NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The astonishing and hugely entertaining story that completely changed the way we run. An epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt?“Equal parts quest, physiology treatise, and running history.... The climactic race reads like a sprint.... It simply makes you want to run.” —Outside MagazineIsolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.Look for Born to Run 2, out now!

A Woman's Game explores the history of women's football from the Victorian era to the present day. It is the story of a rise, fall, and rise again: from the game's first appearance in England in the late 19th century; through the incredible Dick, Kerr Ladies team that at its height in 1920 drew 53,000 spectators to Goodison Park; to its 50-year ban in the UK and the aftershocks when that ban was lifted.Now, as the women's game is once again on an unstoppable upward trend, with a record 6.3m viewers for England's match against Scotland in the 2019 World Cup, Suzanne Wrack considers what the next chapter of this incredible story might be. From its relationship to the worldwide fight against oppression, to its ability to inspire change in wider at large, this is both a history of football as played by women, and a manifesto for a better game.

Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s general manager, is leading a revolution. Reinventing his team on a budget, he needs to outsmart the richer teams. He signs undervalued players whom the scouts consider flawed but who have a knack for getting on base, scoring runs, and winning games. Moneyball is a quest for the secret of success in baseball and a tale of the search for new baseball knowledge—insights that will give the little guy who is willing to discard old wisdom the edge over big money.

The Tigerbelles tells the epic story of the 1960 Tennessee State University all-Black women’s track team, which found Olympic glory at the 1960 games in Rome. The author tells a story of desire, success and failure—of beating the odds—against the backdrop of a changing America, but tells it in an intimate way. Readers will come to know the individuals’ unique struggles and triumphs, while also understanding how these dreams emerged and solidified just as the country was struggling to leave the Jim Crow era behind. Coach Edward Temple pushed each team member to the limit and saw the possibilities in them that they often did not see themselves. The elite group of talent included Wilma Rudolph, Barbara Jones, Lucinda Williams, Martha Hudson, Willye B. White and Shirley Crowder: women who once were and should still be known world-wide. Ultimately the team’s drive was for more than medals: Coach Temple and the Tigerbelles wanted to change the world’s perception of what a group of young Black women in the Jim Crow south were capable of. Tigerbelles is a multi-layered inspirational tale of triumph over adversity. Based on memoirs and interviews with surviving team members, including Coach Temple, this is the story of an impossible dream come true.

The greatest relief pitcher of all time shares his extraordinary story of survival, love, and baseball. Mariano Rivera, the man who intimidated thousands of batters merely by opening a bullpen door, began his incredible journey as the son of a poor Panamanian fisherman. When first scouted by the Yankees, he didn't even own his own glove. He thought he might make a good mechanic. When discovered, he had never flown in an airplane, had never heard of Babe Ruth, spoke no English, and couldn't imagine Tampa, the city where he was headed to begin a career that would become one of baseball's most iconic. What he did know: that he loved his family and his then girlfriend, Clara, that he could trust in the Lord to guide him, and that he could throw a baseball exactly where he wanted to, every time. With astonishing candor, Rivera tells the story of the championships, the bosses (including The Boss), the rivalries, and the struggles of being a Latino baseball player in the United States and of maintaining Christian values in professional athletics. The thirteen-time All-Star discusses his drive to win; the secrets behind his legendary composure; the story of how he discovered his cut fastball; the untold, pitch-by-pitch account of the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 2001 World Series; and why the lowest moment of his career became one of his greatest blessings. In The Closer, Rivera takes readers into the Yankee clubhouse, where his teammates are his brothers. But he also takes us on that jog from the bullpen to the mound, where the game -- or the season -- rests squarely on his shoulders. We come to understand the laserlike focus that is his hallmark, and how his faith and his family kept his feet firmly on the pitching rubber. Many of the tools he used so consistently and gracefully came from what was inside him for a very long time -- his deep passion for life; his enduring commitment to Clara, whom he met in kindergarten; and his innate sense for getting out of a jam. When Rivera retired, the whole world watched -- and cheered. In The Closer, we come to an even greater appreciation of a legend built from the ground up.

What fears are standing in your way or holding you back? How do you want to become stronger? Olympic and World champion hurdler Sydney McLaughlin wants to help you answer these questions as she shares her personal story of struggles and victories, of faith and transformation.Sydney McLaughlin knows about facing down obstacles. She has mastered not only racing over hurdles on the track but also tackling challenges in her personal life—from lifelong battles with perfectionism and anxiety to persistent questions about her identity and whether she was "enough."Her pursuit of perfection and people-pleasing continued for years until God broke into her story with his overwhelming grace, transforming love, and empowering truth.In Far Beyond Gold, Sydney will share aspects of her life story and personhood she has never shared publicly before, offering a more complex picture of who she is. She will inspire you to: Conquer your fears in Christ's strength Stand strong in your identity in him Push past your perceived limits Overcome the challenges you're facingExperience the story of a woman who shifted from anxiety to boldness, from limits to freedom, and from perfectionism to purpose—and now shows the world that often what we think is impossible is possible with God.

BOOKS

Decades after it spent weeks at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, A Season on the Brink remains the most celebrated basketball book ever written—an unforgettable chronicle of his year spent following the Indiana Hoosiers and their fiery coach Bob Knight.Granted unprecedented access to legendary coach Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers during the 1985–86 season, John Feinstein saw and heard it all—practices, team meetings, strategy sessions, and midgame huddles—as the team worked to return to championship form. The result is an unforgettable chronicle that not only captures the drama and pressure of big-time college basketball but also paints a vivid portrait of a complex, brilliant coach as he walks the fine line between genius and madness. This anniversary edition features an updated Introduction by Feinstein.

Vincent Preston is in real trouble. With absentee parents, he raises himself, barely graduating high school, and has one chance to get out of his small town: baseball. He has a strong arm, but unfortunately he is wild, out of control. Thankfully, his English teacher, Mrs. Dean, introduces him to her husband, “Grandpa Dean,” a gruff WWII veteran and former Major League Baseball scout who missed his shot when he was injured in the war. He is riddled with cancer and is looking for one last chance at atonement for carrying around his anger for so long. Vincent’s mentor teaches him not only how to take advantage of his natural talent, but to trust in God. He’ll need his newfound faith in Christ to overcome his shady coach, the coach’s bully of a son, and the local drug dealer, all of whom are intent on wrecking his dreams.

This year, step up to the 365-day challenge to strengthen the core of your life and faith like never before.This daily devotional for men will help you fortify your life and faith on a year-long journey with beloved Super Bowl–winning former head coach Tony Dungy! Tony is known for his truly uncommon character―as a coach, a dad, and a mentor. Yet it didn’t happen overnight. He learned the path to significance and ultimate success starts with a challenge that we can all take: discovering what God has in store for us by spending time with him every day.The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge contains 365 reflections from the #1 New York Times bestselling author on living an “uncommon life” of integrity, honoring your family and friends, creating a life of real significance and impact, and walking with the Lord.Every week, you will read one devotion from each of these seven themes, regularly dedicating your attention to key areas of your life:Core Family Friends Potential Mission Influence FaithReflections, Scripture verses, and application prompts will enrich your day-to-day experience with the Lord and motivate you to dare to be uncommon every day.A retailers Choice Award winner in 2012 and a New York Times best-seller.

**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography**Included in President Obama’s 2016 Summer Reading List“Without a doubt, the finest surf book I’ve ever read . . . ” —The New York Times MagazineBarbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter. Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses—off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships forged in challenging waves.Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu. He shows us a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly—he drops LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay, on Maui—is served up with rueful humor. As Finnegan’s travels take him ever farther afield, he discovers the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissects the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, and navigates the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying readers with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity.Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little-understood art.

Running: Getting Started is the perfect guide for any person, at any fitness level, looking to start running for the first time, return to running after a break, or reset their training. Running coach and Olympian Jeff Galloway outlines what a person needs to know to get started, such as finding a running store and selecting the best pair of running shoes. Jeff also provides week-by-week training plans that can be tweaked depending on individual goals, making it easy to fit training into any lifestyle and stick with it. Jeff also includes information important to the beginner runner, such as nutrition and how to eat for running and weight loss, how to maintain good running form, how to stay injury free, how to stay motivated, how to prepare for that first race, and more. His advice is suitable for beginners at any age. With this book, everyone will not only start running, but they will enjoy their runs so much they will continue to run until they’re 100!

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Foreword by Malcolm GladwellLimits are an illusion: discover the revolutionary account of the science and psychology of endurance, revealing the secrets of reaching the hidden extra potential within us all."A voyage to the outer reaches of human capacity.” —David Epstein, author of Range"Reveals how we can all surpass our perceived physical limits." —Adam GrantThe capacity to endure is the key trait that underlies great performance in virtually every field. But what if we all can go farther, push harder, and achieve more than we think we’re capable of?Blending cutting-edge science and gripping storytelling in the spirit of Malcolm Gladwell—who contributes the book’s foreword—award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson reveals that a wave of paradigm-altering research over the past decade suggests the seemingly physical barriers you encounter as set as much by your brain as by your body. This means the mind is the new frontier of endurance—and that the horizons of performance are much more elastic than we once thought.But, of course, it’s not “all in your head.” For each of the physical limits that Hutchinson explores—pain, muscle, oxygen, heat, thirst, fuel—he carefully disentangles the delicate interplay of mind and body by telling the riveting stories of men and women who’ve pushed their own limits in extraordinary ways.The longtime “Sweat Science” columnist for Outside and Runner’s World, Hutchinson, a former national-team long-distance runner and Cambridge-trained physicist, was one of only two reporters granted access to Nike’s top-secret training project to break the two-hour marathon barrier, an extreme quest he traces throughout the book. But the lessons he draws from shadowing elite athletes and from traveling to high-tech labs around the world are surprisingly universal. Endurance, Hutchinson writes, is “the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop”—and we’re always capable of pushing a little farther.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A deeply affecting coming-of-age memoir about family, love, loss, basketball—and life itself—by the beloved author of The Prince of Tides and The Great SantiniDuring one unforgettable season as a Citadel cadet, Pat Conroy becomes part of a basketball team that is ultimately destined to fail. And yet for a military kid who grew up on the move, the Bulldogs provide a sanctuary from the cold, abrasive father who dominates his life—and a crucible for becoming his own man.With all the drama and incandescence of his bestselling fiction, Conroy re-creates his pivotal senior year as captain of the Citadel Bulldogs. He chronicles the highs and lows of that fateful 1966–67 season, his tough disciplinarian coach, the joys of winning, and the hard-won lessons of losing. Most of all, he recounts how a group of boys came together as a team, playing a sport that would become a metaphor for a man whose spirit could never be defeated.Praise for My Losing Season“A superb accomplishment, maybe the finest book Pat Conroy has written.”—The Washington Post Book World“A wonderfully rich memoir that you don’t have to be a sports fan to love.”—Houston Chronicle“A memoir with all the Conroy trademarks . . . Here’s ample proof that losers always tell the best stories.”—Newsweek“In My Losing Season, Conroy opens his arms wide to embrace his difficult past and almost everyone in it.”—New York Daily News“Haunting, bittersweet and as compelling as his bestselling fiction.”—Boston Herald

In The Games People Play, Robert Ellis constructs a theology around the global cultural phenomenon of modern sport, paying particular attention to its British and American manifestations. Using historical narrative and social analysis to enter the debate on sport as religion, Ellis shows that modern sport may be said to have taken on some of the functions previously vested in organized religion. Through biblical and theological reflection, he presents a practical theology of sport's appeal and value, with special attention to the theological concept of transcendence. Throughout, he draws on original empirical work with sports participants and spectators. The Games People Play addresses issues often considered problematic in theological discussions of sport such as gender, race, consumerism, and the role of the modern media, as well as problems associated with excessive competition and performance-enhancing substances. As Ellis explains, "Sporting journalists often use religious language in covering sports events. Salvation features in many a headline, and talk of moments of redemption is not uncommon. Perhaps, somewhere beyond the clichéd hyperbole, there is some theological truth in all this after all"

"One evening late in his life, veteran sportswriter Mike Sullivan was asked by his son what he remembered best from his three decades in the press box. The answer came as a surprise. "I was at Secretariat's Derby, in '73. That was...just beauty, you know?"" John Jeremiah Sullivan didn't know, not really: the track had always been a place his father disappeared to once a year on business, a source of souvenir glasses and of inscrutable passions in his Kentucky relatives. So Sullivan decided to educate himself. He spent two years following horses across the country. He watched one season's juvenile crop prepare for the Triple Crown, and he tracked the animal's evolution in literature and art, from the ponies that appeared on the walls of European caves thirty thousand years ago, to the mounts that carried the Indo-European language to the edges of the Old World, to the finely tuned but fragile yearlings that are auctioned off for millions of dollars apiece every spring and fall.

Can running make me a more moral person? Can striving to be a better person make me a better runner?In The Examined Run, philosopher and ultramarathon runner Sabrina B. Little asks whether running can be a laboratory for developing our character. She looks at the key ideas in virtue ethics--virtue, vice, exemplarism, moral emotions, and competition--and brings them into conversation with her experience in training and racing. Little pushes against the frequent conversations about ethics and sport that focus on the negative--doping and other forms of cheating or on simplistic expressions like “no pain, no gain.” She argues that these ideas don't address the rich picture of how athletics inform a good life, and sport's relationship to acts of justice or courage. A good athlete is not just one who avoids cheating--rather, they perform feats of perseverance and courage, and succeed by working to develop their natural capacities. Little employs her own experiences in training, coaching, and racing in world class ultramarathons to reveal how athletics and virtue are deeply interconnected.

In recent years the United States has seen an influx of Christian athletes and coaches into big-time sports, as well as a heightened importance placed on sports in church programs and enormous platforms for intercollegiate sports at Christian schools and colleges. However, as Shirl Hoffman critiques, a Christian vision of sport remains merely superficial--replete with prayers before free throws and praises after touchdowns but offering little if any alternative vision from the secular sports culture. Far from being the kind of life-affirming, faith-affirming events that they could be, games played in Christian college gymnasiums, for example, too often end up as mockeries of the faith statements given prominence in their mission statements. \nHere, in this thoughtful, narrative-driven exploration, Hoffman retells numerous fascinating stories from the world of ancient and contemporary sports and draws on the history of the Christian tradition as he seeks to answer the question "What would it mean to think Christianly about sport?"

The astonishing true story of the Rwandan Cycling Team.Where there is hope there can be redemption.Meet Adrien Niyonshuti, a member of the Rwandan cycling team. Adrien was seven years old when he lost his family in the 1994 genocide that tore Rwanda apart. Almost twenty years later he has a shot at representing his country at the Olympics.Meet Jock Boyer, the coach of Team Rwanda. One of the top American cyclists of all time, Jock recognises the innate talent for endurance that the Rwandans possess. A man with a dark past, Jock is in need of a second chance.Meet Tom Ritchey, the visionary inventor of the mountain bike and the U.S. money man looking to recover from a profound personal crisis.In The Land of Second Chances, Tim Lewis charts the incredible true story of the Rwandan cycling team as they overcome impossible odds to inspire a nation.

In a city mired in endless decay, where the youth suffer through all the horrors of urban blight, hope comes in a most unassuming form: a tiny brick schoolhouse run by two Felician nuns where a singular basketball genius takes teenagers from the mean streets of Jersey City and turns them into champions on the hardcourt. Coach Bob Hurley had been working miracles at St. Anthony High School for over thirty years, winning state and national championships and offering his players rescue from their surroundings through college scholarships, when he met his most dysfunctional team yet. In The Miracle of St. Anthony Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to these streets.In The Miracle of St. Anthony, acclaimed sports journalist Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season, as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to the city streets.

"Powerfully written account of pursuing the American Dream"- Deena Kastor, Olympic Medalist"Takes you on a journey of hope and faith"- Meb Keflezighi, Olympic MedalistThe inspiring stories of distance runners Elvin Kibet and Shadrack Kipchirchir and their determination to build meaningful lives as new American citizens.Professional distance runners Elvin Kibet and Shadrack Kipchirchir grew up in rural Kenyan villages. Though their lives began in poverty, both were driven to reach their full potential, to gain an education and make a difference. And they would find their way to do just that through the high-pressure world of distance running.In All in Stride, Johanna Garton tells the gripping and inspiring stories of Elvin and Shadrack. Beginning with their upbringing in Kenya, Garton follows the runners through their journeys to the United States, running for Division One universities, their blossoming romance as college students, and ultimately their service as U.S. soldiers and professional runners. Woven through the narrative is the story of Samantha Schultz, who also competed for the U.S. Army. Like Elvin and Shadrack, she struggled with several obstacles throughout her journey, including poor coaching, over training, the intense pressure to make the Olympic team, and disordered eating, a condition that plagues so many young female athletes.More than just a running story, All in Stride takes readers behind the scenes to explore the difficulties Elvin and Shadrack faced, including adjusting to an entirely new culture in the U.S., bigotry and intolerance, the stresses and joys of global competitions like the Olympics, the thrill of being a part of Eliud Kipchoge's race to break the two hour marathon, joining the U.S. Army's World Class Athlete Program, and discovering the ever-changing landscape of what it means to be an American.

Winning really does matter―when you’re describing the game of life. Here are more than 100 compelling stories of athletes and their faith walk. New from Pat Williams, vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic and author of more than 70 books, Triumph! Powerful Stories of Athletes of Faith provides short, easy-to-read entries on baseball, basketball, football, and other players, some you already know and others worth knowing. Featuring names like Kurt Warner, Mickey Mantle, Tony Dungy, David Robinson, Andy Pettitte, and many more, Triumph! describes the Trusting, Rejoicing, Inspiring, Understanding, Meditating, Praising, and Honoring aspects of truly victorious athletes.

An account of the ascent of the 21,000ft Siula Grande peak in the Peruvian Andes. Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had achieved the summit before the first disaster struck. What happened and how they dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted is the subject of this book.

The book behind the Academy award-winning film starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw―over one million copies sold.When we first meet him, Michael Oher is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or how to read and write. He takes up football, and school, after a rich, white, Evangelical family plucks him from the streets. Then two great forces alter Oher: the family's love and the evolution of professional football into a game where the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist becomes the priceless package of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability, his blind side.

In 2008 over six million people attended an SEC football game. They spent thousands on season tickets, donated millions to athletic departments, and for three months a year ordered their entire lives around the schedule of their favorite team. As a Christian, Gibbs knows he cannot serve two masters, but at times his faith is overwhelmed by his fanaticism. He is not alone.Gibbs and his six million friends do not live in a spiritually void land where such borderline idol worship would normally be accepted. They live in the American South, where according to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, 84 percent identify themselves as Christians. This apparent contradiction that Gibbs sees in his own life, and in millions of others’, has led him to journey to each of the twelve schools to spend time with rabid Christian fans of various ages and denominations. Through his journey, he learns how others are able to balance their passion for their team with their devotion to God.

Boys Will Be Boys, author Jeff Pearlman’s rollicking, completely unabashed account of the glory days of “America’s Team”—the NFL Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s—was a New York Times bestseller in hardcover and selected by GQ as one of the Best Books of the Year. The uncensored exploits of Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, and the rest of the ’Boys on and off the football field, Boys Will Be Boys makes for riveting, shocking, often wildly hilarious reading.

We live in a sports-obsessed world. From fans wearing their favorite team’s colors to high school soccer players practicing after school, we encounter sports every day. Nothing else in our culture produces so much passion and intrigue. Such obsession, for the Christian, must produce critical reflection. How should the Christian think about sports? What does Christ have to do with athletic competition? Can sports be redeemed? In the Arena will answer these questions so that readers:\n\nUnderstand how the gospel of Christ shapes our understanding and enjoyment of sports.\nReceive practical instruction on how to use sports in parenting and discipleship.\nBecome confident in using the arena of sports for discipleship, parenting, and recreation.\n

Winner of the 1995 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, this work tells the story of an unusually turbulent year on the PGA tour. It profiles stars, such as Nick Price, Tom Watson and Greg Norman, and captures the non-stop pressures of a high-profile sport with virtually no off-season.

A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceWorld champion runner Caster Semenya offers an empowering account of her extraordinary life and career, and her trailblazing battle to compete on her own terms.Olympian and World Champion Caster Semenya is finally ready to share the vivid and heartbreaking story of how the world came to know her name. Thrust into the spotlight at just eighteen years old after winning the Berlin World Championships in 2009, Semenya’s win was quickly overshadowed by criticism and speculation about her body, and she became the center of a still-raging firestorm about how gender plays out in sports, our expectations of female athletes, and the right to compete as you are.Told with captivating speed and candor, The Race to Be Myself is the journey of Semenya’s years as an athlete in the public eye, and her life behind closed doors. From her rural beginnings running free in the dust, to crushing her opponents in record time on the track, to the accusations and falsehoods spread about her in the press, the legal trial she went through in order to compete, and the humiliation she has been forced to endure publicly and privately. This book is a searing testimony for anyone who has been forced to stop doing what they love.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERIn “one of the most important athlete memoirs of its generation” (Kate Fagan, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Olympian Kara Goucher reveals her experience of living through and speaking out about one of the biggest scandals in running.Kara Goucher grew up with Olympic dreams. She excelled at running from a young age and was offered a Nike sponsorship deal when she graduated from college. Then in 2004, she was invited to join a secretive, lavishly funded new team, dubbed the Nike Oregon Project. Coached by distance running legend Alberto Salazar, it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime.Kara was soon winning a World Championship medal, going to the Olympics, and standing on the podium at the New York and Boston marathons, just like her coach had done. But behind the scenes, Salazar was hiding dark secrets. He pushed the limits of anti-doping rules and created what Kara experienced as a culture of abuse, the extent of which she reveals in her book for the first time. Meanwhile, Nike stood by Alberto for years and proved itself capable of shockingly misogynistic corporate practices.The Longest Race is an unforgettable story that is “as interesting as it is important” (Molly Huddle, two-time Olympian) and also a crucial call to action. Kara became a crusader for female athletes and a key witness helping to get Salazar banned from coaching at the Olympic level. The Longest Race will leave you “motivated, empowered, and ready to take on the world” (Allyson Felix, Olympic gold medalist) as it reveals how Kara broke through the fear of losing everything, bucked powerful forces to take control of her life and career, and reclaimed her love of running.

When sports ministry first emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, its founders imagined male celebrity athletes as powerful salespeople who could deliver a message of Christian strength: “If athletes can endorse shaving cream, razor blades, and cigarettes, surely they can endorse the Lord, too,” reasoned Fellowship of Christian Athletes founder Don McClanen. But combining evangelicalism and sport did much more than serve as an advertisement for religion: it gave athletes the opportunity to think about the embodied experiences of sport as a way to experience intimate connection with the divine. As sports ministry developed, it focused on individual religious experiences and downplayed celebrity sales power, opening the door for female Christian athletes to join and eventually dominate sports ministry. Today, women are the majority of participants in sports ministry in the United States. \nIn Playing for God, Annie Blazer offers an exploration of the history and religious lives of Christian athletes, showing that evangelical engagement with popular culture can carry unintended consequences. When sport became an avenue for embodied worship, it forced a reckoning with evangelical teachings about the body. Female Christian athletes increasingly turned to their own bodies to understand their religious identity, and in so doing, came to question evangelical mainstays on gender and sexuality. What was once a male-dominated masculinist project of sports engagement became a female-dominated movement that challenged evangelical ideas on femininity, marriage hierarchy, and the sinfulness of homosexuality. Though evangelicalism has not changed sporting culture, for those involved in sports ministry, sport has changed evangelicalism.

Adams writes what it's like playing with the best players in the game, from Gazza to Dennis Bergkamp; and working with some of the most successful managers, including George Graham, Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle and Arsene Wenger. But above all, his story is that of a winner, a man who has brought the intense determination he has shown on the field to his recovery from illnesses off it. Adams recalls openly his descent into alcohol addiction, which at one point saw him jailed for drink-driving. Just as he was finding his feet again after the slow rehabilitation process, problems with his marriage surfaced and soon after Adams found himself heading for a divorce. He talks honestly about that traumatic period in his life and also about the pressures and demands of being a top-class footballer in the modern era.

Nearly a century after his final major league appearance, Christy Mathewson is still considered one of the greatest right-handed pitchers in the history of baseball. Mathewson ranks in the top ten among pitchers for wins, shutouts, and ERA, and in 1936 he was honored as one of the inaugural members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Playing in the early twentieth century, Mathewson was the nation’s first All-American hero, a man of Christianity inspiring the values of millions while bringing dignity to a game that had previously been reserved for rougher characters. In Christy Mathewson, the Christian Gentleman: How One Man's Faith and Fastball Forever Changed Baseball, Bob Gaines delivers a close and personal look at the extraordinary life and soul of a gifted man living in a unique time. After growing up in a loving, Christian home and attending Bucknell University under the careful watch of his childhood pastor, Mathewson struggled to find his footing in the unsavory world of professional baseball. Seen as an “intellectual college boy” whose shy personality was misinterpreted as an aloof arrogance, Mathewson’s faith and character were put to the test. Through strong will and an unusual partnership with John McGraw—a manager his exact opposite in everything but a desire to succeed and a fervent belief in God—Christy became the most admired and respected man on his team. Christy Mathewson, the Christian Gentleman features details on Christy’s childhood and college years not documented by other sports historians—information discovered by the author in Mathewson’s hometown, the churches he attended, and college archives. Including timeless images, this book brings to life Mathewson’s amazing career, faultless character, and unwavering faith.

In Running, former NCAA Division I track athlete Lindsey A. Freeman presents the feminist and queer handbook of running that she always wanted but could never find. For Freeman, running is full of joy, desire, and indulgence in the pleasure and weirdness of having a body. It allows for a space of freedom—to move and be moved. Through tender storytelling of a lifetime wearing running shoes, Freeman considers injury and recovery, what it means to run as a visibly queer person, and how the release found in running comes from a desire to touch something that cannot be accessed when still. Running invites us to run through life, legging it out the best we can with heart and style.

Paper Lion

Following the 1985 final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis, Britain found itself in the grip of a new sporting obsession. Snooker, or 'Coronation Street with balls', was suddenly big business and 1986 was set to be a crucial year. In one corner was Barry Hearn and his Romford Mafia - Davis, Taylor and Griffiths - and in the other were the bad boys - Higgins, White and Knowles - threatening the game's good name, and its earning potential. For one year, Gordon Burn travelled with this snooker circus, from Hong Kong and China to out of season resorts in the North of England and the season's finale in Sheffield. With unprecedented access to the leading players and personalities involved, Pocket Money affords a unique snapshot into an extraordinary time and place.

Featuring both the story of an historic, unforgettable win and insight into the life of an indelible champion, Choosing to Run is a truly inspirational memoir from Boston Marathon winner and Olympian Des Linden, sharing her personal story and what motivates her to keep showing up.When Des woke up on April 16, 2018, the morning of the Boston Marathon, it was 39 degrees and raining, with high, gusty winds. The weather didn’t bother her. In fact, she thought it might be a blessing. She was far from peak form—recovering from illness and questioning her running future—and didn’t expect much of herself that day.But as she ticked off mile after mile in the brutal conditions, passing familiar landmarks on the course she knew by heart, something shifted. Opportunity unexpectedly presented itself. Des tapped into her inner strength and remembered all of the reasons she loved to race.Coming off Heartbreak Hill at Mile 22, Des took the lead and never relinquished it, becoming the 2018 Boston Marathon champion and the first American woman to win the race in thirty-three years.Her career has always been defined by tenacity and an independent spirit, stretching back to her first competitive race in San Diego, when she beat better-outfitted, more experienced kids. Des was a two-time All-American at Arizona State University, and as her collegiate years wound down, she decided she wasn’t done with the sport. Des gambled on herself and moved to Michigan to give professional running a try. As she rose through the elite ranks, she became increasingly determined to do things her way in an industry often bound by the status quo.In her first book, readers will learn the story behind that resolve: the way Des trains, the way she thinks, her relationships with other great runners of her generation, and how much she values her family and friends. They’ll read about her deep connection to the most famous marathon in the world, her two very different Olympic experiences, and how she defined new goals and set a world record at the 50-kilometer distance.Most of all, they’ll learn what makes her get up and run every day.

There is no college ball more passionate and competitive than football in the Southeastern Conference, where seven of the twelve schools boast stadiums bigger than any in the NFL and 6.5 million fans hit the road every year to hoot and holler their teams to victory.\nIn September 2006, popular sports columnist and lifelong University of Tennessee fan Clay Travis set out on his "Dixieland Delight Tour." Without a single map, hotel reservation, or game ticket, he began an 8,000-mile journey through the beating heart of the Southland. As Travis toured the SEC, he immersed himself in the bizarre game-day rituals of the common fan, brazenly dancing with the chancellor's wife at a Vanderbilt frat party, hanging with University of Florida demigod quarterback Tim Tebow, and abandoning himself totally to the ribald intensity and religious fervor of SEC football. Dixieland Delight is Travis's hilarious, loving, irreverent, and endlessly entertaining chronicle of a season of ironic excess in a world that goes a little crazy on football Saturdays.

Provided You Dont Kiss Me

The legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant is recognized nationwide as one of the greatest coaches ever. So why did he always cite his 1-9 A&M team of 1954 as his favorite? This is the story of a remarkable team--and the beginning of the legend.\nThe Junction Boys tells the story of Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's legendary training camp in the small town of Junction, Texas. In a move that many consider the salvation of the Texas A&M football program, Coach Bryant put 115 players through the most grueling practices ever imagined. Only a handful of players survived the entire 10 days, but they braved the intense heat of the Texas sun and the burning passion of their coach, and turned a floundering team into one of the nation's best. The Junction Boys is more than just a story of tough practices without water breaks. An extraordinary fellowship was forged from the mind-numbing pain. The thirty-five survivors bonded together like no other team in America. They profited from the Junction experience; the knowledge they took back with them to College Station, about themselves and what they were capable of, would be used for the rest of their lives. \nIn vivid and powerful images reminiscent of Friday Night Lights, Hoosiers, and The Last Picture Show, these young men and their driven coach come to life. The Junction Boys contains all the hallmarks of a classic sports story, and it combines America's love of college football with an extraordinary story of perseverance and triumph.

An enlightening biography and gripping sports narrative that takes us behind the scenes into the lives of some of the world’s most elite runners in Kenya and their coach, Patrick Sang."I highly recommend this book." —Meb KeflezighiAt a secluded training camp in Kaptagat, Kenya, a small town nearly 8,000 feet above sea level in the Great Rift Valley, three-dozen world-class runners, including Olympic champions, world record holders and the fastest marathoner of all-time, share simple dormitory-style rooms and endure grueling workouts six days a week.These determined, devoted, and selfless runners are who they are because of a man named Patrick Sang. One of the greatest—and least-heralded coaches in the sport—Sang is described by his athletes as a “life coach.”In We Share the Sun, Sarah Gearhart takes us inside this high-octane world of elites of which few are even aware of and even fewer have ever seen. We are immersed in Sang’s remarkable story, from his college days in the US to winning an Olympic medal in the steeplechase, and his journey to become a man who redefines what coaching means. There is no singular secret to athletic success, but, as readers will learn, Sang’s holistic philosophy is like no other approach in the world. It is rooted in developing athletes who can navigate the pressures of elite competition—and life itself.In these pages, we explore Sang’s influence on his athletes — including his unique and longstanding relationship with marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge — as they prepared for the delayed Tokyo Olympics and other competitions. We witness the remarkable recovery of two-time New York City Marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor after a freak accident as he strove to earn his first Olympic medal. And we follow one of the world’s most dominant mid-distance runners, Faith Kipyegon, as she attempted a historic repeat title in the 1,500 meters three years after the birth of her first child.We Share the Sunbrings forth the remarkable lives and stories of East African runners, whose stories are seldom shared. Through Gearhart's vivid prose, we experience the richness that exists in Kenya as we come as close as we possibly can to running alongside a current and future generation of elites—and the man who molds them into champions.

"One of the most insightful books ever written about college football." - The New York Times"Easily among the best sports books of the new millennium."- Paul Finebaum, columnist and radio hostIn this unprecedented look at college football’s secret season, Bruce Feldman rips the cover off the game’s frenzied pursuit of raw talent, taking you deep inside the SEC war room of recruiting legend Ed Orgeron,the combustible Cajun who helped build national championship teams at the University of Miami and at USC. In a stunning, blow-by-blow account of the year leading up to National Signing Day 2007, the award-winning journalist shadows Orgeron and his Ole Miss assistants as they set about hunting high school students, pleading, plotting, and inventing ways to lure them to their sleepy Oxford campus. Packed with candid confessions and outrageous off-the-field action, Meat Market makes what happens on the field seem almost tame by comparison.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of the runaway phenomenon Unbroken comes a universal underdog story about the horse who came out of nowhere to become a legend.Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon.Praise for Seabiscuit“Fascinating . . . Vivid . . . A first-rate piece of storytelling, leaving us not only with a vivid portrait of a horse but a fascinating slice of American history as well.”—The New York Times“Engrossing . . . Fast-moving . . . More than just a horse’s tale, because the humans who owned, trained, and rode Seabiscuit are equally fascinating. . . . [Laura Hillenbrand] shows an extraordinary talent for describing a horse race so vividly that the reader feels like the rider.”—Sports Illustrated“REMARKABLE . . . MEMORABLE . . . JUST AS COMPELLING TODAY AS IT WAS IN 1938.”—The Washington Post

This wonderful 1980 horse racing classic never loses its luster or charm. Author Bill Barich explores explores the day-to-day internal world of horse racing― from the backside to the backstretch. This entertaining story of the lives and tribulations of various racetrack personalities is sure to extract every human emotion. The author's summer adventure after a family tragedy finds him living the life many diehard racing enthusiasts wish they could. Barich's adventure discovers more than he could ever imagine about something much bigger than racing-life itself.

A practical guide and a celebration of running for runners of all sizes and athletic ability, from the founder of the Slow AF Run Club.Ten years ago, Martinus Evans got some stern advice from his doctor: “Lose weight or die.” First defensive, but then defiant, Evans vowed that day to run a marathon, though his doctor thought he was crazy. Since then, Evans has run eight marathons and hundreds of other distances in his 300-something pound body, created his own devoted running community, and has been featured on the cover of Runner’s World.This book is a blueprint for those who may not fit the image of a “traditional” runner—that is, someone who is larger in size, less athletic, out of shape, or dealing with any kind of health issue that slows them down—to feel empowered to lace up their shoes and embrace the body they have right now.As Evans says, the incredible benefits of running—better sleep, strong muscles and bones, better cardiovascular and mental health, and a sense of community—can and should be available to all of us. This practical handbook contains specialized advice to make getting started less intimidating, covering everything from gear and nutrition to training schedules, recovery tips, races (it’s okay to come in DFL! [i.e., dead f*cking last]), and finding a running group. Full of essential advice and humor from a former newbie who fell off a treadmill on his first run (literally), The Slow AF Run Club is for anyone who wants to pick up running for the sheer joy of it.

From the best-selling author and renowned coach duo from Born to Run, a fully illustrated, practical guide to running for everyone from amateurs to seasoned runners, about how to eat, race, and train like the world's bestWhether you're ramping up for a race or recuperating from an injury, Born to Run 2 is a holistic program for runners of every stripe that centers on seven key themes: food, fitness, form, footwear, focus, fun, and family.The guide contains:On-the run recipes for race-ready nutrition Training regimen to help get you in shape and achieve your running goals Corrective drills to perfect your form Helpful shoe recommendations Advice about how to bring more joy into running Suggestions for finding a running communityChristopher McDougall and Eric Orton bring all the elements together into an integrated action plan—the 90-Day Run Free training schedule—that provides everything you need to prepare for a mile-long fun run or a 100-mile ultramarathon. Full of helpful illustrations and full-color photos of the iconic first Copper Canyons race, Born to Run 2 is the perfect training companion for anyone who wants to get inspired about the sport again and learn the proven techniques to run smoother, lighter, and swifter.

Twentieth-anniversary edition of a baseball classic, with a new epilogue by Jim Bouton.When first published in 1970, Ball Four stunned the sports world. The commissioner, executives, and players were shocked. Sportswriters called author Jim Bouton a traitor and "social leper." Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force him to declare the book untrue. Fans, however, loved the book. And serious critics called it an important social document. Today, Jim Bouton is still not invited to Oldtimer's Days at Yankee Stadium. But his landmark book is still being read by people who don't ordinarily follow baseball.

The hugely acclaimed novel of '70s football and the turmoil of the game's most charismatic and controversial manager, from the bestselling author of GB84 and Red or Dead.In 1974 the brilliant and controversial Brian Clough made perhaps his most eccentric decision: he accepted the position of Leeds United manager. A successor to Don Revie, his bitter adversary, Clough was to last just 44 days.In one of the most acclaimed British novels of recent years - subsequently made into a film starring Michael Sheen - David Peace takes us into the mind and thoughts of Ol' Big 'Ead himself, and brings vividly to life one of football's most complex and fascinating characters.

John Feinstein's illuminating recollections from two decades of interviews with sports legends. John Feinstein's career is a sports fan's dream-a lifetime of encounters with the great figures in sports, not just on the field, but in the locker room and behind the scenes with legends like Bob Knight, Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and John McEnroe. Since his days as a young Washington Post journalist, Feinstein has written twenty-eight books and countless magazine articles and newspaper columns, covering college basketball, golf, tennis, baseball, and very nearly every sport in between. He has told us of victory and defeat, of athletes and coaches we love -- and love to hate. But some of his best stories have been left untold, until now. One on One is an incredible portal into the sports we love-from the box scores and the pageantry of game night and into the hard work and intensity that turn players and coaches into legends.

Featured in the book Born to Run, running coach Eric Orton offers a guide for every runner...Natural running is more than barefoot running. It’s about the joy of running that we were all born with and can reawaken. With a program focused on proper form, strength development, and cardiovascular training, Orton will help beginners, competitors, and enduring veterans reach “the cool impossible”—the belief that any achievement, athletic or otherwise, is within our reach. Inside you’ll find:* Foot strength exercises for runners to catapult performance, combat injuries, and transform technique* A total-body-strength program designed for runners* Step-by-step run-form coaching for performance and lifelong healthy running* A training program for building endurance, strength, and speed* No-nonsense nutrition for runners* Visualization and mind-training tactics to run and live the Cool Impossible* And much more…ATHLETICISM IS AWARENESS—awareness of form and technique, awareness of our effort level, and, most important, awareness of what we think. And with that awareness comes the endless potential for mastery and achievement beyond anything you thought possible.INCLUDES PHOTOS

For years, many of Sports Illustrated's 21 million readers turned first to the magazine's last page, because that's where they find SI's most popular feature: the Life of Reilly column, written by best-selling author Rick Reilly. A 22-year veteran of Sports Illustrated and a 10-time National Sportswriter of the Year, Reilly took over SI's back page in 1998, and his column immediately attracted a devoted following, including the legions of fans who helped make his first collection, The Life of Reilly, a New York Times best seller in 2000. Now comes Hate Mail from Cheerleaders, 100 of Reilly's favorites, along with a new foreword and column postscripts by the author. Alternately sidesplitting and heartwarming but always opinionated and provocative, these pieces are the best work by the best columnist in the business.

“An amazing book…all the iconic photographs that people took of The Champ.” —Barack ObamaGREATEST OF ALL TIME: A TRIBUTE TO MUHAMMAD ALI is a book with the power, courage, depth, creativity, and dazzling energy of its extraordinary subject. Slimmed down from the heavyweight Collector’s Edition, this bantamweight edition is smaller in size, but pulls no punches on its expertise, passion, and insight on The Champ.With thousands of images, including photography, art, and memorabilia and two gatefold sequences, the book pays vivid tribute to The Greatest both in and outside of the ring. Original essays and five decades’ worth of interviews and writing explore the courage, convictions, and extraordinary image-building that made Ali one of the most recognizable and inspirational individuals on the planet, an icon not only as an extraordinary athlete, but also as an impassioned advocate of social justice, interfaith understanding, and peace.

Cutting-edge advice on how to achieve your personal best, for everyone from casual runners to ultramarathoners.In 80/20 Running, respected running and fitness expert Matt Fitzgerald introduced his revolutionary training program and explained why doing 80 percent of runs at a lower intensity and just 20 percent at a higher intensity is the best way for runners at all levels--as well as cyclists, triathletes, and even weight-loss seekers--to improve their performance.Now, in this eye-opening follow-up, Fitzgerald teams with Olympic coach Ben Rosario to expand and update the 80/20 program to include ultramarathon training and such popular developments as the use of power meters.New research has bolstered the case that the 80/20 method is in fact that most effective way to train for distance running and other endurance sports. Run Like a Pro (Even If You’re Slow) shows readers how to take the best practices in elite running and adopt them within the limits of their own ability, lifestyle, and budget.

Noted author Darius James introduces and edits the Spring 2017 editions of the Feral House Coloring Book for Adults Series. As author of the classics That's Blaxploitation and Negrophobia: An Urban Parable, James is the perfect person to co-curate the volume created in honor of Ali.As Darius says of Ali: “Just as he was for many Americans, Muhammad Ali’s appearance on the cultural landscape was a turning point in my life. The moment he proclaimed ‘I am the greatest,’ he demonstrated it was possible to speak truth to power. This is a quality Ali reflected throughout his life.”

Whether you're training for your first 6-mile run or preparing for your latest marathon, this sports nutrition guide will help you achieve your running goals!Get ready to power your runs with delicious recipes brought to you by Olympian Emma Coburn.Packed with nutritious, wholesome meals that will sustain you through the toughest workouts, The Runner’s Kitchen is the ultimate cookbook for runners!With power to every page, dive right in to discover:- 100 satisfying recipes from Emma's kitchen complete with handy nutritional information- 7-day meal plans for peak training, race week, and recovery- Insights into Emma's personal nutrition philosophy and training scheduleThis cookbook is packed with mouthwatering recipes for runners incorporating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus snacks and sweet treats, featuring the necessary nutritional information to keep you right on track. From everything bagels and naan flatbread to protein-packed chocolate mousse and cinnamon cookies, this flavor-forward cookbook proves that food can be delicious and nourishing at the same time.The Runner's Kitchen shows you that fueling for performance doesn't have to mean flavorless foods.Instead, it’s all about finding a balance that allows you to provide your body with the fuel it needs to perform and recover while still enjoying the foods you love.Serious running requires serious fuel!In fact, how you fuel is just as important as how you train to reach your full potential as an athlete.From getting the right nutrients to help boost your performance to recovery-friendly recipes, this runner’s recipe book will equip you with all the information you need to get the most from your training. It's the perfect fitness gift for runners and athletes alike.Fancy getting fitter this New Year? This must-have volume is equipped with tons of tips and tricks to get you on the right track with your running, and help you stay there!On your mark, get set, go!

In the exclusive behind the scenes look, sports fans can unlock the fascinating history of the channel that changed the way people watch and interact with their favorite teams.It began, in 1979, as a mad idea of starting a cable channel to televise local sporting events throughout the state of Connecticut. Today, ESPN is arguably the most successful network in modern television history, spanning eight channels in the Unites States and around the world. But the inside story of its rise has never been fully told-until now.Drawing upon over 500 interviews with the greatest names in ESPN's history and an All-Star collection of some of the world's finest athletes, bestselling authors James Miller and Tom Shales take us behind the cameras. Now, in their own words, the men and women who made ESPN great reveal the secrets behind its success-as well as the many scandals, rivalries, off-screen battles and triumphs that have accompanied that ascent. From the unknown producers and business visionaries to the most famous faces on television, it's all here.

The definitive biography of an American icon, from a New York Times best-selling author with unique access to Ali’s inner circleHe was the wittiest, the prettiest, the strongest, the bravest, and, of course, the greatest (as he told us himself). Muhammad Ali was one of the twentieth century’s most fantastic figures and arguably the most famous man on the planet.But until now, he has never been the subject of a complete, unauthorized biography. Jonathan Eig, hailed by Ken Burns as one of America’s master storytellers, radically reshapes our understanding of the complicated man who was Ali. Eig had access to all the key people in Ali’s life, including his three surviving wives and his managers. He conducted more than 500 interviews and uncovered thousands of pages of previously unreleased FBI and Justice Department files, as well dozens of hours of newly discovered audiotaped interviews from the 1960s. Collectively, they tell Ali’s story like never before—the story of a man who was flawed and uncertain and brave beyond belief.“I am America,” he once declared. “I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me—black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.”He was born Cassius Clay in racially segregated Louisville, Kentucky, the son of a sign painter and a housekeeper. He went on to become a heavyweight boxer with a dazzling mix of power and speed, a warrior for racial pride, a comedian, a preacher, a poet, a draft resister, an actor, and a lover. Millions hated him when he changed his religion, changed his name, and refused to fight in the Vietnam War. He fought his way back, winning hearts, but at great cost. Like so many boxers, he stayed too long.Jonathan Eig’s Ali reveals Ali in the complexity he deserves, shedding important new light on his politics, religion, personal life, and neurological condition. Ali is a story about America, about race, about a brutal sport, and about a courageous man who shook up the world.

A good comeback makes a great story. In The Comeback Quotient, sports journalist Matt Fitzgerald shares the stories of top athletic comebacks, to give you inspiration and tools for your own comeback in sport or life.Every sports fan loves a great comeback. Is there a special quality shared by top athletes who triumph over great challenges? And can anyone acquire it? In The Comeback Quotient, celebrated sportswriter Matt Fitzgerald supplies the answer to both questions. He identifies these mega-achievers of astounding athletic comebacks as “ultrarealists,” men and women who succeed where others fail by fully accepting, embracing, and addressing the reality of their situations. From ultrarunners like Rob Krar to triathletes like Mirinda Carfrae to rowers, skiers, cyclists, and runners all over the world, Fitzgerald highlights and speculates on just what makes these comebacks so compelling. As for whether anyone can stage his or her own great comeback, the answer is a resounding yes: Anyone can become an ultrarealist to some degree. In the tradition of his best-selling How Bad Do You Want It?, The Comeback Quotient combines gripping sports stories with mind-blowing science to deliver a book that will forever change how you perceive the challenges you face, giving you the inspiration and the tools to make the next great comeback you witness your own.

There were mythic sports figures before him--Jack Johnson, Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Joe DiMaggio--but when Cassius Clay burst onto the sports scene from his native Louisville in the 1950s, he broke the mold. He changed the world of sports and went on to change the world itself. As Muhammad Ali, he would become the most recognized face on the planet. Ali was a transcendent athlete and entertainer, a heavyweight Fred Astaire, a rapper before rap was born. He was a mirror of his era, a dynamic figure in the racial and cultural battles of his time. This unforgettable story of his rise and self-creation, told by a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, places Ali in a heritage of great American originals.Cassius Clay grew up in the Jim Crow South and came of athletic age when boxers were at the mercy of the mob. From the start, Clay rebelled against everything and everyone who would keep him and his people down. He refused the old stereotypes and refused the glad hand of the mob. And, to the confusion and fury of white sportswriters, who were far more comfortable with the self-effacing Joe Louis, Clay came forward as a rebel, insistent on his political views, on his new religion, and, eventually, on a new name. His rebellion nearly cost him the chance to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world.King of the World features some of the pivotal figures of the 1960s--Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, John F. Kennedy--and its pivotal events: the civil rights movement, political assassinations, the war in Vietnam. Muhammad Ali is a great hero and a beloved figure in American life. King of the World takes us back to the days when his life was a series of battles, inside the ring and out. A master storyteller at the height of his powers, David Remnick has written a book worthy of America's most dynamic modern hero.

Norman Mailer's, "The Fight" focuses on the 1975 World Heavyweight Boxing Championship in Kinshasa, Zaire. Muhammad Ali met George Foreman in the ring. Foreman's genius employed silence, serenity and cunning. He had never been defeated. His hands were his instrument, and 'he kept them in his pockets the way a hunter lays his rifle back into its velvet case'. Together the two men made boxing history in an explosive meeting of two great minds, two iron wills and monumental egos.

Whatever your biggest goals are in life, learning to think like an athlete is a game changer. If you ask research psychologist Noel Brick and bestselling fitness author and journalist Scott Douglas, the “dumb jock” stereotype is way out of bounds. Modern advances in sports psychology confirm what fans have known all along: No world-class athlete―whether an Olympic runner, swimmer, or cyclist, or a pro basketball, baseball, or football player―gets to the top without a strong mental game. Champion competitors have unique ways of taking stock of a situation, self-motivating, and even thinking about time. Cutting-edge discoveries (including those by Dr. Brick) reveal exactly how they do it―and how we can, too.You don’t need to be facing a literal hurdle to use elite athletes’ tool kits of strategies: They can help you stick the landing at a job interview or get your thesis to the finish line. Brick and Douglas pair groundbreaking science with a highlight reel of instructive moments from across the sports realm to show how legendary marathoner Meb Keflezighi runs on self-talk and how making if-then plans at practice buoyed Michael Phelps to a gold medal at the Olympics. Wherever you are in your own ambitions―from the “middle muddle” to the final stretch―The Genius of Athletes will put you right in the zone.

The new edition of this bestseller in hardcover features never-before-published, all-new inside info on the money, personalities and politics of pro-tennis: Jimmy, Monica, Boris, Martina, et al. Now in paper.

More than 100 delicious, nourishing, and mostly plant-based recipes for peak athletic performance, from the triathlete and nutrition coach behind the popular Running on Veggies blogAfter finishing treatment for stage III Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of fifteen, Lottie Bildirici fell in love with running and completely transformed her lifestyle with a mindful approach to eating and exercise. As an Adidas nutrition coach, she has led teams around the globe to healthier mindsets by leveraging their diets for enhanced performance. In her first book, she shares these recipes and tips to help fellow athletes eat well, feel well, and live life to its fullest potential.Running on Veggies contains more than one hundred mostly plant-based, dairy-free, meat-free (with five pescatarian) recipes to maximize workouts and enhance nutrition to perform at peak levels. Indulgent recipes that leave you feeling satisfied and energized include Almond Berry Overnight Oats, Energized Mocha Crunch Smoothie, Thai Crunch Salad, Pesto Farro Risotto with Sugar Snap Peas and Asparagus, Date Bites, and many more.In addition to Bildirici's recipes, Running on Veggies also features recipes contributed by world-class athletes including Kara Goucher, Colleen Quigley, Emma Coburn, and many more. With pre-run and recovery recipes, a two-week peak performance plan, and supplemental sidebars throughout, it's designed to be inclusive of all levels of athletic performance, from novice to expert.Running on Veggies is the guide athletes and the rest of us need to fuel up and kickstart a lifetime of healthy habits, one delicious meal at a time.

The Tour de France is sport's most compelling battle -- an annual cauldron of heroism and treachery, spectacle and controversy, mind-games and endurance.But the 1986 Tour stands out as the year in which a show-stopping rivalry had spectators across the world gripped.When Greg LeMond -- a blue-eyed, blonde-haired Californian boy, dubbed 'L'American' -- won the 1986 Tour, he made history. The first non-European to win the Yellow Jersey, he broke the Old World stranglehold and changed the face of the competition.But LeMond's victory was hard won. It was seemingly snatched from the jaws of the man ominously dubbed 'The Badger'. Frenchman Bernard 'Le Blaireau' Hinault was five times winner of the Tour and as tough as boots. After winning the 1985 Tour, in which LeMond came a close second, Hinault vowed to return for one final Tour, and with a single purpose: to help LeMond win.But could Hinault be trusted? As the race circled France, he repeatedly attacked LeMond. Hinault claimed to the press that his apparent treachery was merely intended to make LeMond stronger. But LeMond, who didn't believe him, became increasingly fearful, anxious and paranoid.The Tour is renowned for its psychological complexity - but what played out in 1986 was unheard of. Why was Hinault putting his own teammate in jeopardy? Would LeMond crack under the pressure? Something sinister was going on but no one - not even LeMond -- knew quite what.Slaying the Badgerrelives the adrenaline, the agony, the camaraderie, the betrayals, and the pure exhilaration of the 1986 Tour. Richard Moore has interviewed all the key players including the story's two enigmatic, eccentric and fiercely different protagonists. As he delves behind the scenes, the biggest conundrum of Tour history is finally laid bare.

A New York Times Sports and Fitness Bestseller“The definitive tour through a bewildering jungle of…claims that compose a multibillion-dollar recovery industry.” ―David Epstein, best-selling author of The Sports GeneAcclaimed science journalist Christie Aschwanden takes readers on an entertaining and enlightening tour through the latest science on sports and fitness recovery. She investigates claims about sports drinks, chocolate milk, and “recovery” beer; examines the latest recovery trends; and even tests some for herself, including cryotherapy, foam rolling, and Tom Brady–endorsed infrared pajamas. Good to Go seeks an answer to the question: Do any of these things actually help the body recover and achieve peak performance?

Open an autobiography. Coaxed to swing a racket while still in the crib, forced to hit hundreds of balls a day while still in grade school, Agassi resented the constant pressure even as he drove himself to become a prodigy, an inner conflict that would define him. Now, in his beautiful, haunting autobiography, Agassi tells

A searing exposé on the whiteness of running, a supposedly egalitarian sport, and a call to reimagine the industry“Runners know that running brings us to ourselves. But for Black people, the simple act of running has never been so simple. It is a declaration of the right to move through the world. If running is claiming public space, why, then, does it feel like a negotiation?”Running saved Alison Désir’s life. At rock bottom and searching for meaning and structure, Désir started marathon training, finding that it vastly improved both her physical and mental health. Yet as she became involved in the community and learned its history, she realized that the sport was largely built with white people in mind.Running While Black draws on Désir’s experience as an endurance athlete, activist, and mental health advocate to explore why the seemingly simple, human act of long distance running for exercise and health has never been truly open to Black people. Weaving historical context—from the first recreational running boom to the horrific murder of Ahmaud Arbery—together with her own story of growth in the sport, Désir unpacks how we got here and advocates for a world where everyone is free to safely experience the life-changing power of movement.As America reckons with its history of white supremacy across major institutions, Désir argues that, as a litmus test for an inclusive society, the fitness industry has the opportunity to lead the charge—fulfilling its promise of empowerment.

It was the World Cup semi-finals. On 4th July, 1990, in a stadium in Turin, Gazza cried, England lost and football changed forever.This is the inside story of Italia '90 - we meet the players, the hooligans, the agents, the journalists, the fans. Writer Pete Davies was given nine months full access to the England squad and their manager Bobby Robson. One Night in Turin is his thrilling insider account of the summer when football became the greatest show on earth.

The ultimate roadmap for female distance runners, from two-time Olympian Molly Huddle and two-time NCAA champion Sara Slattery—featuring 50 candid interviews with women who’ve made itThe road from a high school track to an Olympic starting line is long and sometimes shadowy. Obstacles like chronic injuries, under-fueled nutrition, and coercive coaching can threaten to derail careers before they’ve even begun. Frustrated by seeing young talent burn out before reaching their potential, professional distance runner Molly Huddle and college coach Sara Slattery have teamed up with trailblazing running legends and sports medicine professionals to create an essential guide to reach your running potential.This is How She Did It—an instructional and inspirational collection of stories and advice for female runners. The book begins with key information from the professionals who help make athletic excellence possible: trainers, physicians, nutritionists, and sports psychologists. Then, you’ll hear the first-person accounts of fifty women who’ve done it themselves. From the pioneers who fought tirelessly for women’s inclusion in the sport to the names splashed across headlines today, featured athletes include:Joan Benoit Samuelson • Patti Catalano Dillon • Madeline Manning Mims • Paula Radcliffe • Deena Kastor • Brenda Martinez • Shalane Flanagan • Emma Coburn • Raevyn Rogers • Molly Seidel • and moreWith Molly and Sara guiding the way, these athletes share their empowering stories, biggest regrets, funniest moments, and hard-won advice. Collectively, these voices are the embodiment of strength, meant to educate, inspire, and motivate you to see how far—and how fast—you can go.

Rachel Swaby and Kit Fox present Mighty Moe, the untold true story of runner Maureen Wilton, whose world record-breaking marathon time at age 13 was met first with misogyny and controversy, but ultimately with triumph.In 1967, a girl known as Mighty Moe broke the women’s world marathon record at a small race in Toronto. This was an era when girls and women were discouraged from the sport and the longest track event at the Olympics for women was 25.6 miles shorter than a marathon. Thirteen-year-old Moe’s world-beating victory was greeted with chauvinistic disapproval and accusations of cheating―as were many of her achievements in the sport she had excelled at from the age of ten. Within less than two years, the controversy took its toll and Maureen quit running.Here is the untold story of Mighty Moe’s tenacity and triumph in the face of adversity as a young athlete―and of a grown-up Maureen finding her way back to the sport decades later. This inspiring biography for readers and racers of all ages showcases the truly groundbreaking achievements of an unassuming, amazing young athlete.Mighty Moe includes an introduction by Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially register and run in the Boston Marathon (and Maureen’s only fellow female competitor at the 1967 record-setting race), and an afterword by Des Linden, the first-place finisher of the 11,628 women who raced the 2018 Boston Marathon.

The Twentieth Anniversary Edition As a young boy, growing up in London and watching his parents' marriage fall apart, Nick Hornby - author of High Fidelity, About a Boy and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree - had little sense of home. Then his dad took him to Highbury. Arsenal's football ground would become the source of many of the strongest feelings he'd ever have: joy, humiliation, heartbreak, frustration and hope. In this hilarious, moving and now-classic book, he vividly depicts his childhood life, his time as a teacher, and his first loves (after football), all through the prism of the game, as he insightfully and brilliantly explores obsession, and the way it can shape a life.

Good racing doesn’t just happen. It’s a skill that must be honed with training and hard work. In Personal Best Running, Coach Mark Coogan shares his successful formula for running fast—while staying healthy and happy—without running taking over your life.Coach Coogan has excelled in running as both an athlete and coach, producing numerous Olympic and champion runners. His success is founded in his belief that long-term running success is impossible if you’re not training and racing in the right environment and that running should never come at the expense of your overall physical or mental health. In addition to training strategies that will shave minutes off your time, Coach Coogan will also show you how to sleep and eat properly, surround yourself with supportive people, psychologically navigate setbacks and challenges, lower your injury risk, and have a life outside of running.Get the physical and psychological strategies needed to build an aerobic base, balance hard work and recovery, achieve good running form, and turn adversity into an advantage. Learn the importance of strengthening and warm-up exercises, and master running drills that will make you a stronger runner. Plus, access the 30 online video clips that showcase the exercises and drills in action.Coogan provides numerous training schedules for the mile, 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon as well as schedules for running multiple races in a short period of time. For each distance, choose the length of training (from 6 weeks to 16 weeks) and weekly mileage range. The plans are supplemented with training and racing tips to help you better understand how to apply the concepts to your own running strategy.You’ll also get a personal look at what successful runners do as Coach Coogan shares some of his own experiences as a runner and coach. And you’ll draw plenty of motivation and inspiration from the athlete profiles of eight of his accomplished runners, including Drew Piazza, Alexi Pappas, and Elle St. Pierre.If you want to run better and race faster, now is your chance to train with Coach Coogan and Personal Best Running.Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes both the book and exam.Note: A code for accessing online videos is included with all print books.

Described by Robert Lipsyte as 'the high point of American sports journalism', John McPhee's Levels of the Game, nominally about a tennis match between two of the greats of tennis history, redefined what it meant to be a sports writer. Written by four-times finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, Levels of the Game is the best tennis book ever written, dealing with human behaviour, race, politics and the divisions of the country, all told through a single game of tennis. Levels of the Game is a narrative of a tennis match played by Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner at Forest Hills in 1968, beginning with the ball rising into the air for the initial serve and ending with the final point. In between, McPhee provides a brilliant, stroke-by-stroke description, while examining the backgrounds and attitudes which have molded the players' games. Arthur Ashe thinks that Clark Graebner, a middle-class white conservative dentist's son from Cleveland, plays stiff and compact Republican tennis. Graebner acknowledges that this is true, and for his part thinks that, because Ashe is black and from Richmond, Ashe's tennis game is bold, loose, liberal, flat-out Democratic, When physical assets are about equal, psychology is paramount to any game.

The New York Times Bestseller * Foreword by Malcom Gladwell"Reveals how we can all surpass our perceived physical limits." —Adam GrantDiscover the revolutionary account of the science and psychology of endurance, revealing the secrets of reaching the hidden extra potential within us all. This updated paperback edition features a new afterword.The capacity to endure is the key trait that underlies great performance in virtually every field. But what if we all can go farther, push harder, and achieve more than we think we’re capable of?Blending cutting-edge science and gripping storytelling in the spirit of Malcolm Gladwell—who contributes the book’s foreword—award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson reveals that a wave of paradigm-altering research over the past decade suggests the seemingly physical barriers you encounter as set as much by your brain as by your body. This means the mind is the new frontier of endurance—and that the horizons of performance are much more elastic than we once thought.But, of course, it’s not “all in your head.” For each of the physical limits that Hutchinson explores—pain, muscle, oxygen, heat, thirst, fuel—he carefully disentangles the delicate interplay of mind and body by telling the riveting stories of men and women who’ve pushed their own limits in extraordinary ways.The longtime “Sweat Science” columnist for Outside and Runner’s World, Hutchinson, a former national-team long-distance runner and Cambridge-trained physicist, was one of only two reporters granted access to Nike’s top-secret training project to break the two-hour marathon barrier, an extreme quest he traces throughout the book. But the lessons he draws from shadowing elite athletes and from traveling to high-tech labs around the world are surprisingly universal. Endurance, Hutchinson writes, is “the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop”—and we’re always capable of pushing a little farther.

Through 1996 and 1997 bestselling author Joe Mc Ginniss followed the Italian football season from Castel di Sangro, a small town nestled in the Abruzzi region of Italy. The motley crew that comprised the di Sangro soccer team in the early 90s masked an unparalleled prowess for playing soccer. This is the story of a team and a town with no aspirations, just a passion for the game, and how that passion allowed this team to rise to the top of the professional Italian soccer league. With the lust for life of Robert Crichton's THE SECRET OF SANTA VITTORIA and the sporting dreams of modern movie classic FIELDS OF DREAMS, THE MIRACLE OF CASTEL DI SANGRO is an ebullient story of how a two-hour game transformed a dot on the map into a place of magic, miracles and wonder.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERNOW WITH A NEW WORKBOOKDeena Kastor was a star youth runner with tremendous promise, yet her career almost ended after college, when her competitive method—run as hard as possible, for fear of losing—fostered a frustration and negativity and brought her to the brink of burnout. On the verge of quitting, she took a chance and moved to the high altitudes of Alamosa, Colorado, where legendary coach Joe Vigil had started the first professional distance-running team. There she encountered the idea that would transform her running career: the notion that changing her thinking—shaping her mind to be more encouraging, kind, and resilient—could make her faster than she’d ever imagined possible. Building a mind so strong would take years of effort and discipline, but it would propel Kastor to the pinnacle of running—to American records in every distance from the 5K to the marathon—and to the accomplishment of earning America’s first Olympic medal in the marathon in twenty years.Let Your Mind Run is a fascinating intimate look inside the mind of an elite athlete, a remarkable story of achievement, and an insightful primer on how the small steps of cultivating positivity can give anyone a competitive edge.

Poker players Johnny Moss, Pug Pearson, and Titanic Thompson; tennis player Bobby Riggs; pool player Minnesota Fats; and backgammon player Tim Holland have come away with their pockets filled and their sense of infallibility intact. The dramatic descriptions of the ambience and the games are riveting, but more intriguingly, Jon Bradshaw deftly probes these gamblers’ minds and hearts as he attempts to define what makes some men winners and most losers.

* A New York Times Bestseller* Winner of the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year Award* A Financial Times Best Sports Book of 2023Fueled by her years as an elite runner and advocate for women in sports, Lauren Fleshman offers her inspiring personal story and a rallying cry for reform of a sports landscape that is failing young female athletes“Women’s sports have needed a manifesto for a very long time, and with Lauren Fleshman’s Good for a Girl we finally have one.” —Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and David and GoliathOne of the most decorated collegiate athletes of all time and a national champion as a pro, Lauren Fleshman has grown up in the world of running. But every step of the way, she has seen how our sports systems—originally designed for men and boys—fail women and girls. Girls drop out of sports at alarming rates once they hit puberty, and female collegiate athletes routinely fall victim to injury, eating disorders, or mental health struggles as they try to force their way past a natural dip in performance for women of their age.Written with heart and verve, Good for a Girl is Fleshman’s story of falling in love with running, being pushed to her limits and succumbing to injuries, and fighting for a better way for female athletes. Drawing on not only her own story but also emerging research on the physiology and psychology of young athletes of any gender, Fleshman gives voice to the often-silent experience of the female athlete and argues that the time has come to rebuild competitive sports with women at their center.

A scorching and deeply personal autobiography lifting the lid on the life and character of one of English rugby's most successful ever players Brian Moore, or "Pitbull" as he came to be known during nearly a decade at the heart of the England rugby team's pack, established himself as one of the game's original hard men at a time when rugby was still an amateur sport. Since his retirement, he has earned a reputation as an equally uncompromising commentator, never afraid to tell it as he sees it and lash out at the money men and professionals that have made rugby into such a different beast. Yet, for all his bullishness on and off the pitch, there also appears a more unconventional, complicated side to the man. A solicitor by trade, Moore's love of fine wine, career experience as a manicurist, and preference for reading Shakespeare in the dressing room before games, mark him out as anything but the stereotypical rugby player, and in Beware of the Dog, Moore lays open with astounding frankness the shocking events, both personal and professional, that have gone towards shaping him over the years. Presenting an unparalleled insight into the mind of one of British rugby's greatest players and characters, Beware of the Dog is a uniquely engaging and upfront sporting memoir.

The undisputed classic of running novels and one of the most beloved sports books ever published, Once a Runner tells the story of an athlete’s dreams amid the turmoil of the 60s and the Vietnam war.Inspired by the author’s experience as a collegiate champion, the novel follows Quenton Cassidy, a competitive runner at fictional Southeastern University whose lifelong dream is to run a four-minute mile. He is less than a second away when the turmoil of the Vietnam War era intrudes into the staid recesses of his school’s athletic department. After he becomes involved in an athletes’ protest, Cassidy is suspended from his track team. Under the tutelage of his friend and mentor, Bruce Denton, a graduate student and former Olympic gold medalist, Cassidy gives up his scholarship, his girlfriend, and possibly his future to withdraw to a monastic retreat in the countryside and begin training for the race of his life against the greatest miler in history.A rare insider’s account of the incredibly intense lives of elite distance runners, Once a Runner is an inspiring, funny, and spot-on tale of one individual’s quest to become a champion.

Diego Maradona, is arguably the greatest and certainly the most widely-known footballer of the modern age. During his tempestuous career he played for top clubs in South America and Europe, and was a central figure in four World Cups. With the fortunes he has earned from sponsorship and transfer deals, he personified football, both as popular sport and big business. Jimmy Burns pursued his research in several countries on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining access to Maradona's inner circle, and to other key witnesses, such as players, managers, trainers, doctors and officials. The result is a story straddling the international scene, from the slums of Buenos Aires, where Maradona was born, to the huge stadiums of the United States from where, in 1994, he was ignobly expelled after undergoing a positive drugs test. In his rise to fame - and notoriety - Maradona played for some of the world's greatest Boca Juniors, Napoli and Barcelona. He scored some brilliant goals - and cheated with others. He provoked fans into a mass hysteria of adulation, and his enemies into sinister campai. Now, as coach of Argentina, he is leading the country into the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This new edition brings the story of Maradona completely up to date.

The #1 New York Times Bestseller"Lewis has such a gift for storytelling…he writes as lucidly for sports fans as for those who read him for other reasons." ―Janet Maslin, New York TimesWhen we first meet him, Michael Oher is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or how to read or write. He takes up football, and school, after a rich, white, Evangelical family plucks him from the streets. Then two great forces alter Oher: the family’s love and the evolution of professional football itself into a game where the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist becomes the priceless package of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback’s greatest vulnerability, his blind side.

Again to Carthage is the "breathtaking, pulse-quickening, stunning" sequel to Once a Runner that "will have you standing up and cheering, and pulling on your running shoes" (Chicago Sun-Times). Originally self-published in 1978, Once a Runner became a cult classic, emerging after three decades to become a New York Times bestseller. Now, in Again to Carthage, hero Quenton Cassidy returns.The former Olympian has become a successful attorney in south Florida, where his life centers on work, friends, skin diving, and boating trips to the Bahamas. But when he loses his best friend to the Vietnam War and two relatives to life’s vicissitudes, Cassidy realizes that an important part of his life was left unfinished. After reconnecting with his friend and former coach Bruce Denton, Cassidy returns to the world of competitive running in a desperate, all-out attempt to make one last Olympic team. Perfectly capturing the intensity, relentlessness, and occasional lunacy of a serious runner’s life, Again to Carthage is a must-read for runners—and athletes—of all ages, and a novel that will thrill any lover of fiction.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A world-class runner and four-time Olympian shares the life lessons he’s learned from each of the twenty-six marathons he’s run in his storied career.“An athlete whose wisdom and lessons aren’t just for runners.”—The Washington PostWhen Meb Keflezighi—the first person in history to win both the Boston and New York City marathons as well as an Olympic marathon medal—ran his final marathon in New York City on November 5, 2017, it marked the end of an extraordinary distance-running career.Meb's last marathon was also his twenty-sixth, and each of those marathons has come with its own unique challenges, rewards, and outcomes. In 26 Marathons, Meb takes readers on those legendary races, along every hill, bend, and unexpected turn of events that made each marathon an exceptional learning experience, and a fascinating story.26 Marathons offers the wisdom Meb has gleaned about life, family, identity, and faith in addition to tips about running, training, and nutrition. He shows runners of all levels how to apply the lessons he's learned to their own running and lives. Equal parts inspiration and practical advice, 26 Marathons provides an inside look at the life and success of one of the greatest runners living today.Praise for 26 Marathons“26 Marathons is a swift read, guaranteed to be popular with student athletes plus hard-core and recreational runners, who will undoubtedly agree that Meb is an American treasure and running ambassador who never fails to inspire.”—Booklist (starred review)“26 Marathons gives great insight about the ups and downs in marathon running and how to cope with them. As Meb shows, dealing with these marathon experiences help us become better in our lives.”—Eliud Kipchoge, Marathon World Record Holder and 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist“Meb’s 26 Marathons is like opening a treasure chest full of inspiring stories that give behind-the-scenes glimpse into the mental and physical joys and obstacles that elite-level racing can bring. His advice on training, overcoming injuries, and adversity is for everyone. It’s pure gold!”—Shalane Flanagan, 2017 TCS NYC Marathon Champion

Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, the biography of Robert Enke, the international footballer with the world at his feet who took his own lifeHere, award-winning writer Ronald Reng pieces together the puzzle of his lost friend's life. On November 10, 2009, the German national goalkeeper, Robert Enke, stepped in front of a passing train. He was 32 years old. Viewed from the outside, Enke had it all. He was a professional goalkeeper who had played for a string of Europe's top clubs, including Jose Mourinho's Benfica and Louis Van Gaal's Barcelona, and was destined to be his country's first choice for years to come. But beneath the bright veneer of success lay a darker story. Reng brings into sharp relief the specific demands and fears faced by those who play top-level sport. Heartfelt, but never sentimental, he tells the universal tragedy of a talented man's struggles against his own demons.

The Death of Ayrton Senna

It's never too late to do the impossible. Meet Ida Keeling, a 104-year-old mother, activist, and world record-holding runner. Her fierce independence and deep faith carried her through the Depression and the civil rights movement--but her greatest trials were yet to come.Miss Ida, as she is known in her community in the Bronx, grew up as a child of immigrants during the Great Depression. She began working to help provide for her family at age twelve. Later, after her husband passed, she raised her four children alone while serving as an active member in the civil rights movement.In 1978 and 1980, Ida's two sons were brutally murdered. Justice was never achieved. Ida felt like she didn't have the strength to carry on, but, encouraged by her daughter, Ida put on her first pair of running shoes at the age of 67 and began to chase the paralyzing sorrow from her heart.Running gave light and new energy to Ida, and since her first race nearly 35 years ago, she's never looked back. Holding the world record for the fastest time in the 60-meter dash for the 95-99 age group, Ida isn't slowing down. Can't Nothing Bring Me Down gives us a clear picture of what it means to: Find new passions, no matter your age Navigate life's obstacles with grace Lean on faith, family, and friends in hard timesIn Can't Nothing Bring Me Down, Ida offers time-tested truths gathered from a lifetime of watching a nation change--and from a lifelong faith in Jesus. "Every night, I thank him for my many blessings, for his guidance, for his protection," Ida says. "And every night he tells me, 'Miss Ida, you just keep on, because I ain't done with you yet.'"

From a New York Times–bestselling author and lifelong runner, a groundbreaking guide to fighting depression and anxiety one run at a timeThere’s no other book like this. Longtime running writer Scott Douglas marshals expert advice (especially his own, cultivated from more than 110,000 miles of personal experience), and a growing body of scientific research to show how running can make us happier.How? Everyone knows that running builds stronger muscles and a healthier heart; science now shows it also helps develop a healthier brain. For those struggling with depression and anxiety, a consistent running routine can enhance the mental-health benefits of talk therapy, antidepressants, and cognitive behavioral therapy. The key to running’s therapeutic power lies in its lasting physiological effects, inducing changes in brain structure and chemistry that other forms of exercise don’t—including the best mood boost in all of sports, thanks to the body’s release of natural pain-relievers.Running is my therapy is no longer just a mantra for seasoned runners; with science behind him, Douglas presents proven methods so that we can all use running to improve our mental health and live happier—in and out of running shoes.

This is soccer comic-ery, but not as you know it. Welcome to the comically brilliant and politically engaging work of illustrator David Squires, artist extraordinaire. Soccer and comics. Once a hearty Saturday combination to match cartoons and cereal, in recent years they’ve drifted apart.Thankfully for us, David Squires is here to change all that. Based out of Sydney, his soccer comics have appeared everywhere from the Guardian to Pickles Magazine. In a sport full of handsome paychecks and corporate sponsors, his work casts a critical eye over corrupt backroom workings and helps pierce soccer’s overblown balloon. This book is an anthology of some of David's best work. WARNING! Is sure to ignite debate and spark hilarity.

Runners’ vocabulary is full of acronyms like DNS for “Did Not Start” and DNF for “Did Not Finish,” but when Mirna Valerio stepped up to the starting line, she needed a new one: DNQ for “Did Not Quit.”Valerio has tied on her running shoes all across the country, from the dusty back roads of central New Jersey to the busy Route 222 corridor in Pennsylvania to the sweltering deserts of Arizona. When you meet her on the trail, you might be surprised to see she doesn’t quite fit the typical image of a long-distance runner. She’s neither skinny nor white, and she’s here to show just how misguided these stereotypes can be.In this prejudice-busting, body-positive memoir told with raw honesty, an adventurous spirit, and a sharp sense of humor, Valerio takes readers along on her journey from first-time racer to ultramarathoner and proves that anyone can become a successful athlete.

In this compelling and sensationally honest book, Paul Kimmage strips away the public facade of an international football star. Tony Cascarino is a man scarred by childhood, haunted by indiscretion and troubled by a secret from his past. A man struggling to find answers as he speeds towards the most terrifying juncture in sport. The End.

Running for My Life is not a story about Africa or track-and-field athletics. It is about outrunning the devil and achieving the impossible; it is about faith, diligence, and the desire to give back. It is the American dream come true and a stark reminder that saving one can help save thousands more.In this heart-wrenching story, you’ll learn about Lopez Lomong’s harrowing kidnapping at the age of six, becoming one of the Lost Boys of Sudan; his survival in a prison refugee camp and his miraculous escape; how he arrived in the U.S. through the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program; and Lomong’s journey from high-school track star to U.S. Olympic team captain.Lopez Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike-sponsored athlete on the U.S. Olympic Team. Though most of us fall somewhere between the catastrophic lows and dizzying highs of Lomong's incredible life, every reader will find in his story the human spark to pursue dreams that might seem unthinkable, even from circumstances that might appear hopeless."Lopez Lomong's story is one of true inspiration. His life is a story of courage, hard work, never giving up, and having hope where there is hopelessness all around. Lopez is a true role model." MICHAEL JOHNSON, Olympic Gold Medalist"This true story of a Sudanese child refugee who became an Olympic star is powerful proof that God gives hope to the hopeless and shines a light in the darkest places. Don't be surprised if after reading this incredible tale, you find yourself mysteriously drawn to run alongside him." RICHARD STEARNS, president, World Vision US and author of The Hole in Our Gospel

Between 1980 and 1993, Simon Hughes was a regular on the county circuit, playing for Middlesex until 1991 before moving on to Durham at the end of his career. In that time, he played alongside some of the great characters in cricket: Mike Brearley, Mike Gatting, Phil Edmonds and Ian Botham. This is not an autobiography of a good county pro, but a look at the ups and downs, the lifestyle, the practical jokes and sheer hard yakka that make such a poorly paid, insecure job appeal to so many. Now a respected journalist and broadcaster, Simon Hughes has written a brilliant, amusing and wrily self-depracating book, packed with hilarious and embarrassing anecdotes about some of the greatest cricketers of the last 20 years.

Every runner knows how important it is to prevent an unfortunate bathroom accident midrun. This book can show you how.For any runner who wants a quick, easy reference guide to every running issue under the sun, look no further. With tips on training, nutrition, gear, motivation, health, and racing, Runner’s World How to Make Yourself Poop is essential reading for runners who want to improve their performance. From “The Best Way to Tie Your Shoes” to “9 Tactics for Busting Out of a Running Rut” and everything in between, these short, easy-to-use tips from reliable experts are the perfect gift for any runner in your life.

A beautifully written and moving account of the author’s search for the man his father was, and the life he led as a well-known footballer at a time when the men who played the game, and those who watched it, led fundamentally the same lives together in the same communities.