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A review by eiriee
Running Free: A Runner’s Journey Back to Nature by Richard Askwith
3.0
I would recommend this book to someone else. I did really enjoy reading it, and found myself agreeing with just about everything Richard said. If you are not already considering going out running more in the countryside, it is pretty likely this book will convince you, especially if you have a dog.
...that is, if you can get past the moments where he seems so intent on promoting the benefits of 'running free' and the negatives of 'Big Running' but can't quite bring himself to dismiss road running/incremental gains etc. It leaves the writing of those parts quite stilted and I kept thinking, "If you're not going to reject it entirely, why are you bringing up the comparison at all?". Which I entirely realise is a wholly unfair thing to say - if he had not maintained this /fairly/ v
balanced view throughout I would have been affronted as well (being, as I am, in my First Age of running and soon hoping to reach my Second Age). I guess it's just the dissonance between trying to promote running off-road without buying in to much of the consumerism of Big Running, with a consistent attempt to not dismiss the joy other people find in running e.g. on road, with all the gear. Maybe it gives a feeling of hypocrisy?
But if you are looking over one person's entire life of running, there's bound to be some cognitive dissonance.
Another point is that the book seems to be aimed at middle-aged people who have been running for ten or twenty years, which I am not.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading this book (the two chapters about being hunted by bloodhounds and men respectively stand out as particularly fun) and would recommend it to others (though I wouldn't blame you if you waited for the paperback).
...that is, if you can get past the moments where he seems so intent on promoting the benefits of 'running free' and the negatives of 'Big Running' but can't quite bring himself to dismiss road running/incremental gains etc. It leaves the writing of those parts quite stilted and I kept thinking, "If you're not going to reject it entirely, why are you bringing up the comparison at all?". Which I entirely realise is a wholly unfair thing to say - if he had not maintained this /fairly/ v
balanced view throughout I would have been affronted as well (being, as I am, in my First Age of running and soon hoping to reach my Second Age). I guess it's just the dissonance between trying to promote running off-road without buying in to much of the consumerism of Big Running, with a consistent attempt to not dismiss the joy other people find in running e.g. on road, with all the gear. Maybe it gives a feeling of hypocrisy?
But if you are looking over one person's entire life of running, there's bound to be some cognitive dissonance.
Another point is that the book seems to be aimed at middle-aged people who have been running for ten or twenty years, which I am not.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading this book (the two chapters about being hunted by bloodhounds and men respectively stand out as particularly fun) and would recommend it to others (though I wouldn't blame you if you waited for the paperback).