20B20W-19th Book, Strides: Running Through History With an Unlikely Athlete

This book by Ben Cheever is a heartfelt memoir of his love affair with running and the transformation it has wrought on his life. And he is quite a mean marathoner too, having run a 2:50 for a marathon when he needed to qualify for Boston and still maintains a 7 min mile pace at 10Ks, well into his late 50s.

The book is written in a very loose style, if it could be called so and several chapters feel as if they are a collection of his notes, while he wanted to write the chapter. But for a runner and there are around 40 million in the US alone (give or take a million ;) ), ANYTHING about running which is written by a talented writer is worth reading.

And the author does take on the oft-repeated debate of whether too much exercise is too bad for one's health among several topics he addresses in his book, quite leisurely. His wit and self-deprecation will win over any reader, especially readers who are runners themselves.

And I picked it up only when I saw that he had written a lovely piece on "must-have" books for every runner at the end of the book when I was just flipping through it and wondering whether to pick it up.

And yes, in case you are wondering, he is the son of John Cheever, the celebrated author and that fact seems to have caused quite angst in his life and running seems to have played no small part in his getting out of his dad's shadow.

Must read.