How to Lose a Marathon

Today on the aeroplane ride to Nashville I finished reading Joel Cohen's How to Lose a Marathon. As mentioned earlier, Cara got me this book as a Father's Day present. I am immediately turned off by any book that anyone buys me, unless I've specifically asked for it (and sometimes even then). Cara, however, means well and is often paying more attention to what I like than I am. She figured running + comedy was a win-win since I kind of adore both. Begrudgingly I must admit she was right.

Cohen's book was light and entertaining while still letting me revel in all that insider knowledge of the running world. Like falling while running and hoping no one sees you're bleeding everywhere. Or the chafing between one's legs or on the tips of one's nipples. Or discussing pee color. If you've never seen a woman drop her pants before squating and peeing on the side of the road, you've probably been running races that bother stocking port-a-potties along the way.

In the suffering that comes along with running we find our common humanity though. We've all been equipped with roughly the same craft to transport our brains around this planet, and runners are like plucky mechanics comparing how they've hacked those machines. With that in mind I'm passing this book on to Bethany, who will be running with Cara on the 4th and running her first marathon with me in November in Savannah. Hopefully she doesn't get too caught up in the author calling 4:26 a slow time because I know that after all Cohen's self deprecation it made my as yet unachieved 5 hour goal seem rather paltry.