Book Review: “Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon”

While tapering for my own (relatively short) ultra marathon last month I had plenty of time to spare, a lot of which I spent reading. One tome in particular stood out: Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon, by Neal Jamison.

Not only did it deal with the very subject that occupied my mind at the time, it was just full of gripping stories. Reading the blurb alone will leave you in no doubt what the book is all about (”I’m 95 miles into a 100-miler…”); my wife took one look at it and could only mutter “and I thought you were bad.”

Neal Jamison may be listed as the author of the book, however virtually all of the content was provided by members of the ultra running community. It contains about 40 essays, all of them telling about personal experiences while running an ultra marathon. The mixture is intriguing, top stars like Tim Twietmeyer are listed right beside some less talented runners, but all of the stories are equally worth reading. You get a glimpse of the same event from more than one angle; e.g. the race director of one race describes his event, and a few pages later you come across a runner that partook in the same race. You can read two stories from a father/daughter combination, and there is a husband/wife angle as well.

I found it almost impossible to put this book down. The elite racer’s account of a famous win at Western States is just as fascinating as the failed attempt at the same distance by a different runner, who later questioned his decision to quit (and probably still does). This should be required reading for anyone who thinks about running more than 26.2 miles, but even runners who feel at home at much shorter distances should find this a very pleasurable read.

Written by Thomas · Filed Under Books, Reviews, Ultra Running 

(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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