Robin harvie why we run

These passages are as moving as they are illuminating. Harvie writes intricately on how such a limit-busting endeavour the Sparthalon made him understand himself, his journey into adulthood and his family.

His journey is undeniably a compelling one. Harvie tells many more fascinating stories in this vein about everything from the suicidally dedicated marathon monks of Mount Hiel in Japan, whose initiation requires them to run a marathon a day for days, to the danger of modern trainers.

Whether it is a jog around the park on a Sunday morning, or lining up with 40, other people at the start of the London Marathon, all it requires is a pair of trainers and the open road.

But where does that road lead and why do we run at all? Robin Harvie ran his first marathon after a bet, but it wasn't until he had ventured 6, miles into the extreme world of ultra-distance running to the start line of the oldest and toughest footrace on earth, that he found an answer. As a hobby turned into a mile-a-week obsession, so a way out of his daily routine evolved into a journey to discover who he was and what he was really made of.

Through the scorching heat of the desert and into the darkest hours of the morning, Why We Run reveals the beating heart of the brutal and profoundly intoxicating experience of running.

If you have ever wondered what makes you lace up your trainers, and why you keep coming back for more, this is your story too. Back Fiction. As far as ultra-marathons go, this one really is the daddy, and yet it's an amateur event. As Harvie explains: "The competitors are the people who guard your prisons, put out your fires, decorate your homes and deliver your post. Nominally, this is a book about extreme running, and there's no shortage of detail on the Spartathlon. From Harvie's extensive preparations, which gradually threaten to overwhelm his "real" life, to the physical toll that it takes on his body, he is as scrupulous as he is lacking in vanity.

Feet pummelled by the dirt tracks of the Greek countryside, toenails "popping out" and the hallucinatory effects of running in the heat for 15 hours: the grisly details are all there, and it's hard not to revel in the gore. But where the book truly excels is in its depiction of Harvie's internal landscape. He largely shuns training tips and inspirational advice in favour of a true memoirist's tone, exploring the reasons why he runs — grief, ambition, boredom — with an almost brutal honesty.

Jump to ratings and reviews. Want to Read. Buy on Amazon. Rate this book. Robin Harvie was a fairly ordinary runner.

He ran his first marathon after a bet. Then he found that although he couldn't run fast, he could run long distances--very long. A casual hobby turned into a miles-a-week obsession, and a training route along the River Thames morphed into a promise to himself that he would tackle the oldest and toughest footrace on earth: the Spartathlon from Athens to Sparta. This race, a recreation of Pheidippides's legendary journey, is miles long, crosses two mountain ranges, and is the toughest race on the ultradistance runner's calendar.

It isn't at all ordinary. Harvie's experience--from the mundanity of daily training routes to the extreme tests of the desert's scorching heat and the darkest hours of the night--reveals the profoundly intoxicating experience of running, and the ways in which every mile taken is both a step further into the unknown and a pace deeper into the self.

Nonfiction Sports Memoir. More Details. Robin Harvie 3 books 8 followers. He lives in London. Search review text. I picked this up because the overall concept sounded interesting, but IMHO, the author hasn't a clue as to how to tell a compelling story, or to present background or tangential information in a manner that properly integrates into the overall narrative.

I read the first few chapters, and became increasingly impatient with the author as he kept jumping around I kept expecting him to say "hey look, a squirrel! And for the record? Going out on a long run with no water, no gels or other source of calories, no phone, no money, and no real idea where you're going? The distance runners that I know would classify that under the heading "stupid. As I said, I read the first few chapters, then, thoroughly annoyed, skimmed the remainder, through his attempt at the Spartathalon.

I'm putting this on my "Abandoned" shelf, rather than claiming credit for reading. But I'm still posting a review, to warn off others.

This book is definitly written to a specific audience, and being in that audience I rather enjoyed it. I will say though, that I have no conception of if he is rehashing thoughts common in other novels in the running genre since this is the first book of its kind that I have read.

He starts off with an apology in about how he frames the story with his growing up which I was somewhat mollified by since I didn't actually like a lot of his personal life. His father-in-law dies and there is a whole lot about that and then about the troubles his mother-in-law has adapting to this and maybe I am a terrible person but I didn't care.