"At the end of every marathon training run, I recite the Penguin mantra: 'The miracle isn't that I finished, it's that I had the courage to start.' I thank John Bingham for bolstering my courage and helping me run, literally, for my life."--Jessica Stedman Guff, senior producer of ABiTV's "The View
"Jenny Hadfield is an amazing motivator. She makes regular people believe that they can undertake amazing things--and then she's there all the way to encourage them, right down to the finish line. I've never met another coach quite like her."--Kathy O'Malley, WGN Radio--Chicago talk show host in training for her first marathon
Once considered a feat for superhuman athletes, the marathon is now within every mortal's grasp. Former couch potato John Bingham has joined forces with coach Jenny Hadfield to create a winning plan that works for every mortal--even you.
In "Marathoning for Mortals, you'll find the courage to train, the willpower to persevere, and the tenacity to finish one mile after another. John and Jenny stick with you every step of the way, from your first insecure thoughts to your last-minute jitters to your supreme joy at the finish line. In "Marathoning for Mortals, you'll find:
8 training programs to run, run-walk, walk-run, or walk the half-marathon and marathon
The advice you need to physically, mentally, and spiritually reach your dreams
Tips to help you customize your training, buy the right shoes and apparel, and eat the best foods
Guidance for common motivational, physical, and emotional roadblocks
Join John and Jenny on an amazing transformative journey where the finish line is just the beginning.
John "the Penguin" Bingham writes amonthly column for "Runner's World magazine and teaches the basics of running to adult-onset athletes at his popular Penguin Flight Schools. He is also the author of "The Courage to Start: A Guide to Running for Your Life and "No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running.
Jenny Hadfield, M.A., C.P.T., is a fitness expert who has trained thousands of walkers, run-walkers, and runners of all levels. Her gentle yet uncompromising approach to training combined with her unique insights into the human body and mind will help you discover your inner long-distance athlete. She has qualified for the Boston Marathon and competed in three Eco-Challenges.

Great athletes make difficult moves look effortless with a combination of skill, strength, and balance. Traditional conditioning builds a fitness base, but modern sports training takes into account athletic movement patterns. The "Athletic Body in Balance" book and DVD first of its kind to show you how to train for smooth, fluid movement and prevent muscle imbalances, mobility restrictions, stability problems, and injuries.

Physical therapist and sports conditioning expert Gray Cook has proven the effectiveness of his approach through the performances of athletes in the NFL, NBA, NHL, WNBA, and Reebok(R) University's sports training system. Whereas other books concentrate on maximizing your strengths, the "Athletic Body in Balance" book focuses on exposing and overcoming your weaknesses to form a foundation for long-term training gains. Cook will help you identify functional weaknesses; correct imbalances; explore your potential; and refine sport-specific movement skills such as jumping, kicking, cutting, and turning. You will see where conditioning is breaking down and how to get your body back on track.

The "Athletic Body in Balance DVD" then covers five assessment tests to help you find the imbalances in movement patterns, sample corrective exercises to improve mobility and stability, and ways to integrate these exercises into a regular training program. The tests include

-deep squat--assessing the mobility and stability of the hips, knees, and ankles

-hurdle steps--evaluating bilateral mobility and stability of the hips, knees, and ankles

-in-line lunge--determining hip mobility and stability, quadriceps flexibility, and ankle and knee stability on both sides of the body

-straight leg raise--gauging hamstring flexibility

-seated rotation--measuring uppertrunk stability during a combined upper- and lower-body movement

Move more efficiently and achieve real gains in performance with the "Athletic Body in Balance" book and DVD.

Human Kinetics DVDs are coded for universal playback and can be played in all regions of the world.

In September 1972, Rodney Milburn of Opelousas, LA won the Olympic gold medal in the men's 110 meter high hurdles. Raised amidst segregation and poverty in the 1950's and 60's, Milburn honed his skills on a grass track over wooden hurdles - the most improbable of settings for a future Olympic champion. In a career that spanned more than a decade, Milburn established himself as the greatest hurdler of his era, and one of the greatest athletes in track history. In November 1997, while working at a paper mill near Baton Rouge, LA, Milburn passed away in a tragic accident. He was 47. This biography chronicles his rise from poverty to international athletic stardom, and the impact that he had on many lives. Included are insights from those who knew him well - from old coaches and teammates to competitive rivals. All those he encountered loved him, and marveled that such a successful athlete could be so humble. Track legends Renaldo Nehemiah, Dwight Stones, Tonie Campbell, Brian Oldfield, Bill Collins, and many others give their take on Milburn's remarkable achievements, and on the even more remarkable human being who inspired an entire generation of athletes who came after him.

The fantastic memoir by Roger Bannister, the middle-distance runner who achieved the epic quest to break the four-minute mile! All sports have pivotal moments, single events that change perceptions forever after. For the sport of running such a moment passed on a blustery May afternoon in 1954, when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile. This is the story of that fantastic run. Today, more than sixty years later, lovers of sport - runners and non-runners alike - will be moved by this impassioned story of one of sport's true heroes.

After World War II, the United States used international sport to promote democratic values and its image of an ideal citizen. But African American women excelling in track and field upset such notions. Cat M. Ariail examines how athletes such as Alice Coachman, Mae Faggs, and Wilma Rudolph forced American sport cultures—both white and Black—to reckon with the athleticism of African American women. Marginalized still further in a low-profile sport, young Black women nonetheless bypassed barriers to represent their country. Their athletic success soon threatened postwar America's dominant ideas about race, gender, sexuality, and national identity. As Ariail shows, the wider culture defused these radical challenges by locking the athletes within roles that stressed conservative forms of femininity, blackness, and citizenship. A rare exploration of African American women athletes and national identity, Passing the Baton reveals young Black women as active agents in the remaking of what it means to be American.

Guardian's Best Sports Books of 2014 SHORTLISTED FOR THE CROSS BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2015 LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015 In Chase Your Shadow, journalist and author John Carlin tells the gripping story of Oscar Pistorius's tragic journey from sporting icon to accused murderer. Before Valentine's Day of 2013, Pistorius was best known as an extraordinary athlete, the 'Blade Runner' who became the first amputee in history to compete in the Olympics. Everything changed after he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead in the early hours of 14 February. Overnight, the Olympian's status as a role model was replaced by tales of erratic behaviour and a violent dark side. With unique access to Pistorius himself, as well as to his friends and family, Carlin paints a portrait of a complex personality, a man whose heroic rise and even more dramatic fall is one of the most remarkable sports stories ever told.

Run faster, stronger, and longer--and remain injury free. With "Mastering Running," regardless of your age, optimal performance and new personal bests await.

Cathy Utzschneider, highly accomplished and renowned masters runner and coach, has created the definitive guide for runners, athletes, and fitness buffs. Runners from 30 to 100 will benefit from the targeted approach that covers these aspects:

- Evaluating and refining running form to improve speed and endurance

- Exercises, stretches, and routines to prevent common age-related injuries

- Training programs for the mile, 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon

- Proven strategies, used by today's top runners, that shave seconds off your time

"Mastering Running" contains all the advice and instruction you'd expect from an elite-level coach. With details on segmenting, front running, tapering, recovering, and fueling, " Mastering Running" is the one guide you'll rely on time and again to achieve your potential.

Written by the late, beloved Dr. George Sheehan, "Running & Being "tells of the author's midlife return to the world of exercise, play, and competition, in which he found "a world beyond sweat" that proved to be a source of great revelation and personal growth. But "Running & Being "focuses more on life than it does, specifically, on running. It provides an outline for a lifetime program of fitness and joy, showing how the body helps determine our mental and spiritual energies.Drawing from the words and actions of the great athletes and thinkers throughout history, Dr. Sheehan ties it all together with his own philosophy on the importance of fitness and sport, as well as his knowledge of training, injury prevention, and race competition. Above all, he describes what it means to experience the oneness of body and mind, of self and the universe. In this, he argues, we have the power to discover "the truth that makes men free."

A New York City firefighter's emotional and inspiring memoir of learning to run again after a debilitating accident, based on the wildly popular March 2009 piece in "Runner's World."
On the morning of December 22, 2005, Matt Long was cycling to work in the early morning when he was struck by and sucked under a 20-ton bus making an illegal turn. The injuries he sustained pushed him within inches of his life. Miraculously, more than 40 operations and months later, Matt was able to start his recovery. In spite of the severity of his injuries, Matt found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process. He would no longer be able to compete at the highest level.
In the 18 months before the accident, he had competed in more than 20 events including several triathlons and marathons and had qualified for running's most prestigious race, the Boston Marathon. After the accident, his doctor told him he'd be lucky if he could even walk without a cane.
The Long Run is an emotional and incredibly honest story about Matt's determination to fight through fear, despair, loneliness, and intense physical and psychological pain to regain the life he once had. The book chronicles Matt's road to recovery as he teaches himself to walk again and, a mere three years later, to run in the 2008 New York City Marathon--a gimpy seven-and-a-half hour journey through the five boroughs. "Running saved my life," Matt says, and his embrace of the running community and insistence on competing in the marathon has inspired many, turning him into a symbol of hope and recovery for untold numbers of others.

Breaking records and challenging the limits of human ability are central to much of our understanding of athletic track and field sports, with a world record title arguably as valued as an Olympic gold medal. Some particular limits and records take on greater significance, however, as in the case of the Four-Minute Mile which was roundly believed to be impossible until Roger Bannister shattered the illusion with half a second to spare in May 1954. These essays look at the background of Bannister's achievement and the meaning that was ascribed to it by the media and the public at large, drawing on an array of interdisciplinary and international influences to unpick the legend surrounding an historic moment in our social and sporting past.

For at least a century, across the United States, Mexican American athletes have actively participated in community-based, interscholastic, and professional sports. The people of the ranchos and the barrios have used sport for recreation, leisure, and community bonding. Until now, though, relatively few historians have focused on the sports participation of Latinos, including the numerically preponderant Mexican Americans. This volume gathers an important collection of such studies, arranged in rough chronological order, spanning the period from the late 1920s through the present. They survey and analyze sporting experiences and organizations, as well as their impact on communal and individual lives. Contributions spotlight diverse fields of athletic endeavor: baseball, football, soccer, boxing, track, and softball. ""Mexican Americans and Sports"" contributes to the emerging understanding of the value of sport to minority populations in communities throughout the United States. Those interested in sports history will benefit from the book's focus on under-studied Mexican American participation, and those interested in Mexican American history will welcome the insight into this aspect of the group's social history.

On 6 May, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to run the mile in less than four minutes. Fifty years on from the first four-minute mile, Bannister is a figure worthy of re-evaluation, as is the evolving world mile record, notes the author of this fascinating new book. A controversial revisionist history that looks at presumptions about Bannister's heroic status, it scrutinises Bannister's running career, providing fresh insights into the ?making of a champion?. needed a potent national symbol to distract from the perceived loss of national prowess, and the post-war austerity. Placing him in this context, John Bale here illuminates this nostalgic era, making it easier to understand why Bannister, a non-Olympic winner whose record lasted 46 days, secured such a high place in the history of British sport. image that is frequently painted? Highlighting his background, dedication, sporting discipline and even scientific methods he used, the book argues that he was hardly an upper class gentleman amateur, showing also why for some people he hasn't done enough to be a hero. As well as detailing the famous race, the book reveals many interesting details including Bannister's attitude towards the 1948 Olympics, a love-hate relationship with the British press, his individualism, modesty, attention to detail and secrecy about his training. running, the book also looks at what preceded these events and what followed them. It explains the evolution of the world mile record, how these records were achieved and why Bannister's achievement was perceived much more than breaking a record. It also looks at the aftermath of 6 May and whether Roger Bannister was in or out of place in the world of modern sports. Another value of this book is that it includes both praises and criticism of Bannister's achievements through global perceptions as well as those of the British public.

Perhaps more than any other two colleges, Harvard and Yale gave form to American intercollegiate athletics--a form that was inspired by the Oxford-Cambridge rivalry overseas, and that was imitated by colleges and universities throughout the United States. Focusing on the influence of these prestigious eastern institutions, this fascinating study traces the origins and development of intercollegiate athletics in America from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Smith begins with an historical overview of intercollegiate athletics and details the evolution of individual sports--crew, baseball, track and field, and especially football. Then, skillfully setting various sports events in their broader social and cultural contexts, Smith goes on to discuss many important issues that are still relevant today: student-faculty competition for institutional athletic control; the impact of the professional coach on big-time athletics; the false concept of amateurism in college athletics; and controversies over eligibility rules. He also reveals how the debates over brutality and ethics created the need for a central organizing body, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which still runs college sports today. Sprinkled throughout with spicy sports anecdotes, from the Thanksgiving Day Princeton-Yale football game that drew record crowds in the 1890s to a meeting with President Theodore Roosevelt on football violence, this lively, in-depth investigation will appeal to serious sports buffs as well as to anyone interested in American social and cultural history.

In the first book on this tragic event, "4:09:43," Hal Higdon, a contributing editor at Runner's World, tells the tale of the Boston Marathon bombings. The book's title refers to the numbers on the finish-line clock when the first bomb exploded.

In "4:09:43," Higdon views Boston 2013 through the eyes of those running the race. You will meet George, a runner from Athens, birthplace of the modern marathon, who at sunrise joins the eerie march of silent runners, all aimed at their appointments in Hopkinton, where the marathon starts. You will meet Michele, who at age 2 helped her mother hand water to runners, who first ran the marathon while a student at Wellesley College, and who decided to run Boston again mainly because her daughter Shannon was now a student at Boston University. You will meet Tracy, caught on Boylston Street between the two explosions, running for her life. You will meet Heather, a Canadian, who limped into the Medical Tent with bloody socks from blisters, soon to realize that worse things exist than losing a toenail.

In what may be a first, Hal Higdon used social media in writing "4:09:43." Sunday, not yet expecting what might happen the next day, Higdon posted a good-luck message on his popular Facebook page. "Perfect weather," the author predicted. "A 'no-excuses' day." Within minutes, runners in Boston responded. Neil suggested that he was "chilling before the carb-a-thon continues." Christy boasted from her hotel room: "Bring it "

Then, the explosions on Monday Like all runners, Higdon wondered whether marathoners would ever feel safe again. Beginning Tuesday, runners told him. They began blogging on the Internet, posting to his Facebook page, offering links to their stories, so very similar, but also so very different. Over the next several hours, days, and weeks, Higdon collected the tales of nearly 75 runners who were there, whose lives forever would be shadowed by the bombs on Boylston Street.

In" 4:09:43," Higdon presents these stories, condensing and integrating them into a smooth-flowing narrative that begins with runners boarding the buses at Boston Common, continues with the wait at the Athletes' Village in Hopkinton, and flows through eight separate towns. The story does not end until the 23,000 participants encounter the terror on Boylston Street. "These are not 75 separate stories," says Higdon. "This is one story told as it might have been by a single runner with 75 pairs of eyes."

One warning about reading "4:09:43" You will cry. But you will laugh, too, because for most of those who covered the 26 miles 385 yards from Hopkinton to Boylston Street, this was a joyous journey, albeit one that ended in tragedy. This is a book as much about the race and the runners in the race as it is about a terrorist attack. In future years as people look back on the Boston Marathon bombings, "4:09:43" will be the book that everyone will need to have read.

One second in time may separate the great athlete from the merely good. Seb Coe has made every second count. From an early age he has been driven to be the best at everything he does. Since the moment Coe stood alongside a 'scrubby' municipal running track in Sheffield, he knew that sport could change his life. It did. Breaking an incredible twelve world records and three of them in just forty-one days, Seb became the only athlete to take gold at 1500 metres in two successive Olympic Games (Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984). The same passion galvanised Coe in 2005, when he led Britain's bid to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games to London. He knew that if we won it would regenerate an East London landscape and change the lives of thousands of young people. It has. Born in Hammersmith and coached by his engineer father, Coe went from a secondary modern school and Loughborough University to become the fastest middle-distance runner of his generation. His rivalry with Steve Ovett gripped a nation and made Britain feel successful at a time of widespread social discontent. From sport Coe transferred his ideals to politics, serving in John Major's Conservative government from 1992 to 1997 and developing 'sharp elbows' to become chief of staff to William Hague, leader of the Party from 1997 to 2001 and finally a member of the House of Lords. Running My Life is in turns exhilarating, inspiring, amusing, and extremely moving. Everyone knows where Sebastian Coe ended up. Few people realise how he got there. This is his personal journey.

In December 1956 Ronnie Delany sprinted home to win the gold medal in the 1500m Olympic final in Melbourne, setting a new Olympic record in the process. In the depressed Ireland of the fifties, Delany's win - an outsider storming ahead to beat the favourites - caught the imagination of a nation, and made him a sporting icon. In Staying the Distance, Delany tells the story of his childhood in Arklow and Sandymount, his early triumphs on the Irish athletics circuit and his realisation that he had it in him to become a great runner. In 1954 Delany won an athletics scholarship to Villanova University in Pennsylvania where he trained under legendary coach Jumbo Elliot. To a naive Irish boy in the 1950s, American campus life was glamorous and exciting, and as well as athletics training, there were dances and study sessions, girlfriends and theatrical productions, all brought to life in his own words. Delany's speed was increasing all the time; in 1954, he reached the final of the 800m at the European Championships, and in 1956 became only the seventh runner to join the exclusive club of four-minute milers. Then came his phenomenal win in Melbourne, and a new Irish hero was born. Though most famous in Ireland for his Olympic win, Delany pursued his running career in the US, where from March 1955 through March of 1959 he ran thirty-four major indoor mile races against all kinds of opponents, domestic and foreign, and won them all. He broke the indoor world record for the mile three times. The excitement of indoor racing was enhanced by an orchestra; When Irish Eyes are Smiling was a popular number during Delany's incredible forty race winning streak. Fifty years on from the Melbourne Olympics, Ronnie Delany tells the story of his life and career in his own warm and engaging style. Lavishly illustrated with photographs spanning his athletic career, this is the story of one of Ireland's greatest and best-loved sportsmen.