C is for Courage To Start

 

C is for The Courage To Start by John "The Penguin" Bingham

I purchased this from Amazon in 2001, over 10 years ago!!

Why this book? I wanted to get fit. And I wanted to run. I had never considered myself athletic. My two sisters were. One was a sprinter and one was a long distance runner in high school. I never even considered joining the track and field club. I stuck to sports like recreational tennis and badminton and swimming. I was not a runner. Jump ahead 23 years, and I decided to get serious about getting fit. I decided to take up running. I'm actually not sure how I heard about this book, but I'm always fascinated by most unlikely people accomplishing great things, and then inspiring others that 'yes, you can!' John Bingham is one of those. He decided one day, in his forties, to get off the couch (literally), quit smoking, put on a pair of running shoes and start running. He has since completed many marathons and road races. He believes it's not about winning the race, it's about getting out there and moving.

He made me believe I could run and even enter an official run if I wanted to. In past years, (with much prodding from my sister), I entered a 10 km run, a half marathon walk, and a half marathon run. These were some of the highlights of the past 6 years.

I haven't seriously trained for more than a few weeks in the past while. I think I might need to skim through this book again!

The truth nugget: "..millions of runners have gone before you. Each of them has faced the same fear and uncertainty. Each has learned, as you will, the truth in the Penguin credo. For all of us, the miracle isn't that we finish, the miracle is that we have the courage to start. "

This book is obviously about more than running. It's full of life lessons.

Why do I still have this book? Because it's worth rereading! And who doesn't need a little inspiration to keep at it?