The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner : An Unfit Londoner's Attempt to Run the New York City Marathon from Scratch

Taylor is a professional British comic writer, which shows: the book's well written, funny, and British. British in a P. G. Wodehouse, not a ribald way. Much of the humor derives from his observations of runners' everyday peculiarities, most of which may be seen in the new world as well. The book is also a bit sad, because (I think) Taylor tried to overcome middle aged unfitness too quickly - to run the NY Marathon - and paid a price. The price was all post-NY so I'll not reveal details. But check his 1/2 marathon time and his NY time: the former predicts over 20 minutes better than he ran in NY. Check also his training heart rates: too high. It's fair to assume he ran the marathon before he was ready. But as he writes the "marathon"'s a unique brand; who'd want to read about his travails trying to run merely 13.1 miles?

Taylor captures the realities of starting a running program beautifully and with LOL humor. If you're a runner, don't miss this.