Book Review: The Ghost Runner

Book Review: The Ghost Runner

by | Mar 26, 2024 | Book Review, Opinion

By Bill Jones
Reviewed by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

The Ghost Runner

I came across this book just by chance. I have never heard of John Tarrant, Bill Jones (the author) or The Ghost Runner. But the title was intriguing enough to check what this book was about. Subtitled “The Tragedy of the Man They Couldn’t Stop. The True Story of John Tarrant”, it seemed worth a try. I am glad I gave it a chance.

Bill Jones is an award-winning documentarist for British television. This is his first book. Back in 1984, while working on a documentary about the Centennial of the Salford Harriers, an athletic club based in North Manchester, came along the name John Tarrant and an awkwardly written autobiography he left behind. The more he learned about the man labeled “The Ghost Runner”, the more intrigued he became. In March 2013, the book was released.

John Tarrant was born in 1932 in London. As a young child he was shipped with his younger brother to the safety of a boarding school during the Nazi indiscriminate bombings of London during World War II. After 7 years in a living hell, he came back to a sick mother who died shortly after. His father remarried and the family situation was not very loving.

Tarrant focused his energy on sports and became a boxer. He participated in a handful of low-level fights, earning £17. But John hated boxing and promptly discovered not just the joys of running, but that he had a talent for it. But his meager earnings from his past marked Tarrant’s life, as he became a professional athlete. Back in those days, especially in a classist and discriminatory society like the English, disqualified him from athletics. Not just boxing, but everything.

In the shadows of Britain\’s elite schools, a contrasting ethos emerged—the cult of the gentleman amateur. Rooted in the belief that the working class couldn\’t be trusted to compete fairly due to their perceived penchant for money, these beliefs gained traction. By 1880, the Amateur Athletic Association was established, defining an amateur as someone who, from age 16 onward, never competed for prizes, engaged in monetary considerations, wagered, taught sports for profit, or exploited their abilities for personal gain. This strict definition left figures like John Tarrant uneasy, underscoring a profound shift in sports culture.

Unable to participate in races, he resorted to jumping into them unregistered. He was a talented runner who sometimes even won. The press christened him as “The Ghost Runner” and a legend was quickly born. An adversarial relationship grew with the British Amateur Athletics Association and eventually he was reinstated, only to find at the time to choose the marathon team for the Rome Olympics, that this reinstatement did not include international representation of his country.

The Ghost Runner

John Tarrant

While today jumping into races is frowned upon, the world of road racing in the 1950s and 1960s was a niche community. Bobbi Gibb also jumped into the Boston Marathon in 1966 and is today seen as hero. Tarrant became a star and the races looked forward to having him as an unregistered runner because his celebrity enhanced its profile.

The book goes in depth into Tarrant’s early childhood. Sometimes you may feel it is a bit too much, but then you find it is important so you may find justification for the adulthood of the protagonist. His persona off the asphalt is as equally important of a character as his running self. Both are registered masterfully but this first-time author.

Even though Tarrant set a handful of world records and won a handful of marathons and many local races, this is not the story of one of the great runners of all time. It is, though, the story of someone for whom running was not part of his life, but his life. It is about the hypocrisy of British athletics in the mid-20th century and one man’s, a working-class man, fight to overcome it.

That author says: “The way he saw it, the ghost runner wasn\’t simply a person. He – John Tarrant – was the living embodiment of a cause. The ghost was his alter ego, his weapon, and his disguise.”

Tarrant died in obscurity in 1975 at the age of 42 due to a misdiagnosed stomach cancer. Maybe this early death cost him his place in the pantheon of interesting running characters of our time.

I highly recommend the book. It is well researched, well written and worth the money and time to read it.

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Book Review – “We Share the Sun”

Book Review – “We Share the Sun”

by | Oct 17, 2023 | Book Review

By Sarah Gearhart

Reviewed by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

As the subtitle of this book clearly defines, this is the story of “the incredible journey of Kenya’s legendary coach Patrick Sang and the fastest runners on Earth.” Author Sarah Gearhart had unprecedented access to Sang and his Global Sports Communications training camps, located in Kaptagat, a small town nearly 8,000 feet above sea level in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. From there, she reports through short chapters, kind of small essays, about what happens there and how some of the best runners the world has ever seen train and interact within and outside those walls.

Patrick Sang may not be a household name to most running fans. Maybe a handful of the most knowledgeable historians remember his steeplechase silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when Kenya swept the podium. But for sure, most casual fans must have heard about some of Sang’s top trained athletes: Geoffrey Kamworor, Faith Kipyegon, and the one and only Eliud Kipchoge.

We Share The Sun

When Eliud Kipchoge broke the marathon World Record in Berlin, the first thing he did was hug Patrick Sang

Sarah Gearhart goes into detail about Sang’s life story, from his early days in rural Kenya to his Olympic glory, going through his competitive years as part of the University of Texas and then his years competing in Europe. Then, his beginnings, establishment, and apotheosis as a running coach.

The book reviews a handful of Sang’s top pupils. The likes of Victor Chumo, Laban Korir, Jonathan Korir, and their triumphs are well-detailed. But she centers Sang’s impact on three of the top runners ever. There’s Geoffrey Kamworor, a two-time winner of the NYC Marathon, 3-time half-marathon world champion, and former world record holder in the distance, who overcame a nasty injury after being hit by a car during a training run to return to the top of his game. He finished 2nd in the 2023 London Marathon.

There’s also Faith Kipyegon, who, after winning gold in the 1500 at the Rio Olympics in 2016, had a daughter and had to juggle motherhood and world-class athletics to repeat the feat in Tokyo 2020. Her sacrifices in family and parenthood, and her determination to succeed where few women of her origin can, become inspiring through Gearhart’s pen. As a corollary, which comes after the book was published, in June 2023, she broke two world records (1500 and 5000) at the Diamond League Meeting in Paris.

We Share The Sun

After motherhood, Faith Kipyegon came back to win olympic gold and set new world records

And then there is this skinny teenager who once approached Sang asking for workouts. He graciously gave him a couple of weeks of work and forgot about it. The teenager kept returning for more and, through constant and hard work, became the Eliud Kipchoge we all know and who needs no introduction.

There are no earth-shattering revelations in this book. It is not about what gives Kenyans the edge in long-distance running. It is an intimate look inside the walls of the Global Sports Communications camp, which happens to have the best in the world. It is about a running unsung hero and the essence of what it takes to be a member of his elite Global Sports Communications running group, which happens to bring out the best of the best out of the most talented Kenyan runners and has produced some of the top runners, of both sexes, the world has ever seen. It is about Patrick Sang’s personality and kindness. Can you imagine what would have happened if he had not been kind to Eliud Kipchoge when he approached him?

I don’t want to finish this book review without sharing the introduction to Chapter 23, titled “Pushing.” It is not attributed to anyone, so it is not clear to me if this was written by the author or picked up from someone else. Regardless of its origin, there is not a wasted word. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

“He can quit anytime.
When his muscles tighten, leaving his body uncomfortably numb.
When his lungs plead for more air.
When cramps pinch with arresting tension.

He can quit anytime.
When a blister balloons on his feet, the friction a piercing pain.
When his body boxes with his mind.

He can quit anytime.
When his competitor pulls ahead, the speed unmatched.
When the finish line seems to stretch.
When the last mile is more punishing than the others.

He can quit anytime.
When his legs begin to lose the fight.
When his goal slips out of sight.

He can quit anytime.
But he keeps going.”

NOTE: Since the writing of this article, Eliud Kipchoge is no longer the world record holder in the marathon. Kelvin Kiptum broke the record in the 2023 Chicago Marathon.

 

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Book Review: Your Best Stride

Book Review: Your Best Stride

by | May 16, 2023 | Article, Book Review, Coaching

Author: Jonathan Beverly
Reviewed by: Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

I first heard from Jonathan Beverly in early 2017, listening to a podcast where he promoted this book. His concepts were remarkably interesting, and I kept his name within my radar. A few months later I met him at the NYC Marathon expo and had the chance to talk to him and purchase the book. I read it right away, and then, again, a couple of years later. A couple of years after that, I read it one more time and decided to finally draft a book review.

Your Best Stride

Overall, this book is of terrific value, both in terms of time and money.

According to the bio on his website, Jonathan Beverly is a senior running gear editor at Outside magazine. He’s also a writer, photographer, coach and lifetime runner. His passion is to help others experience the joy of training, competing and being fit and fully alive. He is also the author of “Run Strong, Stay Hungry.” He served as editor of Running Times for 15 years. He has coached adults, junior high and high school.

This book touches on multiple aspects of running, all of them slices that when combined, will produce our best stride. The premise is that there is no one correct way to move when you run. There are wrong ways to do so, and some may lead to injury.

“The way we run is unique to our bodies and our experience—says Beverly—I can no more run like Kenenisa Bekele than he could run like me (not that he would want to). Bottom line: there is no perfect form, no one-size-fits-all recommendation.”

Beverly states that most of what he says is neither his nor new. It is a compilation of his conversations with multiple experts in physical therapy, anthropology, podiatry, natural running, etc. This alone makes the content even more valuable as you have the wisdom and knowledge of all these professionals in a 242-page book.

As a heel striking runner for over 40 years, I am reassured by the author’s assessment on how we have become so focused on where the foot lands and what shoe is needed to fix it, that we have forgotten that it all starts above, at the hip. From there, the kinetic chain goes down through the various parts of the leg until finally ends on the soles of the feet. When we focus all our attention on the landing, we are discarding the process that gets us there.

“Your running style is as your voice -he says- Every person has a distinct sound based on his or her physical characteristics, habits and upbringing.”

Your Best Stride

I had the chance to meet the author and purchase the book from him, at the 2017 NYC Marathon Expo

Other subjects discussed include running shoes (there is no magic in them); core exercises, strength training, balance, stability, posture, cues to assess your running form and, of course, how to put it all together.

I like how he spends time talking about the mythology of cadence. Just as with foot strike, there is a lot of misunderstanding here, especially when it comes to the supposedly perfect number of 180, which is anecdotal and has no scientific base. Sure, cadence can help us cure certain issues like overstriding, but it is more the result of our running instead of a driver of efficiency. Trying to improve cadence without addressing the issues that may cause its deficiencies can get runners in trouble. \”Mind your hips, and your cadence (as well as your foot strike) will take care of itself\”, guarantees the author.

Another important topic is the mixing of the training, including shoes, surfaces, speeds, routes and directions to avoid overuse injuries. Biomechanist Simon Bartold is quoted saying: “Your average runner in Manhattan will run in the same track, in the same direction, the same way, every single time they run and wonder why they get injured. You have to mix up the signal.\”

A tip for reading this book is to do so in a place where you can take the time and have the space to do the exercises he asks you to do. You may need to lay on the floor to feel your glutes, or stand up and place your hands in certain areas to feel your pelvis rotating, or kneel to feel your hip extensors doing their thing. So, you may not want to read this one on the bus or at a public place where you’ll feel awkward performing certain moves, unless you bookmark them and come back home to them.

Overall, this book is of terrific value, both in terms of time and money.

 

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Book Review – Good to Go

Book Review – Good to Go

by | May 10, 2022 | Article, Book Review, Science

Written by Christie Aschwanden
Reviewed by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

I heard of Christie Aschwanden a few months ago when she was as a guest on a running podcast that I follow. She was talking about recovery and she seemed very well versed in the subject. Not only that, but her experience in high-performance athletics as well as her background as an award-winning science journalist at The Washington Post and The New York Times, made me feel she was legit. The host also mentioned she had written a book on recovery, so I immediately ordered it.

Good to Go

A good book worth the money and time investment for anyone wanting to know more about athletic recovery.

As weekend warriors we tend to forget that our hard workouts, our weightlifting sessions, or our long runs will do nothing for us unless we allow our bodies to recover and adapt to what we just put them through. There will be no adaptation if we don’t rest and fuel ourselves properly. “Good to Go. What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery” will help you gauge the different elements of recovery and put them in the right perspective.

The book is a tour through the many aspects of athletic recovery. It covers the things “everybody knows” through the ones that seem kind of way out there in the “snake oil” category. You can discern her journalistic and scientific background in her writing as she explored the many angles of each aspect of the science of recovery. I am not going to say that I read the papers she quotes to make up my mind on any aspect of what she presents, but if you start from the premise she is a solid researcher, as she seems to be, and an honest journalist, you will be impressed with what she presents in her book.

“Good to Go” is divided into 11 chapters. Each one goes in depth about an aspect of recovery. Nutrition, hydration, rest, compression, ice therapy, sleep, etc. They are individually treated and from several angles. With pros and cons, science research to back everything up, and the author’s personal experience trying many of the techniques and fads. Because the book was published in 2019, the author had access to the latest science and updates available, so you can learn a lot of new things.

The hydration chapter is fascinating. It goes through the history of the development of hydration as a science and how the sports drinks industry has taken over to popularize many myths that have become gospel in the endurance sports world. It is not that Gatorade doesn’t work, but it is not what it is marketed out to be either. You need to adapt your body to use its fluid resources wisely and then assist it with hydration while it works. A certain level of dehydration is perfectly normal. You don’t need to replenish every drop you sweat.

Good to Go

The author is an award-winning science journalist at The Washington Post and The New York Times.

As for fueling, I found was very interested in her debunking of the myth that there is a window of opportunity to feed your body after you wrap up your training. We’ve all heard that the magic window is the first hour, or even 30 minutes. She explains the science behind this and concludes that there is no “window of opportunity” but a “barn door of opportunity”. Your body is not going to reject the nutrient it needs just because they were offered too late for them to be absorbed. She concludes that unless you are to work out or compete again in a short period of time, there is no necessity to start refueling right away.

When it comes to sleep, there is one paragraph that blew my mind: “The benefits of sleep cannot be overstated. It is hands-down the most powerful recovery tool known to science. Nothing else comes close to sleep’s enhancing-recovery powers. You could add together every other recovery aid ever discovered, and they wouldn’t stack up. Going to sleep is like taking your body to the repair shop. While you doze, your body’s recovery processes ramp up to fix the damage you did during the day and get you ready to perform again”. Do you need to know anything else?

Of course I am synopsizing in one paragraph what I liked the most about entire chapters of about 20+ pages, with scientific quotations, personal experiences and field studies. What I am stating here is by no means the entire book, just a few comments to whet your appetite if you would like to learn more about these subjects.

The author also goes into detail on issues such as nutritional supplements, overtraining syndrome, and the placebo effect, providing you with scientific based information from several angles. These subjects, in conjunction with the other ones, will make you question some pre-conceived concepts you may have, and make you wonder if you’ve been approaching your recovery all wrong.

By the way, the book’s conclusion is that good sleep trumps every other aspect of recovery, so focus on that first. The rest is just icing on the cake.

“Good to Go. What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery” is not only a good book, worth the money and time invested in it. It is also well written, very entertaining, and will leave you with valuable lessons that will make you a better athlete.

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Book Review: 26.2 Miles to Boston

Book Review: 26.2 Miles to Boston

by | Mar 1, 2022 | Book Review

By Michael P Connelly
Reviewed by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

 “The beauty of the Boston Marathon is the way each mile takes a life of its own and has its own personality”. This is the first line of the Mile 13 chapter of the book 26.2 Miles to Boston, and it reflects the spirit of the book. The allure and the charisma of the Boston Marathon doesn’t need much explanation in a running blog. It is more than just one of the Majors. It is more than the oldest of marathons. It is royalty among foot races. It is the Mount Olympus of running achievements.

26.2 Miles to Boston

You don’t have to be a Boston veteran to enjoy this wonderful book about the race.

Ran yearly since 1897, it is the most iconic and prestigious marathon. Qualifying for Boston is either the goal or the dream of most runners, even if they know they will never accomplish it. The course is hallowed ground both for those who aspire to run it one day and to those who have ran it 50+ times.

Michael P. Connelly (not to be confused with Michael Connelly, author of detective and crime fiction novels) is a lifelong Bostonian, who has focused his writings on the local sports scene. He finished the race in 1996, so he speaks from first-hand experience. The premise of the book is to move the reader along the route in a fluid and linear fashion, mimicking the race.

Originally published in 2014, Connelly goes mile by mile through each nook, cranny, obstacle and topographical feature of the road that will take a runner from Hopkinton to Boston, as he/she goes through eight cities. The rich history of the race, its traditions, lore, highlights and iconic participants are expertly interwoven throughout the story. The rich history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and each one of the eight municipalities is well researched and told in an enjoyable manner.

From the foreword by four-time champion Bill Rodgers to the post-race celebration, the author guides you through every bit of history that has built the Boston Marathon legend through the 117 years until the writing of the book. This upcoming April 16h will be the 126th edition of the race.

Because the book was published in 2014, it touches briefly on the 2013 bombing. A few references are sprinkled here and there and, after the 26th mile, the story is divided into “385 Yards of Treachery”, where the author expands on the episode, and “385 Yards of Triumph”, where he exalts images of success that have highlighted the finish line area throughout the decades. Not sure if this happened because the book was written prior to the 2013 and he had to adjust, or because the author refused to let this tragedy become the protagonist of the race’s rich history. Regardless of the reason, I believe this was the right call.

Beyond the geography, the history and the landmarks, the author choses to expand one topic per mile. These include unknowns surging on early leads, the contribution of international runners, human stories, cheaters, great performances and performers, unethical tactics, etc.

Mile 5 goes in detail through the story of female inclusion in the race, which goes beyond the 1968 Kathrine Swtizer/Jock Semple tackle. Mile 8 delves into the rich history of cheating in this race, which starts in 1909 with Howard Pearce and climaxes in 1980 with Rosie Ruiz. Mile 9 goes into the addition of handicapped athletes and details the birth of Team Hoyt. Mile 11 expands on the war years and here you learn amazing tidbits, such as the fact that the 1918 race was a relay for military teams.

26.2 Miles to Boston

Seven-Time Boston Marathon Champion, Clarence DeMar.

The book peaks at Miles 19 with the Newton Hills and Heartbreak Hill at Mile 20. “The fibs the runners told themselves on the flats of Framingham are meeting the truth on the hills of Newton”, the author explains. His description is so vivid that even if you haven’t been there, you can feel the pain and the agony of the 700-yard uphill stretch as if you were struggling through it yourself.

I haven’t run the Boston Marathon, yet I was able to enjoy this book immensely. I am sure that for someone preparing for the race it will be a powerful addition to their training plan. This way they can understand what they’ll go though and enhance their Boston experience. At the same time, I assume that for someone who has ran the race, it could mean a lot more given their firsthand experience on the course.

26.2 Miles to Boston is a beautifully written book, worth the investment in time and money. It can be enjoyed by anyone who understands the meaning of the Boston Marathon to the running community.

 

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