The Art of Running
Learning to Run Like a Greek
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Join Andrea Marcolongo, renowned classicist and one of today’s most original thinkers on antiquity, for an inspiring journey as she learns to run—and to live—like a Greek.
Why do we run? To what end, all the effort and pain? Wherefore this love of muscle, speed, and sweat? The Greeks were the first to ask these questions, the first to suspend war, work, politics, to enjoy public celebrations of athletic prowess. They invented sport and they were also the first to understand how physical activity connected to our mental well-being.
After a lifetime spent with her head and heart in the books trying to think like a Greek, at a professional and personal crossroads, Andrea Marcolongo set out to learn how to run like a Greek. In doing so, she deepened her understanding of the ancient civilization she has spent decades studying and discovered more about herself than she could ever have dreamed.
In this spirited, generous, and engaging book, Marcolongo shares her erudition and her own journey to understanding that a healthy body is, in more ways than one might guess, a healthy mind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist and classics scholar Marcolongo (The Ingenious Language) collects a series of meandering musings on life, death, and running. After picking up a jogging habit in her early 30s, Marcolongo sought to understand "what drives millions of men and women to go out every day" and do the same. She covers such topics as the Greek origins of the marathon, running's "flow" state, accessibility issues in the sport, and misogyny experienced by female runners who've been sexualized by the exercise apparel industry and barred from racing (as recently as 1967, for example, Kathrine Switzer was suspended from the American Athletics Federation for completing the Boston Marathon). After much soul-searching and no small amount of sweat, Marcolongo concludes that she runs because of a "fear of dying: It's tangible proof that, for today... I'm still in good health, still alive." While the sport itself might offer "sublime moments," making it through this short book is often a slog. Sections documenting the author's preparation for a marathon lack momentum, and takeaways manage to both underwhelm and undercut the book's purpose, as when Marcolongo realizes she'll never be able to communicate the experience of completing a marathon "to others, or even, in part, to myself." Readers seeking to understand the sport's allure would be better served by putting this down and lacing up their sneakers instead.
