The ultralist agreed with him, and with their help Big now has a great home. It wasn’t an easy transition, though, and after a group of strangers from around the world helped Laz to adopt this dog and get him the care that the dog required, he felt that he should update everybody on how the Big Dog was doing.

Fast forward a few years, and you can now read Big’s story in one convenient package! As the second book published by my imprint, Trail Trotter Press, My Name is Big follows Big’s rescue, adoption into a permanent home, re-abandonment and finally making his way back to Laz’s farm for good.

There is some running in the book, and there is a lot of inside information that a casual reader might not notice that you would as a runner, but this book will appeal to all kinds of dog lovers no matter how active they are.

After the book was announced yesterday afternoon, it had reached multiple Amazon Best Seller lists by the end of the day! At one point, it was ranked #432 out of all books selling on Amazon, and was the 6th best selling Dog book, even outselling 2 of Cesar Milan’s books! (He’s the Dog Whisperer…and yes, I had to look that up!)

This book is a fun read and would make a great gift for any dog lover in your life.

(Please note that as the publisher of the book I obviously have a financial interest in it. You can learn more about the book at Amazon.)

On November 29, I tried to go to bed early, but I had an idea. So I got up to write down some notes and went back to bed. Then I got up to take more notes. This went on until instead of going to bed an hour early I was going to bed 3 hours late…and that’s how the Runner’s Almanac began.

Fast forward 2 weeks and 2 days and I was ordering a proof. The book was put together, the cover designed, interior typeset, and now it was just time to wait and see whether what I’d envisioned in my head was going to work when it was actually on paper.

And yes, yes it does!

The proof of the book came in today, so I’ve gone ahead and made it available for purchase.

The book will appear at Amazon most likely between Monday and Wednesday of next week, but until then you can check out the book’s website, download a sample chapter if you’d like to see what it’s all about, and order it directly if you’d rather get it sooner rather than later (it would make a great Christmas gift for any runner in the family!)

Just head on over to: therunnersalmanac.com

Where he falls short, however, is in the format that that information is presented in, at least in the Kindle edition. I haven’t seen the print edition of the book, but my assumption is that the majority of the criticisms that I have are probably a non-issue in the print version.

Even with the formatting errors, the book is still worth picking up. For the experienced ultrarunner, it’s worth browsing through for the 1 or 2 ideas that may have never occurred to you and that will make your next race more enjoyable. For the marathoner looking to move up, it provides a pretty comprehensive guide, especially if you aren’t sure how to modify your training to handle the extra distance.

Here’s my full review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvlA7quoob4

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube – Buy on Amazon

Video Transcription

show

Bryon recently took part in the Marathon Mastermind. You can listen to his coaching session by going over to www.marathonmastermind.com and joining in yourself.

If you want to listen in for free, you’ll have to sign up today to hear Bryon, however. His coaching session ends later tonight. There are still 4 more coaching sessions coming up throughout the rest of this week that you can listen to for free.

This weekend, he’s going to be trying to defend his New York City Marathon title, as he joins up with some of the best runners in the world. It’s a stacked field, and it’s going to be a great race.

Along with the race, he’s also just released his new book, “Run to Overcome”. I was sent an advanced copy that I got to take a look at over the past week or so, and it’s a great story!

It follows Meb’s journey from his native Eritrea, through Italy, and to the United States where he started running out in San Diego. It follows his entire career right through UCLA and into his professional career.

The book is organized chronologically by topic. So it starts out with stories from Africa, and then it moves on to UCLA, the Athens Marathon, the New York City Marathon, and it just goes from one topic to the next.

So while the book itself isn’t 100% chronological, the general topic for what’s getting covered in each chapter is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30OFXAF6vEU

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube

There’s a lot that you can get from the story.

First, it’s just a fun read! You get to learn about one of the better runners in the country right now. What makes him tick. Why he does what he does. It’s just enjoyable to just sit down with the book.

It has also got some great training advice in there. He talks about what he does as an elite athlete, to try and keep at the top of his game. How he deals with injuries, and the sorts of training that he does.

So not only can you follow what Meb does and why, but you can also get some good tips that you can apply to your own training.

One of my favorite tips that I got out of it was that just because something is on paper, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to follow that exact workout, especially if you’re using just a regular canned training schedule. You always have to build in some flexibility.

So if you’re feeling really good or if you’re feeling really bad, if might be cause just to change your workout around, and to do something that’s a little bit more tailored to what you’re capable of on that day, as opposed to what’s on the piece of paper that was written a week ago, a month ago, or a year earlier.

Some of my favorite stories from the book probably have to be the stories about different races, such as the Athens Marathon and the New York City Marathon.

I think that these are my favorite stories not only because I’m a runner and I enjoy reading about running, but also because I was watching those races when they happened.

In Athens was when that crazy priest went out and jumped the course. And then in New York City as Meb went on to be the first American to win it in 27 years. It’s just kind of cool to see how those races unfolded from the front of the elite pack.

It’s also kind of neat to read about some of Meb’s failures. In the London Marathon, before he won New York City, it was just kind of silly that after he drops out of the races and manages to avoid all the volunteers trying to push him back in, he gets on the bus to get back to his hotel. And then the bus stops, and Haile Gebresellassie gets on the bus, and then it stops again, and Khalid Khannouchi gets on the bus. There’s a whole cast of characters, where even though there was a lot of great performances that day, there’s a lot of top tier athletes that just weren’t able to finish the race and had one problem or another. It was kind of funny the way he shared that story.

So if you want to learn more about the book, you can go to www.RunToOvercome.com, and that will give you all the information you want. They are running a contest, so they are giving away a book a day.

You can also get the book at your favorite book seller, or at Amazon, or any number of other places. I’m sure if you’re going to be at New York City that there’s going to be places that you can pick up a copy at the expo. And you might even be able to get it signed if you see Meb before the race.

I recommend giving it a read. It’s not super long; I was able to read it in a couple of days. So I hope that you enjoy it if you do pick it up.

I was provided an advance review copy of this book by the publisher. More info: www.RunToOvercome.com

It sounded like an interesting story that he had, so I picked up his book, Iron Heart: The True Story of How I Came Back From the Dead.

I just tore through it. He has a great story and you can’t help but be inspired when you listen to it or read about.

Bryan was a weight lifter and a competitive swimmer when he graduated from high school. He was driving home from swim practice, and his Camaro just got completely smashed by a dump truck.

There was very little left to it, and there was very little left to him. Every organ in his body was damaged. Hi heart was moved to the other side of his chest. His lungs were both collapsed. His spleen had to be removed. His liver was punctured, and he wound up being put into a chemically induced coma for 2 months.

When he woke up, which is where the story of the book starts, he has no idea where he is and he cannot move. He can’t even blink his eyes. He’s listening to all the doctors around him talking about how he’ll be lucky to live, and how if he does live, he’ll probably be a vegetable for the rest of his life.

The story follows his progress through the hospital. First, starting to blink, and then being able to move his fingers, and eventually until he was able to talk again.

Everytime he was given a new challege, they would say “Well, you’ll never be able to walk again” or “You’ll never be an athlete again.”

He just went through physical therapy. He started walking again. He started body building again, and he even became a personal trainer. And then he eventually got back in the pool. He went to college and swam for Saint Mary’s.

One day, he was watching a special on the IronMan Triathlon and he thought, “Well, let’s see what it takes to get into that.” Completing an IronMan had been one of his childhood dreams, so he got in touch with the producers, told him his story, and promptly forgot about it.

About 2 months later, he heard back from them saying, “If you can prove to us that you are able to finish, then we’ll get you one of the media spots in the race.” And basically what he had to do was finish a half Iron Man about 2 weeks later. All he had to do was finish and he would have his spot. And in total, he had about 6 weeks to go from back to being a body builder and a personal trainer to having to get to the starting line for his first Iron Man.

All he wanted was to finish that Iron Man in 17 hours, which was the cut off. And he was able to do it. He finished in about 14 hours.

It’s just a very inspirational story. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of the book and take a read. And if you take a look at this video and news documentary, it will show you what exactly he went through and give you an idea of what the book is all about:

You can find a copy of the book at your local library or at Amazon.

Many of the lessons could easily be learned on your own, but knowing what to expect and following a plan from somebody that has helped others learn to run barefoot is certainly easier than muddling through yourself and hoping you don’t get injured.

I also held a contest to give a copy of the book away, where the only criteria to enter was to share your own experience or lack thereof in the comments. If you were one of the people who entered, then you had a 1 in 22 chance of winning.

After a quick visit to Random.org, the winner has been chosen!

Here is the winning comment:

Chiraag Says:
July 13th, 2010 at 7:56 am
I’m curious about what is the right time to experiment with barefoot running: should I have years of experience first, so that I have a better understanding of my gait with shoes?

Congratulations, Chiraag! I’ll email you for your postal address so I can get a copy of the book to you.

As for the answer to your question, that depends entirely on you.

A new runner may actually have an advantage over an experienced runner in learning to become a barefoot runner because they won’t have as many bad habits and won’t feel they have to try to maintain their current speed or distance on their normal runs, so they’ll be less likely to get hurt as long as they don’t try to go too far, too fast.

So, if you are interested in running barefoot, then just start no matter what your experience level. I’ve found that running barefoot has improved my running form even when I’m wearing shoes, which leads to feeling better after my runs and recovering faster from them.

I personally don’t believe that I need to run barefoot all the time, I only run barefoot as a part of my training and still do the majority of my racing while shod.

(Photo Credit: Marylka Yoe Uusisaar – Book: The Barefoot Running Book)

Overview

Jason splits the book into 4 main sections for the different levels of experience you will find yourself as you become a barefoot runner.

First is the Pre-Barefoot Running section, where you will learn how to build up some strength in your foot in legs, get used to sensory overload from nerves that have potentially been ignored for a significant portion of your life, and to help improve your foot-eye coordination.

The next section is about Starting to Run Barefoot, which gives tips on how to actually start running, the types of terrain you may encounter and which ones you should start out by running on, and the basics of barefoot running form.

The third section covers Intermediate Barefoot Running and focuses on how to add hills and new types of terrain to your running, how you can start speeding up and running further, and the common injuries that barefoot runners experience.

The last section is on Advanced Topics such as racing, trail running, and extreme weather.

Jason also discusses handling hecklers and the 4 types of people that you will encounter and interact with as a barefoot runner, ranging from the non-runner and inquisitive running peers to hostile runners that think barefoot runners are an affront to nature.

What I Like About the Book

The book is very short at 61 pages and can be read in a single sitting or two. For the most part, Jason stays right to the point and offers his experience and advice in an easily digested format. He labels all of the different theories, activities, and hazards that you should be aware of which makes it quick and easy to find information later that you want to refer back to.

I think that Jason’s exercises for the beginner barefoot runner are a good way to introduce yourself safely to running without getting hurt. His 6 guiding principles to barefoot running are reflected throughout the book, which are:

1. There is no 1 right answer
2. You need to experiment to see what works for you
3. Your body is the best teacher
4. Patience is required
5. Running relaxed is key
6. You should be having fun and enjoying yourself

As somebody that has used barefoot running as part of his training since the early 90s, I especially like his last point.

Running barefoot is just a lot of fun, so make sure that you don’t let running become a chore.

What I Didn’t Like About the Book

There are only two things that I didn’t really care for in this book.

First, Jason is definitely zealous about barefoot running and is eager to share his positive experiences and expertise with others. For the most part, he does this well, and his advice on how to deal with people that heckle you (shared both from himself and from others in the barefoot running community) is certainly useful and worth a chuckle or two.

In a few places throughout the book it definitely seems more like a crusade, though. I don’t mind sharing the benefits of barefoot running with others, but I don’t feel the need to convert anybody to it that has no need nor interest.

Second, Jason is a pretty funny guy and I’ve enjoyed his humor in some of the videos that I’ve seen him post. Unfortunately, I don’t think that the humor translates into print quite as well.

Rather than laughing at some of the jokes and self-deprecating humor, I found myself rolling my eyes instead which distracted me from reading more than anything else.

Where To Find More Information

The Barefoot Running Book is available for purchase at Amazon as either a print publication or as a Kindle e-book.

You can find more information about Jason at his website, The Barefoot Running University, where he offers workshops, articles, and links to barefoot and ultramarathon resources around the web.

I will also be giving a copy of the book away next week.
Just click here and leave a comment to enter the contest.

(Photo Credits: Jason Robillard – Mike Baird – Seema K K – Mike Day)

All you need to do is leave a comment below sharing your experience (or lack thereof) with barefoot running.

You have until Tuesday evening (July 13, 2010) at 8:00 pm EDT to leave your comment, after which I will choose somebody at random. Only 1 comment is allowed per person and is subject to any applicable laws where you live.

You can purchase the book for yourself at Amazon, or read my review about what the book contains and what I think of it.

If your comment doesn’t appear right away, then it is probably because this is the first contest you’ve participated in here.

First time commenters are moderated to help keep spam from overtaking the site. So…welcome to Run to Win, and thanks for your patience, I’ll approve it ASAP!

Update: Contest Winner Announced

Fast forward a year, and in June of 2009 Steve published his first book, 7 Weeks to 100 Pushups.

It’s a very quick read, and the programs offered in it seem even more accessible than the ones on the website. You should be able to read it in one or two sittings without any trouble.

The first thing that you’ll notice about the book is that it is 7″x9″, which was not what I was expecting when I ordered the book. It has more of the feel of a training log than a book that you would sit down and read.

The advantage, of course, comes from the book staying open on the floor in front of you on the page with that day’s workout, so that you can easily see how many pushups you should be doing for each set. (Unless your cat is wanting to play and keeps closing it on you, anyway.)

7 Weeks to 100 Pushups is divided into 4 parts:

Part 1 is an overview, which explains a little about the history of the pushup and why it is such a good exercise to take part in. There are a couple dozen success stories from folks that have used Steve’s program and some beginner’s tips frequently asked questions. Trivia about the pushup is sprinkled throughout this section.

Part 2 is made up of the 6 different schedules. The number of pushups you can currently do in your initial test determines which schedule you should start on. The 2 beginner programs are each 10 weeks long, while the intermediate and advanced programs are each 7 weeks long. All of the workouts are between 5 and 8 sets.

Part 3 contains 15 variations on the pushup that you can use to further challenge yourself, including different positions that you can use and different props that can change how the angle you work out at or the stability of your body while doing the pushup. There are large pictures and step by step instructions for each variation.

The Appendix is split into 4 parts:

• The Warm-Up Routine
• The Post-Workout Stretching Routine
• The Preliminary Program
  (for those not strong enough to do a pushup)
• A Training Log for recording your workouts

The appendix seems rather strange to me, as the preliminary program would make more sense near the start of the book rather than at the end, and the warm up routine and stretching routine should bookend the actual pushup programs.

Of course, if all of those sections were placed earlier in the book, then the pushup routines would not fall near the center of the book and it wouldn’t stay open to the page you want it at when you are working out, which I assume is the reason that they were pushed off to the back.

I enjoyed reading through the book when I first got it, but I am interested in little trivia items related to fitness. If your only interest is in the pushup schedules themselves, I’d still recommend picking up the book.

Will you be able to do 100 consecutive pushups within 7 weeks? That depends upon you and how strong you are at the start of the program and how well you improve throughout. You will certainly be stronger at the end of the program than you were at the start, and if you don’t make it to 100 pushups the first time through then you can always move on to the next advanced program.

How well did the program work for me?

Before I answer that, I’ll go briefly into my own pushup history.

In 2006, I was in relatively good shape. Pushups were a part of my lifting program, but certainly weren’t the bulk of it. One day, I randomly tried to see how many pushups I could do and managed 46 before stopping.

In August of 2008, I hurt my hip pretty bad during a road race and stopped lifting weights for about the next 10 or 11 months. When this book was published, I picked up a copy and decided that I’d use it to get back into shape. On June 29^th, I did 23 pushups in my initial test, which isn’t too bad for having not done any lifting most of the past year and for cutting the test short a little when my wife had me giggling while I was trying to do the pushups. A week later I started the Advanced 1 program in the book.

Over the next 8 weeks (as life got in the way and I took an extra day of rest now and again) I managed to complete every workout, and did at least a few extra pushups at the end of the last set each day. For the most part, I kept going until I was uncomfortable and not until failure, but it was always past the minimum I needed to do so I was happy with it.

The only exceptions were in my last few workouts of the last week, where it was a bit of a struggle to reach the full number of pushups. The only workout I actually failed to complete was the very last one, where I was supposed to do at least 60 pushups in the last set and I got noodly-armed after 57 pushups and could only get about halfway back up on the 58^th. Having done 179 pushups in the previous 7 sets before starting that last set, I expect that when I start the Advanced 2 program next week that I’ll be able to do quite a few more pushups in my final set and will get into the high 70s or low 80s (if not higher).

Now that I’ve been through the program once, I definitely notice a difference in my body. My muscles are a little more defined, and I definitely feel stronger.

I broke my foot halfway through the program and haven’t been able to run for the past 4 weeks or so, and I’ve managed to only lose about 3 pounds in that span of time. (When I stop running, I normally shed weight at 2-3 pounds per week unless I’m sick, in which case I might lose more.)

Have you done the 100 pushups challenge? Have you read the book? Share your experiences or thoughts below if you have. If you are interested in purchasing the book, you can buy the book at Amazon.

If you’re familiar with the book, then you’ll get a kick out of Chris’s appearance on the Daily Show last night (click through for video):