Running & Being: The Total Experience

I stopped running a little over 15 years ago. Lately I've picked it back up, overcoming a number of chronic injuries to do so. And I've also started racing for the first time in my life. This book was exactly what I needed right now. It's buoyed my spirit and my confidence and most importantly affirmed my experience of the more transcendent aspects of running. I'm a long time meditator, so Dr Sheehan's observations ring very true for me with respect to the soul-sharpening mind-heightening virtues of running. It's 100% my experience. This man has successfully channeled his deeper life experience into this distilled format with beauty grace and much candor. I'm so grateful. This was an awesome read and if your heart beats, it will nourish your soul as a runner and an aspiring human being.

I love love love this book and am a great admirer of George Sheehan. I can't run anymore, but I walk and swim and in my heart I'm an athlete, a 61-year-old athlete. I have an old copy, full of highlighted passages and notes from long ago. Now I have a fresh copy, and I'm ready to read it again. It's autumn and I am planning to hit the roads in the morning.

Besides watching pro wrestling, the more serious thing that I spent my teenage years doing was runningcross-country and track. And yet as this author and book show, it was fun, in a way that you either getor you don't. I began in 1992 and soon got a subscription to Runners' World. While it featured a numberof contributors, the one who was esteemed above all was Dr. George Sheehan. If I remember correctly,his columns were recycled as "The Best of Sheehan" or something like that. After my freshman year ofcollege I retired from competitive sports, but after my sophomore year I came across this book, whichintegrated my philosophical studies with how I spent my teenage years.It was a pleasure to re-read this book after many years. I got many of the author's literary, philosophicaland social science allusions better than I did the first time. But to be honest, I didn't enjoy, and didn'tfeel the book as much, because I haven't been living it recently. Hopefully I will again. The past few monthsI've been battling Lyme disease and switched to lower impact activities. Fortunately, I was able to feelthe final chapters more immediately. But even the opening is of value, where Sheehan talks about beingan ectomorph, hungry, more interested in ideas than people, being cheap and low-maintenance buthigh-maintenance for everybody else, in a funny and self-deprecatory way. And naps are one of themost underrated things in civilization. There's a dark Irish sensibility to the spirituality that I thinkmost runners will get, as they have for the past five decades.The author himself had a rejuvenation from a midlife slump through running. Whatever the reader'spassion or lack thereof, hopefully you can find some inspiration here.Here are some passages that I found to be key.p. 20 The runner does not run because he is too slight for football or hasn't the ability to put a ball througha hoop or can't hit a curve ball. He runs because he has to. Because...he is fulfilling himself and becomingthe person he is.Note-for women and others who don't like the "he" language, Sheehan gets to that issue in anothersection.p. 65 It is not running, but running that is play, that is necessary. Exercise that is work is worthless. Butexercise that is play will give you health and long life. Exercise that is not play accentuates rather thanheals the split between body and spirit.p. 100 Yes I can see Christ the football player. Just as I can see Christ the plumber, the artist, or thecarpenter. The Good News he brought two millenia ago is that the body is holy, the world is sacred,and nothing human is alien to me. When he became man, we became men. The message of Bethlehemwas not simply that all men were created equal, but that all men were created unique. And theywould succeed or fail in the same way they fulfilled the possibilities of this uniqueness-the oneauthentic life each one should lead.p. 194 Everything is vanity and chasing the wind, said Ecclesiastes. Driving race cars, runninggovernments, amassing wealth, building cities: all this is vanity and chasing the wind. But,said Ecclesiastes in an about-face, whatever you put your hand to, do it with all your might.p. 242 A very small life, you say. So was Emily Dickinson's. Yet so full I can but envy her. Others,of course, see it so empty they can only pity. She saw no moor. Saw no sea. Saw few people. Thefew she loved died. But all the while, she played her game with God.253 I told them of the beauties of our bodies, and how we needed play. I told them we were allto be heroes in some way, and if we were heroic enough we would see God.Final note-I tend to be inspired by the religious sections, but there are large parts of the bookthat are spiritual and philosophical in a more generic sense, relying heavily on social scienceand the author's background as a cardiologist.

I really did love this guy and his books. There are very few chances I get to say something I did or saw or came across that literally changed my life. I was a skier back in the day and every spring summer and fall it was about conditioning our bodies year long, for the next winter season. Running is one that was ALWAYS in my face,but it was hard. What I heard from others about it was hard to digest.Then several years later,a friend, no one from an athletic background or skiing mention this book,Running and Being. I thought, I'll give it a try. At the time, I was a 2-3 mile jogger.This was max.After reading George's book and how to approach running, then applying these practices togethe.,I was astonished how to run was completely different effort than I had known. This changed my life I became a half marathoner, at least twice a week and ran at least 5 miles on my off days. Like growing wings in every aspect of my life.Essentially, the concept or achievement in jogging had been first mapping out a route by personal preference and distance. We come up with a distance we want to run. Without much knowledge of our condition to achieve this goal. Many people were suffering from injuries and sometimes fatal consequences. It wasn't till I put Georges concepts to practice, did I learn a much safer and more enjoyable jogging experience. The sky had parted at this moment. Goerge stressed the importance of dropping the goal of trying to achieve distance and use time as a format instead. Especially it the earliest stages of starting to jog or beginning a new season. Run for awhile and if it becomes to stressful walk but the point is keep moving forward regardless for the time being and within this time period. However you do for the time if fine. Then extend your running periods more and more. Eventually you are jogging the whole time. I was surprised how far I went and was able to increase the time. A little at a time. To 1 1/2, 2,2 1/2 hrs. It was a easy program to follow. It made sense to me. I wasn't injuring myself as often.I read the original book and now see it revised in its current edition. I would like to get the original version.

It started out good and ended well, and in between there are some great one liners and quotable moments, but there were a few chapters in the middle where the author drove deep into things that weren't really running related. As a reader, I never recovered. While the book ended well, I found myself rushing to get it over with - found myself skimming to the end rather than actually reading. A solid 3 stars, but I can't give it more than that.

It's a book about life, and the joy of running. A lot of wisdom there. Worth reading. Not a regular training book

This fantastic book is recommended to all runners. It’s not about techniques or improving your timings but philosophical contemplation by a runner.

Ho letto l'ultima parte un po' a forza. La prima parte è più interessante. L'autore è un po' pieno di se, e questo diventa un po' faticoso, ma dice cose per esempio sul body type: il tipo di fisico che uno ha, che fanno riflettere.

il y a des chapitres que j'ai adorés... d'autres trop philosophiques pour moi.donc il y en a que j'ai lu en travers... mais en gros les bons meritaient mon achat

Ein bisschen amerikanisch beseelt, aber immer noch sehr inspirierend, auch für "lebenslange" LäuferInnen. Dr. Sheehan lässt sich jederzeit gut als Motivationsquelle nutzen.