.This is the next must-have read for those who enjoyed the endurance books Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes.'Fascinating insight into the gruelling world of the ultimate ultra-runner' Daily MailKilian Jornet is a world champion ultra-runner, climber and ski mountaineer (a combination of skiing and mountaineering).He was voted the presitigious 'Adventurer of the Year 2014' award by National Geographic magazine, in honour of his latest project to break speed records up and down the world's 7 tallest mountains. The 4-year-project finishes with a running attempt up Everest in 2016.
Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory
by Sarah Polley'Fascinating, harrowing, courageous, and deeply felt, these explorations of "dangerous stories", harmful past events and trials of the soul speak to all who've encountered dark waters and have had to navigate them.' Margaret AtwoodSarah Polley's work as an actor, screenwriter and director is celebrated for its honesty, complexity and deep humanity. She brings all those qualities, along with her exquisite storytelling skills, to these six essays. Each one captures a piece of Polley's life as she remembers it, while at the same time examining the fallibility of memory and the embodied reactions of children and women adapting and surviving. The guiding light is the possibility of experiencing the past anew, as the person she is now but was not then.In this extraordinary book, Polley explores what it is to live in one's body, in a constant state of becoming, learning and changing. As she was advised after a catastrophic head injury - if we relinquish our protective crouch and run towards the danger, then life can be reset, reshaped and lived afresh.'[Polley is] a stunningly sophisticated observer of the world and an imperfect witness to the truth.' New York Times
Runaway: Gregory Bateson, the Double Bind, and the Rise of Ecological Consciousness
by Anthony ChaneyThe anthropologist Gregory Bateson has been called a lost giant of twentieth-century thought. In the years following World War II, Bateson was among the group of mathematicians, engineers, and social scientists who laid the theoretical foundations of the information age. In Palo Alto in 1956, he introduced the double-bind theory of schizophrenia. By the sixties, he was in Hawaii studying dolphin communication. Bateson's discipline hopping made established experts wary, but he found an audience open to his ideas in a generation of rebellious youth. To a gathering of counterculturalists and revolutionaries in 1967 London, Bateson was the first to warn of a "greenhouse effect" that could lead to runaway climate change.Blending intellectual biography with an ambitious reappraisal of the 1960s, Anthony Chaney uses Bateson's life and work to explore the idea that a postmodern ecological consciousness is the true legacy of the decade. Surrounded by voices calling for liberation of all kinds, Bateson spoke of limitation and dependence. But he also offered an affirming new picture of human beings and their place in the world—as ecologies knit together in a fabric of meaning that, said Bateson, "we might as well call Mind."
Runaway
by Skye SinclairSkye's story is one of survival against the odds. Abandoned by her mother at the age of four and placed in a series of horrible institutions, she learnt to fend for herself from an early age. After a horrific rape when she was ten, she ran from the care home and went to live with the gypsies in the New Forest. She always yearned for freedom and was fearless and impulsive. Her curiosity took her all over the world -- from the abattoirs of France at the age of 15 to the dizzy heights of the Paris fashion world, onto the underbelly of Amsterdam where she became a diamond smuggler at the age of 17 and then to the film studios of Hollywood where she worked as a stunt woman on films like Blues Brothers. Her life took a very different turn when she moved to the island of Phuket in Thailand, adopted four children from different backgrounds, Angelia Jolie-style, and started to sponsor another three. With a group of friends she helped set up an orphanage for street children in neighbouring Cambodia who were eking out a miserable existence on one of the municipal rubbish dumps in Pnom Phen.At the age of 45 her life revolves around children, both her own four and the Cambodians she has pledged to help. The runaway street child has fianlly found a reason to stop running.
The Runaway Bride: A Lyme Park Scandal (Stately Scandals #1)
by Felicity YorkOnly the boldest of ladies risks her heart and her reputation . . .
Runaway Girl: A Beautiful Girl. Trafficked For Sex. Is There Nowhere To Hide?
by Casey WatsonFourteen-year-old Adrianna arrives on Casey’s doorstep with no possessions, no English, and no explanation. It will be a few weeks before Casey starts getting the shocking answers to her questions….
Runaway Girl: A Beautiful Girl. Trafficked For Sex. Is There Nowhere To Hide?
by Casey WatsonFourteen-year-old Adrianna arrives on Casey’s doorstep with no possessions, no English, and no explanation. It will be a few weeks before Casey starts getting the shocking answers to her questions….
Runaway Girl: A Beautiful Girl. Trafficked For Sex. Is There Nowhere To Hide?
by Casey WatsonFourteen-year-old Adrianna arrives on Casey’s doorstep with no possessions, no English, and no explanation. It will be a few weeks before Casey starts getting the shocking answers to her questions….
Runaway Girl: A Beautiful Girl. Trafficked For Sex. Is There Nowhere To Hide?
by Casey WatsonFourteen-year-old Adrianna arrives on Casey’s doorstep with no possessions, no English, and no explanation. It will be a few weeks before Casey starts getting the shocking answers to her questions….
The Runner: Four Years Living and Running in the Wilderness
by Markus TorgebyMarkus 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 bestseller in Sweden, the book is a powerful exploration of running and personal wellbeing.During his teenage years Markus Torgeby turned out to be a very talented long-distance runner. It didn't take long before he was discovered by an enthusiastic coach who set very high goals. However, while Markus performed brilliantly in training, during competitions he often failed inexplicably. These pressures, along with the burden of having to care for a MS-suffering mother took their toll, and when an injury put an end to Markus's running career, he lost his foothold in life. In order not to completely go under, he chose to do something that most of us only dream of: to escape the modern world. Aged 20, Markus Torgeby decides to move to one of the most isolated and cold regions of northern Sweden. He's going to live right in the middle of the forest, alone. There he lived as a recluse for four years. The only thing he kept was his running - his 'drug', the one thing he can't be without. His time alone would prove to be more than an escape and was in fact a search for a direction in life. The Runner is a unique and powerful book which can be read both as a portrait of an extraordinary man as well as a fascinating exploration of running and personal wellbeing. The book will certainly strike a chord with the running audience, but it has the potential to find a wider readership than that.
The Runner: Four Years Living and Running in the Wilderness
by Markus TorgebyMarkus 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 bestseller in Sweden, the book is a powerful exploration of running and personal wellbeing.During his teenage years Markus Torgeby turned out to be a very talented long-distance runner. It didn't take long before he was discovered by an enthusiastic coach who set very high goals. However, while Markus performed brilliantly in training, during competitions he often failed inexplicably. These pressures, along with the burden of having to care for a MS-suffering mother took their toll, and when an injury put an end to Markus's running career, he lost his foothold in life. In order not to completely go under, he chose to do something that most of us only dream of: to escape the modern world. Aged 20, Markus Torgeby decides to move to one of the most isolated and cold regions of northern Sweden. He's going to live right in the middle of the forest, alone. There he lived as a recluse for four years. The only thing he kept was his running - his 'drug', the one thing he can't be without. His time alone would prove to be more than an escape and was in fact a search for a direction in life. The Runner is a unique and powerful book which can be read both as a portrait of an extraordinary man as well as a fascinating exploration of running and personal wellbeing. The book will certainly strike a chord with the running audience, but it has the potential to find a wider readership than that.
A Runner's High: Older, Wiser, Slower, Stronger
by Dean KarnazesDean Karnazes has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits, from running in the shoe-melting heat of Death Valley to the lung-freezing cold of the South Pole. He's raced and competed across the globe and once ran 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 consecutive days.In A Runner's High, Karnazes chronicles his return to the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run in his mid-fifties after first completing the race decades ago. The Western States, infamous for its rugged terrain and extreme temperatures, becomes the most demanding competition of his life, a physical and emotional reckoning and a battle to stay true to one's purpose. Confronting his age, wearying body, career path and life choices, we see Karnazes as we never have before, raw and exposed. A Runner's High is both an endorphin-fuelled page-turner and a love letter to the sport from one of its most celebrated ambassadors.
Running: The Autobiography
by Ronnie O'SullivanWorld Snooker Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's frank and honest account of his astonishingly dramatic life.I used to rely on drugs and alcohol to keep me going, but now I've got the healthiest addiction going - running.This book explains how running has helped me to fight my demons - my addictive personality, depression, my dad's murder conviction, the painful break-up with the mother of my children - and allowed me to win five World Snooker Championships.It is also about all of the great things in my life - my kids, snooker, my dad's release from prison, great mates who have helped me, and the psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters, who has taught me how not to run away when things get tough.Finally, it's about what it's like to get the buzz - from running, from snooker, from life. Because when it comes down to it, everyone needs something to drive them on.
Running For My Life
by Jordan WylieThis is the extraordinary true story of how a former British soldier turned extreme adventurer set out to run marathons in the world’s most dangerous countries. In 2018, Jordan Wylie trained and ran in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan to raise awareness of the plight of children suffering in war zones as well as the funds to help provide education.Risking his life in some of the most hostile places in the world, Wylie defies suicide bombers, official advice, dehydration and exhaustion, as well as his own mental and physical health issues in an incredible tale of endurance and tenacity against the odds.His first race, in Somalia, is moved to Somaliland after a suicide bomber kills 600 people. Running the Baghdad half-marathon brings back painful memories of friends and colleagues he lost when he served there. Finally, at the Afghanistan marathon, he provides a high-profile target for the Taliban, who murder seventeen people the day before he arrives.What makes these three runs even more challenging is the fact that Jordan is affected not just by mental health issues from his own experiences, but also with epilepsy. Alongside the more extreme obstacles, Jordan has to overcome self-doubt – and the doubt of others – to show what can be achieved with belief and fortitude.
Running for Our Lives: Stories of everyday runners overcoming extraordinary adversity
by Rachel Ann Cullen‘Every time I speak to someone and hear about their experiences, it leaves me with a sense of running’s incredible power to help people overcome pretty much anything.’Each day, millions of people around the world put on their trainers and try to deal with their personal demons and life challenges by going for a run. And, increasingly, they do it knowing that they are not alone: a growing and often virtual community is right there running alongside them. We are all, in some sense, running for our lives.Rachel Ann Cullen’s first book, Running for My Life, described her own marathon journey through depression, bipolar disorder and body dysmorphia, and her revelatory discovery that running could transform her physical and mental wellbeing. Since hearing from people who had read about her experiences, Rachel wanted to tell some stories of other runners from all around the world – ordinary people living with mental health struggles, dealing with grief, cancer and other unavoidable life events who have relied on running to get them through their worst days and to keep going. Running for Our Lives shares moving accounts of hope and resilience; it demonstrates the power of running to help us all overcome adversity, and is a lesson for us all in learning not only how to survive life’s challenges, but to thrive.
Running for the Hills: A Family Story
by Horatio ClareWhen Jenny and Robert fall in love in the late 1960s they decide to build a new future together, away from the city. They escape to an isolated sheep farm nestled on a mountainside. It has no running water but it is beautiful and rugged. Their young sons can roam wild. As their flock struggles, money runs low and rain drives in horizontally across the fields, inside the ancient house their marriage begins to unravel. Wilful and romantic, Jenny refuses to abandon her farm. She will bring her boys up single-handedly on the mountain. Together they embark on a perilous adventure. Running for the Hills is astonishing family memoir – Horatio Clare vividly recreates his mother’s extraordinary way of life and his own bewitching childhood in a magical story of love and struggle.
Running For Their Lives: The Extraordinary Story of Britain’s Greatest Ever Distance Runners
by Mark WhitakerIn 1928 two extraordinary Englishmen competed in an unprecedented event - a transcontinental road race across America that required them to run an average of 40 miles for 80 consecutive days. Despite being separated by class, education and age, Peter Gavuzzi and Arthur Newton became close friends and formed a successful business partnership as endurance athletes. They raced in 500-mile relays, in 24-hour events, in snowshoes and against horses; and they became the stars of a craze for endurance events that swept across depression-era North America and the most famous long-distance runners in the world. However, history has forgotten these two men, and in Running for Their Lives - in a story peopled with remarkable characters, unimaginable feats and tragic twists of fate - they only now receive the recognition they so richly deserve.
Running From the Shadows: A true story of childhood abuse and how one woman faced her past, and ran towards her future
by Stephanie HickeyIn Running from the Shadows Stephanie Hickey tells, in her own words, how she survived abuse at the hands of a trusted family member and of how running, a simple physical activity helped her achieve mindfulness, but also to rediscover love and faith in her body - to reclaim it. Charting her life growing up in the rolling countryside of Waterford in the safety of her beloved family to the moment her childhood was shattered, to the court case where she waived her anonymity, to how she was able to reclaim a sense of herself through the sport which became like a therapy, Running from the Shadows is told with humour, strength and incredible courage -- a book that reveals how, even when things seem at their bleakest, a run through the Irish countryside, can bring you back into the light.
Running in the Family (New Canadian Library)
by Michael Ondaatje'During certain hours, at certain years in our lives, we see ourselves as remnants from the earlier generations that were destroyed... I think all of our lives have been terribly shaped by what went on before us.'Twenty-five years after leaving his native Sri Lanka for the cool winters of Ontario, a chaotic dream of tropical heat and barking dogs pushes Michael Ondaatje to travel back home and revisit a childhood and a family he never fully understood. Along with his siblings and children, Ondaatje gathers rumours, anecdotes, poems, records and memories to piece together this fragmented portrayal of his family's past, his father's destructive alcoholism and the colourful stories and secrets of ancestors both disgraced and adored throughout centuries of Sri Lankan society.In an exotic, evocative portrait of the heat, wildlife, sounds and silences of the Sri Lankan landscape, Ondaatje combines vivid recreations of a privileged, eccentric older generation with a deeply personal reconciliatory journey in which he explores his own ghosts, and how his family's extraordinary history continues to influence his life.
Running Like a Girl: Notes On Learning To Run
by Alexandra Heminsley'If you've ever wept, "Why Do I Want To Run?" your answer is here.' Caitlin MoranAlexandra Heminsley had high hopes: the arse of an athlete, the waist of a supermodel, the speed of a gazelle. Defeated by gyms and bored of yoga, she decided to run.Her first attempt did not end well.Six years later, she has run five marathons in two continents.But, as her dad says, you run with your head as much as with your legs. So, while this is a book about running, it's not just about running.You could say it's about ambition (yes, getting out of bed on a rainy Sunday morning counts), relationships (including talking to the intimidating staff in the trainer shop), as well as your body (your boobs don't have to wobble when you run). But it's also about realising that you can do more than you ever thought possible.Very funny, very honest and very emotional, whether you're in serious training or thinking about running for the bus, this is a book for anyone who after wine and crisps for supper a few too many times thinks they might . . . just might . . . like to run like a girl.Here’s what people are saying about Running Like A Girl – and what it’s inspired them to do!‘This book has changed my attitude, I loved it from page one and found it totally relatable for the normal woman… A real inspiration’ – Clairol on Amazon, 5 stars‘I adored this book… this is a must read’ – Emily on Amazon, 5 stars‘really opened my eyes and inspired me to continue running, fantastic read’ – Kiyone on Amazon, 5 stars‘I was so happy to start reading this fabulous book and realise that there was someone else out there who thought exactly as I did about 'not being a runner'’ – J. Watson on Amazon, 5 stars‘It's not often I find a book that I can't put down and this is the first for ages! … this book echoes so many of my own limiting beliefs constructed around this subject and it was a delight to hear how Alex faced up to her own demons and finally freed her running spirit. Even if you never want to be a runner this is a fun read and an inspirational journey.’ – Joy on Amazon, 5 stars‘Inspirational… Would recommend this book to anyone thinking of running! Very well put together and has lots of information and tips’ – Maria on Amazon, 5 stars‘I laughed out loud… for anyone wanting to get into running you will be thinking of Alexandra when you are out there taking your first few strides, and you will be grinning!’ – J. Dunne on Amazon, 5 stars‘The best thing about it is how inspiring the journey it is, how much it makes you want to get out there and run yourself. Such a fantastic aid to the beginning of your running journey’ – Emma on Amazon, 5 stars‘I have been fighting with my running demons for over 12 months and had convinced myself that I couldn't run. This book has inspired me to put my trainers on, join a club and enter three events’ – Chimaera on Amazon, 5 stars‘Laugh-out-loud funny in places but real, genuine experience of the world of running from someone who's been there, picked up the battered trainers and just run with it’ – Helen on Amazon, 5 stars‘hilarious - it just kept me hooked!’ – Denise on Amazon, 5 stars
Running Like China: A memoir of a life interrupted by madness
by Sophie HardcastleFrom a talented emerging Australian writer, a brave, honest, unforgettable memoir about mental illness that breaks the silence and shatters the taboos to give hope to all those struggling to find their way through.'When I was eleven years old Mum told me, "One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name." Even before I heard these words I was always a child who crammed intense joy into tiny pockets of time.'One day Sophie Hardcastle realised the joy she'd always known had disappeared. She was constantly tired, with no energy, no motivation and no sense of enjoyment for surfing, friends, conversations, movies, parties, family - for anything. Her hours became empty. And then, the month before she turned seventeen, that emptiness filled with an intense, unbearable sadness that made her scream and tear at her skin. Misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue, then major depression, then temporal lobe epilepsy, she was finally told - three years, two suicide attempts and five hospital admissions later - that she had Bipolar 1 Disorder.In this honest and beautifully told memoir, Sophie lays bare her story of mental illness - of a teenage girl using drugs, alcohol and sex in an attempt to fix herself; of her family's anguish and her loss of self. It is a brave and hopeful story of adaptation, learning to accept and of ultimately realising that no matter how deep you have sunk, the surface is always within reach. Running Like China shatters the silence and smashes the taboos around mental illness. It is an unforgettable story.
Running My Life - The Autobiography: Winning On and Off the Track
by Seb CoeOne second in time may separate the great athlete from the merely good. Seb Coe has made every second count. From an early age he has been driven to be the best at everything he does. Since the moment Coe stood alongside a 'scrubby' municipal running track in Sheffield, he knew that sport could change his life. It did. Breaking an incredible twelve world records and three of them in just forty-one days, Seb became the only athlete to take gold at 1500 metres in two successive Olympic Games (Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984). The same passion galvanised Coe in 2005, when he led Britain's bid to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games to London. He knew that if we won it would regenerate an East London landscape and change the lives of thousands of young people. It has. Born in Hammersmith and coached by his engineer father, Coe went from a secondary modern school and Loughborough University to become the fastest middle-distance runner of his generation. His rivalry with Steve Ovett gripped a nation and made Britain feel successful at a time of widespread social discontent. From sport Coe transferred his ideals to politics, serving in John Major's Conservative government from 1992 to 1997 and developing 'sharp elbows' to become chief of staff to William Hague, leader of the Party from 1997 to 2001 and finally a member of the House of Lords. Running My Life is in turns exhilarating, inspiring, amusing, and extremely moving. Everyone knows where Sebastian Coe ended up. Few people realise how he got there. This is his personal journey.
Running North: A Yukon Adventure
by Ann Mariah CookWhat happens when a woman and her husband move their family from New Hampshire to Alaska to train a team of purebred Siberian Huskies for the world's toughest dogsled race, the Yukon Quest? They endure thousands of miles of lonely training in the Yukon trying to avoid thin ice, wolves, and rogue moose; they put up with the amused skepticism of Alaskan locals; and they pit themselves against the ultimate, fickle adversary--nature. RUNNING NORTH is the true story of how Ann Cook, her husband, George, and their young daughter, Kathleen, moved to Alaska and how their Siberians became the first team from the lower forty-eight states to finish the Yukon Quest. It tracks George on his horrific journey through the Yukon, recording the frostbite, the hallucinations that come with exhaustion, the wolves, and the nights out on the ice at minus ninety degrees Fahrenheit. This is the great story of man struggling against nature and surviving. But unlike most accounts of high adventure that center solely on the adventurer and the quest, RUNNING NORTH is also the story of Ann Cook, who drove the truck and carried the gear and kept the family together. In the tradition of MY OLD MAN AND THE SEA, she tells both stories in simple, elegant prose that reveals the tragedy, joy, and folly that lie on either side of the curtain separating the adventurer from the world left behind. They run up against crazy landlords, win over gruff neighbors, drive a broken-down truck that sucks oil like Alaskans suck coffee, listen to a radio show that keeps trappers in contact with the world, meet mysterious fishermen who appear without notice and disappear without a sign, fight with a young cousin who will betray them in the end, protect their young daughter from the dangers of their new wild world, and stare awestruck at the wide sweep of Alaskan landscape. RUNNING NORTH is the story of two very different adventures on the edge: one among the racers braving the Yukon and the other among the people they leave behind.
Running Out of Tears: The Moving Personal Stories of ChildLine's Children Over 25 Years
by Esther RantzenIn October 1986 ChildLine - the first national helpline for children in the world - was launched. With it came a revolution in child protection. For the first time abused children had someone they could ask for help. The launch of ChildLine was broadcast on BBC TV on October 30th. Watching in her quiet, respectable home in a small rural town was Jo, a clever, troubled fourteen year old. Suddenly Jo, the silent victim of sexual abuse by her parents' closest friend, no longer felt utterly alone. For the first time, she was being offered help, there on the screen. She was one of 50,000 children who tried to ring that night. In the end she got through to a counsellor and her life changed forever. In Running Out of Tears Esther Rantzen, founder of ChildLine, tells Jo's story, together with those of many other survivors. Each of these tales is testament to the achievement of ChildLine in teaching the nation how to listen to children who are suffering abuse and giving a voice to the most vulnerable group in society. The book also details landmark events in the last 25 years of ChildLine's existence: The crucial involvement of Princess Diana; The support from then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; The investigation into a school owned and run by a paedophile that would lead to a change in the law; The 250 other children's help lines set up around the world with ChildLine's help. Although these personal stories are disturbing they each have an uplifting, inspiring message. Hope and help is within a child's reach - only a phone call away.
Running Tall
by Christopher Priest Sally GunnellThis is the story of Sally Gunnell's progress from modest origins in Essex to becoming 400-metre hurdles world-record holder, Olympic champion and world champion. It describes the combination of talent, commitment, hard work and desire to win that have enabled her to succeed.