I just finished reading Dr. Mark Cucuzzella’s new book Run for Your Life, well I finished it a few weeks ago but took some time to get this written up, and think it is a book that needs to be on every runner’s shelf. No let me rephrase that; it needs to be wherever it needs to be to get read and re-read. While I have not met Mark in person, hope to one day, I consider him a friend and was grateful when he offered me the book to review. Truth is I had it on pre-order before he contacted me and was looking forward to reading it so being given this book in no way influenced the review that will follow. By the way if you want to learn a little more about Mark you can read an interview I did with him.Always hard, well for me it is, to review a book such as this that contains so much information, and great information at that. The difficulty is in sharing enough information to let people get a feel for the book but not so much as to re-write the book. Here is my attempt to give you a taste for this great book. I am going to do is give a short overview of each section.
Before I do this a little bit about the format of this book. The book is broken up into 3 sections that deal with Getting Started in Running, Running Itself & General Running Related Info. Within each of these sections are a number of topics with one of the most useful aspects of this book being the activities at the end of each chapter. Mark did not just simply supply information and leave it at that, as good as that would be, he also supplies what are called “Drills” which are exercises, things to do, that allow one to put each chapter into action. Thus, what you have read is then able to move from just being information to being action and then hopefully move into being a habit. Let me also add that there is a website that is free to access that contains many of the excises and drills you will read about in the book: Run For Your Life
Here is an overview of the book:
Part 1: Before the Starting Line
In this section Mark looks at who we are and how we are built to run. While I do not hold to the same evolutionary position as Mark that does not change my agreement with the final conclusions that he shares. I simply see the body, and its many parts, as the grand design of God and thus is still a miracle to look at and to see how it all works together.
Mark does a great job of showing how all the parts in the body work together to enable us to move and most of all run. We were not designed just to sit as most of us, me included, do but to move and be active. Mark also shows how not moving and being inactive as we so often are are affects, negatively, other aspects of out physiology. Thus moving is critical to living a healthy and vibrant life. In the last section of the book Mark will touch on this but so much of what we do today leads to inactivity and being indoors when we get the most out of life moving and being in outside.
This section of the book starts with helping us gain an understanding of the body as a system. The importance of seeing things as a system, as a whole, is important as it allows us to see how interrelated all of our body parts and systems are involved in moving. Often when talking about running people just want to jump right in with what they can do to get going. Mark does that in the accompanying drills but the main crux of this first section of the book is to set the ground work as to how the body is supposed to function. This builds a foundation for what is to follow so that when we work to move as we were designed to do we can do so as the body was intended.
Chapters in Part 1
- Out Bodies are older then we think
- Stand up and Breath
- Walk Before You Run
- The World is Flat If You’re a Foot
- The Springs That Move Us
Part 2: The Body in Motion
Part 2 builds on the initial information and drills provided in Part 1 so as to move to help us get the most out of our bodies, and not just for running. What is really good about Run For Your Life is that Mark does not simply provide direction so as to run farther and faster. He goes farther, which explains the title of the book, as he gives direction to live better and enjoy life more - not simply in the area of running.
Running farther and faster is great and I think you will be able to do so from all that is provided in this book and from the information in this chapter. However, of more importance, and worth, is to be able to live better. So often in life we speak of the length of life, and thus quantity, but when you look at the public who may be living longer the quality of life is not so glowing and thus they are not really “living.”
I appreciate that Mark did not avoid the often-controversial subject of nutrition and diet. I use the word diet here not to speak of a particular way to eat but to relate to how we are to eat as a lifestyle and practice. Mark deals with not just how to eat to run faster but speaks to how one can eat to live better. Again, the idea behind his book is for the reader to live better through a fuller understanding of ones body and how it works and what to do to have them work as designed.
Various areas are covered, as you will see below, in this section with all subjects - from form to rest - being important for one's running and life. The order of the chapters also work together in a logical order as it starts with style/form and ends with avoiding injuries. With all the aspects building on each other to work towards a more efficient system that in the end will allow one to indeed avoid the injuries that plague most runners.
Thus, Part 2 is where the rubber meets the road and where you put into practice the principles of Part 1
Chapters in Part 2
- The Elements of Style
- The Engine That Runs US: Build Endurance
- Move More and “Exercise” Less
- Eating to Got the Distance: Nutrition and Health
- What’s for Dinner: Setting Your Meal Course
- Recovery is Training
- Running a Marathon
- The Runner’s High: The Mind of a Winner
- Outsmart Injuries with Prevention
Part 3: Running is For Everyone
In this last section Mark deals with a variety of subjects such as women, aging, our connection with the outdoors and seeing the importance of our communities. This part of the book in covering these various topics wraps up all that has gone before it so as to conclude the book covering areas often left out or kept for books of their own. One area I did appreciate was his focus in the last chapter on communities.
We live in a world were we are all interconnected and in a more and more narcissistic and self absorbed individualistic world this is good to be reminded of. Also, since running can be, and often does become, a very individual endeavor the idea of community is a good reminder. When Mark speaks of working in the community he knows what he speaks of as he has done much in his community to change minds and the health of those around him. Again, running can, and often is, a sport that leads one to be self absorbed so we need to be reminded that this is not to be and instead see how though running communities can be changed.
Chapters in Part 3
- Women are Pulling Away from the Pack
- Young at Heart
- Healthy at Any Age
- The Nature Cure
- Running in Place: The health of our Communities
In the appendix Mark provides even more information including a plan for using the drills previously given by breaking them down into four groups: 1) Mobility/Stability, 2) Awakening Your Springs, 3) Strengthening Your Springs & 4) Extras. These drills are provided in a format that makes them easier to use plan for using them so as to work on your some training plans. Mark also provides training plans for running a 5k, 1/2 Marathon or Marathon using much of what has been discussed in the book thus further putting into action all that has been discussed
I hope this brief review of Mark's book was helpful and if you have not already order a copy you will do so. As you can tell I highly recommend reading Run For Your Life, and probably more than once as I need to do. If you know anyone just starting out running or looking to do so give this book to them as a gift and as a starting point for their journey. Hey, give it as a gift to yourself – you will be glad you did.
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