Snag Your Copy Feet, Don't Fail Me Now: The Rogue's Guide To Running The Marathon Written By Ben Kaplan Formatted As Paperback

encouraging, inspiring, and informative, It gives you the information you need to know while still being an easy, fun read, To give my favourite run song, keeping with a running theme in the book no pun intended: I love "You are a Runner, and I am My Father's Son" by Wolf Parade.
Encouraging to read about racing the week I'm preparing for a race, This guy sounds like a guy I'd hang out with, and I liked his music pairings, even though I don't run with music, Nice, fun, not riveting, though, I borrowed the ebook from the library, and I think it was one I might buy in hard copy to flip through and put postits in.
Written with a light jokey tone, Kaplan asked all sorts of musicians for running songs which he peppers through this handwavey guide to get from couch to marathon in one year.
He includes a year of his own running to qualify for and run the Boston Marathon in the first year of his first child's life a little sideeye there because that seems like a lot of time to take away from your first kid in a very gendered way you know a woman would get so much judgement for that choice Otherwise this book is refreshingly moderate in its guidence.


I'm doing a couch tokm, so a marathon seems like an unholy sufferfest but! I think this book very nicely plots out the progression involved with a lot of give to it.
Kaplan writes with an expectation that you aren't just a robot following the program he gives which wouldn't work anyway because Kaplan insists you pay attention to how your body feels and adjust.
Walking for a bit is fine and maybe the best strategy! I didn't know this! He expects sometimes you just fall off track and need help getting back into it safely.
I loved that.

I like the bit on shoes where he adresses the zerodrop barefoot style vs padded and corrective shoes and points out you should probably wear what is most comfortable to run unholy distances with.


Things I wanted which weren't

in the book:

A chart, multiple charts, the ebook version made it tricky to keep track where we were in the progression and impossible to refer back later.


A list of all the songs mentioned at the end, and maybe a Spotify list or something so you could listen while you read about them A linked running list.
I am lazy clearly, but I think it would have been nice!

My Libby app kept freezing during the last three chapters which was hecka annoying but it looks like they fixed it whew Funnyish and full of useful information.
If I could only sustain the speed of my younger days, I'd try his training schedules, But, I fear, I'd be disappointed really quickly,

He structures the book around four races that you're going to doaK,K, halfmarathon and marathon, In a year. Sounds silly, no But it's been doneand he's going to tell you how,

So each chapter starts off with a few weeks of training scheduleshow many days to run, how much time to run and walk, how to balance the times spent running and walking.
Later in the book he has to switch from time to distance as distance becomes more critical, Then each chapter goes off on a topic of interest, They're widely divergent but always important, There is talk of what to eat, of working your core, of Kenyan runners, of networking with other runners, and of motivationalways, motivation, At the end of each chapter is a list of inspiring music for the run, and often, interviews with the artists who recommended it, Some are runnersWillie Nelson, reallybut many are not, Fun stuff.

The reason I can't try his schedules is that when he says, "Run for six minutes," all I can muster is a fast jog.
He even says "jog" from time to time, but I honestly think he's expecting people to start off doing eightminute miles, The only way I could effectively use his schedules is to substitute my 'jog' for his 'walk' and then run like heck when he says to.
But maybe I could and maybe I will. Since I'm not yearning to run the marathon in a year, maybe I could stretch out his schedule a bit,

Wowthat right there tells you how inspiring this book is, It's actually making me want to try it out, I guess that means, highly recommended, I liked that he had a lot of music suggestions from various peoplesingers, actors and runnersabout what to listen to when working out, But should I feel out of it because I only recognized aboutof the songs Inspiring, pretty fun blend of music journalism, running memoir, and training guide Your average running book, Nothing surprising but solid information, Gave me a better understanding of what my son is doing in preparation for running his first marathon, Read this while training for a marathon, which of course I didn't end up running, Howeververy fun take on a training book, Includes playlists for each step of the plan, I finished this on the day I finished my first four miler, I don't have any personal interest in running the marathon, Boston or otherwise, but I enjoyed Kaplan's journey, What sets this apart from other running reads is his music background, While I wasn't familiar with all artists, I like how he set the soundtrack to the training, Made it even more readable, Now someone please get the wonderful Jolene out of my head This would be good for an ambitious new runner, I am preparing for my first marathon and the book taught me some things about race culture, Based on his own experience transforming himself from a degenerate bar fly into a dedicated runner who qualified for the Boston Marathon, Ben Kaplan provides a weekbyweek training program, split into four sections, each concluding with a race fromkm to a full.
mile marathon. With wit, selfdeprecation, and the input of experts from around the world, he provides critical information on nutrition and hydration, selecting shoes, race strategy, pacing, proper form, motivation, and how to stave off injuries while continually crossing new finish lines.
He shares running music recommendations provided personally by a variety of pop and rock, including Paul Simon, Justin Bieber, The Black Keys, Ghostface Killah, Willie Nelson, Feist, and Norah Jones.
Kaplan's infectious enthusiasm about running and music inspires the most recalcitrant runners to lace up their shoes and hit the pavement,
.