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Book Review: The Little Red Book of Running
By Jim Hage
September/October 20111
The Little Red Book of Running
By Scott Douglas (Skyhorse Publishing) $16.95
In “The Little Red
Book of Running,” Scott Douglas distills three decades of immersion in his favorite sport into 250 thoughtful, witty, and always informative nuggets that will change the way novices and veterans alike approach their daily runs.
Scott is a former member of the Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC) and was a top area runner in the early 1990s (he ran 51:01 for 10 miles at Annapolis and still holds the Back to School (Bethesda) 8K course record) before he turned his talents to writing professionally. Today he is a senior editor for Running Times magazine.
By way of disclosure, this writer has been good friends with Scott for 20 years; and to compound the self-reference, I am cited (not by name) more than once in the book, most often as the poster boy for how not to proceed (ibuprofen, streaking, pre-run eating).
Scott’s advice ranges from the how, where, and when to run to the coldly realistic (Tip No. 99: Not Every Race Is the Olympics) to the inspirational (Tip No. 127: Do Something! Anything!). He invests 50 solid tips on the practicalities of how to avoid, treat, and beat injuries, and many insider tips on how to buy running shoes (“don’t rely solely on shoe reviews in running magazines” and “tread lightly around in-store analysis of your running form”).
Scott is a contrarian by nature, so his thoughts are sometimes unconventional on their face. We’ve all long heard bromides against junk miles, but Scott begins Tip No. 1 emphatically: “There are no junk miles.” And then, like a good rhetorician, he makes his case step by step, mile by mile. Similarly, Scott debunks the regularly espoused 10 percent “rule” in favor of a more practical and effective approach to building mileage. My favorite among the Snotty Scotty set is No. 188: Ignore Your Treadmill Console.
And while the book details soup to nuts (or jogging to racing) for beginning runners, the thrust of Scott’s philosophy is the pursuit of excellence in running–and indeed, in life. The first half of the book concerns increasing daily and weekly mileage in sustainable ways; from that base the discussion expands to building speed, “even if you’re never going to race.” Running at a variety of paces develops better muscular strength and overall fitness, Scott says, while making workouts more enjoyable.
Once that foundation is laid, the true art of Scott’s work takes place. In a book presented ostensibly as a “how to” of running, Scott gently, almost imperceptibly, asks the reader to join him on a trek that is about running as much as it is about life. See Nos. 234 and 235: Run Away From Ruts and The World Can Wait.
If we’re serious about running, as is our guide, then why wouldn’t we prepare, train, and race intelligently, day in and day out? While most of us lack Scott’s discipline, his thoughts and suggestions, so logically presented, illuminate the big picture. Scott admits that some of his tips are aspirational (No. 242: Let the Idiot Drivers Yell), and anyone who has run with him knows Scott isn’t always the perfect running ambassador, but at least he knows of what he speaks (No. 245: Nobody Likes a Martyr).
Scott has produced an important and wonderfully idiosyncratic addition to the running literature; one that I predict will long transform the way we run. At least I hope that is the case, because Scott proposes a running life that is fitter, smarter, faster, and better. And I’m on Day 10 without ibuprofen.
Skyhorse Publishing Company, Inc., c2011. Hardback. 224 p. ISBN 1616082968
Jim Hage has been running and racing in the Washington, DC area for more than three decades and is a regular contributor to the Washington Running Report.