Reading while Running: Book Recommendations

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There is no competition. The greatest running book of all time is “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen” by Christopher McDougall.

Isolated by Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.

  • Charlie B.

Let your mind run by Deena Kastor . It gives great insight into the mental side of running and racing from an elite perspective. One of my favorites that I reread one or two times a year! 

  • Stacy M.

I picked up “I H💛TE RUNNING AND YOU CAN TOO” by Brendan Leonard at Sierra a year or so ago. I found it really inspiring and shared lots of excerpts with the couch to 5k group that spring. It’s a funny, quick, and easy read that is very relatable to most average runners. Here is one random quote from the book. “More than half a million people in the United States finish a marathon each year. Almost none of those people do it without running a bunch of miles in the months beforehand. At some point, every person was running zero miles per week. And then they ran one mile a few times. And then eventually decided they could run a mile and a half. And so on. A long race, whether your definition of “long” is 6.2 miles or 100 miles, starts with running (or walking) a much shorter distance, one time. And then doing it again. And again. You do a small thing once, twice, three times, and you start stacking those small things on top of one another, or depositing them in a metaphorical account, and they start to add up…” (p.22) Really enjoyable, highly recommend!

  • Keri N.

I think many runners would already know, but here is the book I highly recommend!

Haruki Murakami “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.”

It’s a great essay book, and it always motivated me to go for a run and resume running.

He is a marathoner and has experience with ultra-marathon as well, and his journey as a runner is described with light-hearted humor in this book! 

  • Jane H.

Rise and Run: Recipes, Rituals and Runs to Fuel Your Day (a cookbook) by Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky

I have had a lot of fun experimenting with the recipes in this book, which are interspersed with training tips and anecdotes from elite runners. The lemon chia blueberry superhero muffins have become a go-to for satisfying my constant runger (runner’s hunger) during heavy training periods.

  • Angela W. 

Running with the Buffaloes

This chronicles the 1998 season of University of Colorado’s men’s xc team, where Adam Goucher was king amidst a season with great tragedy.

Bowerman and the Men of Oregon

This takes a deep dive into the history of Nike – the true Nike, not what it is today – and, as the name suggests, the men of University of Oregon’s track and xc teams, including legendary Steve Prefontaine.

  • Sean M.

I can’t pick just one! Here are 5 recommendations, not necessarily in order of preference: 

  1. Good for a Girl by Lauren Fleshman – such an important read for female athletes.
  2. Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron – historical fiction about a runner set during the Rwandan genocide. Very intense and very good.
  3. Running with the Buffaloes by Chris Lear – follows the CU Boulder XC team during their 1998 season.
  4. John L. Parker’s trilogy of Once a Runner, Again to Carthage, and Racing the Rain. I like good fiction, and he writes good fiction. Once a Runner is the classic, but they’re all very well-written. 
  5. Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougall. As noted in a recommendation above, McDougall knows how to tell a good story. Running with Sherman is about burro racing and will capture any animal lover’s heart. My personal favorite character is an ornery goat named Boris. 
  • Kristina S.