Running Through the Wall – Personal Encounters With the Ultramarathon By: Neal Jamison
“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it.
Action has magic, grace and power in it.“
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Chock-full of Monumental Effort stories, Running Through The Wall – Personal Encounters With the Ultramarathon offers readers a glimpse into the minds and psyches of dozens of ultra runners. In it you will not only get insight as to why certain athletes were drawn to this fantastic sport, but you will also discover what drives others to push beyond their perceived limits, overcoming injuries or tragedies and completing daunting distances on challenging terrain.
This book is a compilation of 39 inspiring stories from all levels of athletes. Some of these tales recount reports of the back-of-the-pack runners shuffling along barely staying ahead of cut-off times. The reader will however learn about elite runners such as Tim Twietmeyer and Ann Trason as they do battle for the Western States crown. There are also accounts by David Horton and Blake Wood, two of only a handful of runners to ever complete the punishing Barkley Marathon.
Since the book includes stories from such a wide range of athletes, it inevitably encompasses race reports from a variety of locales. For instance, Francesca Conte’s contribution: Finding Self-Confidence at the Arkansas Traveller 100 has sparked in me an interest in running this particular race and her narrative provides some valuable course description that I hope will help me better prepare for this event that I intend on running in October 2010.
Over the years I have had the fortune of meeting and even running with some of these competitors/authors including Clark Zealand, Catra Corbett and Bethany Hunter-Pederson. Clark writes about his legendary battle with Courtney Campbell at the Bull Run Run 50-miler. Catra recounts the tragic loss of her mother and how her spirit powered her through the challenging Wasatch 100. Bethany explains how she was introduced to the sport of ultra running and recounts her first 100-mile finish at the Massanutten Mountain Trail Run under the tutelage of an ultra legend.
Before Neal Jamison’s final piece entitled The Finish Line, the reader is treated to Joel’s Story by Robert B. Boeder. In short, Joel Zucker was a three-time finisher of arguably the toughest 100-miler out there, the Hardrock 100. To fully appreciate Joel’s zest and overall charm, I recommend you read this story. I certainly do not have the penmanship to do it justice in this short blog post.
Other notable contributors: Scott Mills, Greg Loomis, Kevin Setnes, Ian Torrence, Sue Johnston, Mike Dimkich (guitarist for rock band The Cult) and a Foreword by Don Allison. Order yourself a copy of Running Through the Wall by clicking on the book cover image above.
Gotta run,
Vince
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Vince,
Thanks for the warm review. Good luck at the Traveller. A little trivia: Before the publisher would give me a contract they insisted I write and submit a sample essay. I submitted Francesca’s, and the publisher said if the rest of the stories were half that good, we’d have a fine book. I am glad you like it.
Run hard out there,
Neal Jamison
The book sounds great. I need to see your book collection the next time we meet up. I also had a question about Monica’s races. Were her first two both 100 milers. If so it’s pretty amazing to lop off 11 hours off her time. Does that indicate that the first one was extremely tough? Oh and have you written about her story yet and what she is trying to achieve?
DD
Hey Dean,
All of Monica’s races on that list are 100-milers except Badwater which is 135 miles. According to Monica, the HURT 100 in Hawaii will be her toughest of the year…even more difficult (again, according to Monica, and heck, she would know better than anyone!) than Badwater which is in Death Valley’s heat…hot enough to melt your shoes! She could very likely run some of her races in under 20 hours. Terrain, heat, weather, elevation gain and loss, altitude…all factors that contribute to a races difficulty. Check out: http://www.monumentaleffort.com/a-step-beyond-a-definitive-guide-to-ultrarunning for a neat elevation profile of some of the 100 milers out there.
If I lend you a book, will it take 3 years to get it back like that movie??!!
Gotta run, Vince