For many of us, the time change, colder weather and holiday season signals the perfect opportunity to pause, take a reflective break and rejuvenate tired bodies. But for highly motivated individuals who need their running fix, this often proves an impossible task. Enter ‘fun run season’ where the emphasis is on rebuilding and reimagining. I wish I could claim credit for this phrase, but I borrowed it from Runner’s World coach Jess Movold, who coined it for the October 2021 issue of the magazine. Rather than implying a complete shutdown with a struggle to climb back to peak performance, this concept is easier for Type A personalities to deal with. Leave your watch at home, boycott Strava, and run (or do winter sports) as whim and desire dictate.

With your extra time, this would be a perfect opportunity to take inspiration from some of the latest reads. And it goes without saying you might discover the perfect gift for a runner on your shopping list.

As we approach the end of the year, it is hard to escape reflection on the end of life, or in our case, the end of running as we know it. Enter Racing the Clock: Running Across a Lifetime, by Bernd Heinrich, a naturalist and biologist known for his Racing the Antelope, and its exploration of persistence hunting. Part reflective biography examining his own scientific and running career, he laments that now in his 80th year, another 100K race is no longer a possibility. Don’t you wish!? Taking a circle of life approach, he examines lifespans in nature, showing how bodies change, and how we might alter some of this inevitability by resetting goals.  

A companion book would be Daniel Levitin’s Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives, which maintains that the key to successful aging is fostering a life-span outlook, and cultivating a growth mindset with adaptation to circumstances.

Exemplifying this is the must-read What Makes Olga Run? The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives, by Bruce Grierson. He concludes that her motto, “Break a sweat daily and differently, with others” is the key to her longevity. That and her willingness to adapt to her body’s requirements. For a shortcut, try searching Olga – the footage is amazing – on Youtube.com.

Myths of the loneliness of the long-distance runner aside, for many of us running is a social activity with running clubs, races and post-workout celebrations playing a prominent role. Perhaps that is why stories of other runners are so appealing. In survival mode, twinned with Cory Reese’s memoir Stronger Than the Dark, Hillary Allen’s Out and Back: A Runner’s Story of Survival Against All Odds, both explore the pull of depression. Cory Reese, an UltraRunning magazine columnist, unsuccessfully medicates his illness with running, while Hillary Allen’s depression was precipitated by traumatic injury. Both, though, ultimately acknowledge their vulnerability and the need to rely on their running community to pull them through. Both learn that running is so much more than finish times; it is the courage to engage in the ongoing process, whatever that may be for you at the moment.

Introspection also sets the tone for ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes’ A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion, where the author details the endless self-promotion necessary to earn a living in sport, wondering how much family life was pushed aside. At a recent Western States, he recognizes that “Despite being in top shape for my age, I was still my age.” 

For long-distance fiends, consider Matthew Huff, host of the podcast, P.S. You’re Wrong, and his Marathoner: What to Expect When Training for and Running a MARATHON. With a knowledge honed by experience and an outlook fueled as an improv comedy performer, Matthew Huff presents not just another training manual. Each mile has its own chapter focusing on a central theme: typical course shape patterns, pop culture, supporters, interviews with famous runners, and the mile rundown – featuring marathons with most notable individual miles.

For true armchair traveling, follow up with John Brewer’s 500 Races, Routes and Adventures: A Runner’s Bucket List with an indexing system that reaches beyond mere one-stop shopping making it a cinch to locate events to coincide with your vacation, chosen state or continent, or discover family-friendly events with options for everyone and plenty of pre/post-race touristy suggestions. Tower stair climb ascents are also detailed as well as Race the Trains, virtual Route 66 attempts, and “parkruns.” FYI, parkruns are organized free, weekly, timed, community events all over the world: Parkrun.com.

Getting serious, in Mental Training for Ultrarunning, Addie Bracy stresses the fact that with a roughly one-in-three chance of completing a 100K or 100-mile event, where it is unrealistic to duplicate that distance in training, another skill set is definitely needed. With chapter headings reading like mottos, “Stick to the Grind,” “Get Out of Your Own Way,” there is a lot to absorb and put into practice. For those who want further guidance, she references classics such as my favorite Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales (also examined in Hillary Allen’s Out and Back), as well as Mihlay Csikszentmihalyi’s Running Flow and his other flow works. “Flow” is how running can be enjoyable and satisfying, why you want to do it again, and how to use it to make running – and everyday life – better.

In our increased climate of social awareness, travel back in history with Race Across America: Eddie Gardner and the Great Bunion Derbies by Charles B. Kastner. When racial discrimination was a fact of life, there were five African Americans enrolled in the 1928 race Across America. Eddie Gardner stood out as a hero to the Blacks of his day when, in the Southern States, faced with the choice of slowing down to let the white boys win or risking his own life to make a statement for his fellows, he chose the more difficult path.

In Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America’s Stolen Land, Noe Alvarez, son of Mexican immigrant field workers, found himself unable to cope with the cultural divide he confronted in college. He dropped out and fashioned his own gap year by joining the “Peace & Dignity Journey,” embarking on a 6,000-mile run, while learning about his heritage and tracing the paths his parents and ancestors had followed.

On the lighter side, try columnist Brendan Leonard’s I Hate Running and You Can Too: How to Get Started, Keep Going, and Make Sense of an Irrational Passion. A quick, humorous read filled with equal parts reflection, advice and graphics, this is the perfect gift for those who relegate their reading to five-minute intervals – perhaps a bathroom read? This could be the ideal gift for a tongue-tied runner to give to their non-running partner. 

Another offering for athletes and non-athletes alike is Eat, Run, Enjoy: Recipes for Running Performance and Pleasure by running chef Billy White, featuring over 80 mouth-watering recipes. Billy White explores Denver, Colo. trails with Courtney Dauwalter; goes fell (hill) running in the Lake District in northwest England with Ricky Lightfoot; explores Barr Camp at Pikes Peak in Colorado with Zach Miller; and enjoys a Swedish archipelago run with Emelie Forsberg. The result is a sensual coffee table production where each offering is accorded its own photographic presentation.

Enjoy some of these books as a perfect complement to your fun run season and return refreshed and ready to go in 2022!

Laura Clark (snowshoegal133@gmail.com) of Saratoga Springs is an avid trail runner, ultramarathoner, snowshoer and cross-country skier. She is a children’s librarian at the Saratoga Springs Public Library.