Athletics Books

Whether you start with the Book of Genesis or the Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, we humans have long loved tales about creating a new world--or building one from scratch. Lloyd Kahn's new book, Builders of the Pacific Coast, is primarily an account of builders and hand-crafted structures dating from the 60s to the 80s. Yet the rugged coastal setting of his odyssey--a blue and green world from Point Reyes Peninsula to Vancouver Island--invokes a simpler, more pristine time, an Eden of sorts. When forests grew down to the sea, building codes were few, lumber was plentiful (often free) and anyone with skill, a strong back and the courage to try could create something beautiful and enduring.

On every page of this book is something shocking and delightful. A boat with legs. A roof like a leaf. A caravan with eyes. A split-cedar woodshed shaped like a bird. Stair rails so sinuous and snakey they might come to life and grab you. Sculpted earth walls. Round windows and arched doors. Roofs curved like seagull wings. Grottos choked with ferns and flowers.

Not that there's any shortage of creatures and fantastical characters. Just off-camera lurk orcas, eagles and bears. And then there are the builders themselves. There hasn't been a cast of characters this colorful since Ken Kesey packed up his Underwood.

Builders of the Pacific Coast rolls on, mile after mile, in an odyssey so firsthand and vivid that you feel every rut in the road. And come to know, as Lloyd Kahn did, the soul of the place. The strong hands and big hearts of the people, the staggering abundance of the land and sea, the leaping joy that such a place still exists.

Great book that I was first introduced to at work. I am a Massage Therapist and this book assists me to give the best home-care for my clients. It has many different stretches for all activities, as well as isolated stretches for particular parts of the body. An inexpensive addition to a home or professional library.

I'm an aging athlete. I know I should stretch more and this book is exactly what I need.

I'm an ancient, creaky registered nurse who works with an increasingly ancient, creaky population of inmates in a state prison. Not that inmates have ever been known to demonstrate poor judgement, bravado, or an overinflated sense of how to cope in a limited world, but STRETCHING is written in language they understand and has the best diagrams and instructions I have ever seen in a "How-to..." book about exercise. Without being preachy, it recommends moderation; without being childish, it emphasizes care, conditioning and attention to body messages. It is gentle, generic, and non-aggressive. It was recommended to my by a physical therapy student and I pass along that recommendation wholeheartedly. No matter what one's physical fitness level, restrictions or circumstances, STRETCHING is a "must have."

As an arthritis doctor, I have suggested this book to probably over 200 patients in the last 5 years. It is like "Ibuprofen on paper" but MUCH healthier. Don't be intimidated by the index, simply look at each page that offers stretches for your area of pain...then follow the ones that show the shaded area where your pain is. I use it myself daily! KH, MD

I believe I ordered a new book and not a "Used but looks like new". I received a used book and don't htink I will ever go with this particular seller again and would recommend you to do the same. The name of the seller is Kerbearstats.

This is a book that can change your life. On the surface this book is about "harnessing chi" to improve your running, but it's more about developing proper technique and developing your run into a meditative experience. This book helps you develop proper foot strike and position, leg bend and swing, posture, lean, arm swing, breathing, focus, developing speed and distance, as well as how to focus your mind on the run and improving. The authors also cover basics of stretching, hydration, nutrition ... everything you need to drastically improve your run. I've been running for four years and have suffered through painful knees and lower back spasms without any significant gains in speed or distance, but in the month since reading this book I've nearly doubled my weekly average and the pains are gone. Truly a life changing book.

A good friend of mine recommended this book to me when she heard I was training for my first marathon. It changed my perspective on running, and other sports for that matter - where I can accomplish more by "going a different route". I enjoy running more now, and am able to go longer distances without the effort and strain I had to go through before. I really like this book. It's out-of-the-box thinking.

Sometimes it is hard to read about something, rather than just doing it. But in this case, it is so well written, and walks you through some prep exercises, and that it makes it very easy to read and digest.

The other feature about this book is that CHI RUNNING is communicated in a very logical manner, which one might not expect from something with "CHI" in the title.

As an avid yogini, this ties in well with the concept of developing the core and allowing the muscles to relax (which sounds contrary) while running. It makes sense!!

I first discovered ChiRunning about two years ago, and have integrated
many of the techniques into my running game. I am revisiting this book
now, and gleaning new insights. It has been most helpful. Best of all,
I'm injury free!
Kudos to ChiRunning.

The 16 Minute Body Sculpting Kit: Attain Your Dream Body in Just 16 Minutes a Day!

I bought this book about 2 months ago while I was preparing for my first triathlon. I read a lot of the previous reviews, and I have to say that the major selling point for me wasn't the positive reviews. It was actually the negative ones who said the book was too hardcore. WOOHOO!! This was my kind of training manual. It's true that the suggested fitness programs are designed for people with several hours of available training time each day, but this can easily be tailored to meet a more restictive schedule. I really liked it because, besides the suggested training programs, the book is chalk full of information with drills and technique tweakers to improve each of the three sports. I know I'm just a beginner, but since all the negative reviews seem to be coming from other beginners, I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

When I first began doing triathlons there were not many resources available. I was excited to try the sport but I had no idea where to begin. This book provided me with coverage on all topics. How to prepare for the swim and make my stroke efficient. Drills for the bike and run and even tips on gear, clothing and transitions. It was truly a savior. Now there are communities like [...] and online coaching services like trainingpeaks but if you're old school and just want to pick up a book, this is a great place to start

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to train for multisport
competition. It has giving me a guide for preparing for my
1st event coming up in May of 09.

This is the Wal-Mart of Triathlon training guides. There is a representative in every department of training, but it does not contain enough of the depth of knowledge and detail that you would like from a "Bible" to be truly satisfying. Throughout the book you will find diluted versions of other works and training books/products (Pose Method, Total Immersion, Paleo Diet, etc). I've found that reading the original sources is much more satisfying for that craving of knowledge. If you are really looking to gain in depth knowledge about the skills, training, and diet necessary for triathlon I would recommend reading the following books as either a supplement or replacement for this book:

1. Dr. Nichloas Romanov's Pose Method of Running (and DVD)
2. Daniel's Running Formula
3. Triathlon Swimming Made Easy: The Total Immersion Way for Anyone
to Master Open-Water Swimming
4. Easy Freestyle DVD (also by Total Immersion)
5. Bicycling Magazine's Complete Book of Road Cycling Skills
6. The Paleo Diet

One word: AWSOME.

Get it as fast as you can. Everything is finally available for even the non-pro.

In the early twentieth century, we had "To kill a Mockingbird". Now in the twentieth century we have "until Proven Innocent". I highly recommend that you read this book.

As Nadine Strossen of the ACLU said in her blurb of "Until Proven Innocent," this book illustrates the importance of rights for the accused. Let's keep that in mind when we rush to judgement against the many, many people with far fewer resources who are accused of various crimes. Investigations utilizing DNA research have acquitted many people (mostly poor minorities) who not only had their reputations destroyed, but who spent years in a cage, sometimes on death row. It's curious how this case has gotten such sustained national attention, while far more egregious cases of false charges go barely mentioned, if at all. How many people are familiar with the case of the dozens of people of Tulia, Texas who were imprisoned by the acts of a single rogue DEA agent Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town? Matters are even worse when it comes to people of color who face charges of "terrorism." Actually, some of the Arab people we are "renditioning" in gulags around the world haven't even been formally charged. They've just been caught in the U.S. empire's unjust war of terror The Road to Guantanamo.

It is unacceptable that men are sometimes falsely accused. It is also unacceptable that each year in this country, around 30,000 women are impregnated through a sexual assault. It's also unacceptable that each night several hundred women will be punched, have their teeth knocked out, or be threatened by a man who reminds the woman that he has a gun.
It's this larger context of violence against women and the unjust imprisonment of minorities that the discussion of this case has ignored. Media figures who have given this case so much attention, like Sean Hannity, haven't said much of anything about the people on death row who Jesse Jackson helped to release. Many people who are concerned about the injustice of this case couldn't care less about the injustices activists like Jesse Jackson have been working on for years Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice and the Death Penalty. In fact, cases involving poor minorities being railroaded have become more likely since right-wing politicians have cut the funding for services like legal aid.

Two of the books that cover this case use the term "political correctness" in their title. Right-wing ideologues have massively publicized and seized upon this case to advance their perception management agenda PR! - A Social History of Spin. Meanwhile, they will systematically ignore even worse cases of being "found guilty until proven innocent," to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands of people in prison for violations of unjust laws, such as the laws of the anti-Constitutional "War on some Drugs" Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits From Crime.

We need to look at cases like this in their larger context. We need to ask why there was such a coordinated and sustained effort to entrench this particular case in the public mind, while other cases are marginalized. And we need to avoid the efforts by some to use this case to diminish the very real and very common instances of violence against women.
Here are some resources for those who are interested in the related subjects of race, class, gender and justice:
Global Lockdown: Race, Gender, and the Prison-Industrial Complex
Slam
The Warehouse Prison: Disposal Of The New Dangerous Class
Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison, The (8th Edition)
Overcoming Violence against Women and Girls: The International Campaign to Eradicate a Worldwide Problem

So many of the other reviewers have so forcefully and eloquently expressed my feeling about the book, I need hardly add to them. But my "heading" is quite serious: This book is worthy of a Pulitzer and a National Book Award -- non-fiction, investigative reporting, whatever the categories. (I believe the Pulitzers are to be announced in early April.)
Bob

It is quite likely that the infamous Duke rape case chronicled in Taylor and Johnson's book will one day be regarded as the emblematic parable of our time - in much the same way that the McCarthy hearings have become the emblematic episode of the early 1950s Cold War. It is difficult to conceive of an event that could more starkly highlight the societal dysfunctions of our era.

Taylor and Johnson's book amply demonstrates the incompleteness of viewing the Duke rape case simply as a rogue prosecutor running amok, unfairly targeting three boys despite profuse evidence of their innocence, and getting his comeuppance in the end. However unethical his conduct, DA Nifong could not by himself have catapulted these young men to national infamy. That sorry result required the active collaboration of countless accomplices: in the media, on the Duke faculty and administration, and within associations dedicated to the propagation of identity-politics grievance-mongering.

Indeed, the distinguishing aspect of this case is not that a prosecutor attempted to wrongfully charge three boys with rape -- for it seems sadly inevitable that somewhere, sometime across this nation, some such prosecutorial misconduct will recur. What distinguishes the Duke case is the ease with which so many attempted to shoehorn the events into a preconceived narrative of race- and sex-based exploitation (a narrative further spiced with an element of "revenge of the nerds" (faculty and press) against the "jocks" they resented.)

It is daunting enough that so many would jump to completely unsubstantiated conclusions before all the facts were out. The even greater tragedy is that once the facts were known, many people in positions of power and influence simply chose to disregard them insofar as they were inconvenient to the fantasy narrative in which they had invested so much of their professional identity. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is the disgraced "Group of 88" Duke faculty, who published an ad that presumed the fact of a sexual assault, contained a series of anonymous, unsubstantiated race-baiting quotes, and which encouraged the noise of the mob over the dispassionate evaluation of the evidence. Sadly, most of the Group of 88 has failed to apologize for their contribution to the hysterical atmosphere that gave momentum to the wrongful prosecution, but has since portrayed themselves as victims rather than transgressors, and misrepresented the plain language and intent of their own published statements. The juvenility of the Group of 88's methods of processing information has been on public display, and it has been an ugly sight to behold.

The stubborn refusal of so many in academia and the press to recognize factual reality even in the face of overwhelming evidence rightly calls into question the states of both competence and ethics in America's universities and in press rooms. As one example, noted sports journalist John Feinstein, we now know, was exactly wrong in his initial written interpretations of events, yet still had the audacity to write an article well after the resolution of the case, decrying the continuing lack of accountability in the Duke athletic department, while himself once again getting the facts wrong, and oblivious to the irony of his own calls for accountability in others. That so many in academia and journalism could sail blithely through this episode without looking themselves in the mirror and acknowledging their own pivotal roles in a gross injustice, sadly, speaks volumes about the state of both professions, and greatly explains growing public cynicism about each. Nifong was prosecuted for his misconduct, but Feinstein, Nancy Grace, and the Group of 88, among others, are still paid handsomely to prattle on as though their credibility is intact.

Taylor and Johnson relate the facts of the case in vivid, gripping detail. I give the book four stars rather than five because at places the text veers unattractively into an overheated blog style. The story is damning enough without this occasionally hamhanded commentary by the authors. But this is a minor sour note in the book; the reader is likely to be so incensed by the facts of the case, of which this is the best available history, that they will be unperturbed by stylistic imperfections.

Perhaps the clearest picture of the insidious forces of illiberalism that tried their best to deprive these young men of their freedom is obtained by drawing analogies with the McCarthyism of the 50s, as the authors do. It is frighteningly easy the way some people can change from persecutee to persecutor in such a short time. What is just as worrying is that this illiberal bloc that has developed in the States is mirrored all over the western world by similar forces in each country, which have spread like a particularly virulent fungus to wherever democracy has taken root, and which all guarantee the continuation of similar injustices, while the individuals involved continue their backpatting, under the illusion that they are fighting for freedom rather than against it. Well, this book is a wake-up call for you guys - the party's over, or at least winding down. For so long, critics of illiberalism have been branded right wing conservatives, fundamentalists, etc. if they so much as raised a voice in protest. It is important to all reading this review for you to know that by buying and reading this book, and throwing in your weight against these disturbing forces in our society, you are not throwing yourself in with conservative, reactionary, forces, but are in fact, taking a stand against them. This book is a Godsend to all who have suffered from today's McCarthyists, be they in America or around the world, because it gives an insight into the kind of minds that are ruining any hope of a decent society for our descendants to grow up in, and it is to these innocents that every thinking man and woman is morally obliged to ensure that those who have perverted the names of equality and correctness fail to reach the misty, utopian goals they have set for all of us.

I bought this book about six weeks before embarking on a golf trip that involved me playing 14 rounds in eight days. At the same time I revisited Ben Hogan's "Five Lessons Golf Fundamentals" book and adjusted my swing in tandem with both of these volumes. Like anything else, there is no magic bullet to instantly improve your golf swing or melt 10 strokes off your handicap. "Tour Tempo" is no different. However, having spent those last six weeks before the trip internalizing the "swing -- set -- through" tempo of the book into my swing, I can say that it does work in helping your swing become more consistent and, at least for me, hitting longer shots off the tee. I would absolutely recommend this book for any player because it does remove the mystery of how long the backswing/downswing should be. On the other hand, the book does not eliminate swing flaws. Tempo is a fundamental, but it is only one fundamental of the golf swing: swing path, arm mechanics, follow through, etc. must all remain sound in order for the ball to fly on its intended path.

A final word in praise of the book is that I have brought the tempo ideas not only into my full swing but also into my chipping and more importantly into my putting. On my golf trip I believe that I holed many more short putts and successfully lagged many more of my longer putts thanks to implementing the concepts of this book into my putting stroke. Nevertheless, the reason I do not give the book 5 stars is that like almost every other golf instructional book and swing aid, I do believe that it overpromises the results that golfers will obtain by implementing its concepts. Of course, the author wants to sell some books I can't begrudge him that, but it is not an instant cure of any fundamental golf swing flaw.

I bought this more than a year ago. Gave it a short trial and off it went to my bookshelf. At the beginning of this season, my handicap was 14(mainly due to a decent short game). I started practicing on the grass vs mat twice a week. As a result, I was forced to improve the fundamental of weight transfer.

I was going to play at poppy hills last month and I looked for the CD that comes with this book and listened to it in my car, but I don't think it helped me much during that round.

So why 4 stars?

I have realized that if I carefully follow the "L" drill mentioned in the book, it sets up the club on a good path and I can feel the club hitting the ball more squarely. As a result, the number of good hits went up significantly during the practice. So, in my opinion, the practice drills mentioned in the book has greater significance than the tempo theory covered in the book/CD.

I have had practice sessions where I was hitting the balls while listening to the tempo tones on my iPhone. Although, I was matching my swing to the tones, the results were inconsistent because I was not following the fundamentals consistently.

Whenever I follow the test tones along with setting up my hands in "L" position properly during my backswing, the entire swing becomes effortless with great results.

So, why not 5 stars?

That's because, greater emphasis is placed on tempo theory/tones. After you watch the video on the included CD, you get the feeling that if you can match my swing speed with the tones, you can hit the balls solid, your swing speed with increase, blah blah blah. In short, the book oversells tempo to beginning/intermediate golfer.

I recommend this book/CD along with "The Keys to the Effortless Golf Swing:..", to cover the fundamentals and tempo.

Good luck with your game and don't forget to practice your short game along with full swing! Cheers..

Tour Tempo is a very useful instructional book for someone who has an intermediate level of golf ability/experience. It may be the only golf book that deals with how fast one should swing, as opposed to the detailed positions and mechanics that also make up a golf swing. Tempo is indeed important in a golf swing, because a golf swing is not a static event.

This book is the perfect complement to another terrific instructional book, 'The Keys to the Effortless Swing' as Amazon noted.

As a coach and instructor I am allways looking for information that helps to explain aspects of the golf swing to my students. Tour Tempo has provided me with just another way of explaining what the effect of taking the club away to slowly will have on distance and direction. Thank you
John Novosel for your insite. Coach H.Turk Walker

Tour tempo is easy to read, the concept is very simple to adopt and more importantly works! The downside is my wife thinks I have lost my mind walking around saying swing, set, through!

This book certainly does not follow the KISS formula. I gave up trying to figure it all out and put it up where I don't have to be reminded I wasted my money. If you're an experienced runner then this book might work for you. If you're pushing 50 and just want to get in better shape via jogging there has to be better. This book is like geared towards olympic hopefuls I think.

This book is fantastic! Gets into why you do certain workouts without getting so technical you can't understand it.

Also has training plans for a variety of experience levels and distances.

A must read for runners!

The results talk by themselves, my PR before following Jack Daniel's training plans: 3:24 for the marathon, achieved after years of running. Followed the "Marathon Training Plan A (pg. 260) for 2008 Boston Marathon and got a new PR of 3:17:11, followed the Elite Training Plan (pg. 264) and a new PR of 3:01:45 in last September's 2008 Berlin Marathon. This book is great, full of smart tips and science. The plans are no play, this is serious training but the rewards are great, specially when you are 48!

I wish I would of had a book like this when I was running in high school and college. Loaded with valuable info, covering just about everything.

After being dissapointed and wasting money on many of todays running/training books, i found Daniels to be almost a bible for runners and coaches....Jack daniels is a genious in the way he has put together such a complete easy to understand book....it covers all aspect of training, no stone is left unturned and i can honestly say that anyone who follows his training tables and intensity charts will get faster!!!!
all the guess work is taken out of training...it even has several great training programms for most distances..and they work...i have read this book cover to cover several times and still learn something new each time....all the athletes i coach are making faster and safer progress due to his training guidlines...well done Jack Daniels

I've used this program for several years as part of my PT training cycle, and even as Ranger school prep with outstanding results. If you need a program that takes you away from the weights or you are bored easily with your workout, his program will push you out of your comfort bubble and keep you interested, especially when you see the results.

This is one of the best fitness programs ever. Regardless of if you are trying to become a Navy SEAL or not this is a great physical fitness program. The exercises are explained well and and theprogram is easy to follow. Great tips for just overall fitness are included throughout the book. I love it and use stuff from it all the time. I will be buying products from Stew Smith in the future.

If you are looking for a book that will get you into shape as well as give you a great look, well this is the book for you. I used this book a few times now and each time always see results. I must say one thing though if you are not dedicated don't buy this book. You will just be wasting you money. It is for a person with a great deal of desire and personel resolve. All in all this book is worth its weight in gold. No matter what physical expectation you are looking for this is the book for you. I have tried many other workout books and none seem to even come close to the quality of this. Just get this book and it will be your companion for a long time.

The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness is the most complete and informative SEAL preparation guide available.

The guide covers everything needed to prepare for BUD/S. It starts off by explaining how to properly warm up, then moves on to the exercises that are experienced in the workout. All of the stretches and exercises have excellent photos showing exactly how they are to be performed. There is also a helpful workout devoted to those who wish to start the 12 weeks to BUD/S workout, but who aren't yet in proper shape.

Not only does this guide cover workouts to get physically and mentally prepared for BUD/S, but it also covers how to properly run in the sand, techniques for climbing rope, and how to perform the Combat Swimmer Stroke.

All I can say is that this workout got me into the greatest shape of my life. I did the workout my senior year in high school and gained 15 pounds of pure muscle. I went from doing 13 pullups to 25 after the workout, and from 42 pushups to 100. Definite increase in chest size and some in arm size as well. Abs are now well defined. But that is not the best part. No, the best part is the unstoppable confidence that you gain from doing the workout - after this, I felt like I could do ANYTHING I set my mind to. Trust me, this workout is not easy, but it IS entirely doable. Just thinking back to the lonely nights where I was mentally and physically exhausted, having completed 60 pullups, 150 pushups, 300 situps, 100 dips...only to know that I was only halfway done...and pushing THROUGH that mental barrier gave me the utmost gratification. You feel powerful after each workout, knowing that you are doing something that the average man could not even dream of, and knowing that YOU possess the self-discipline to make yourself great is the most wonderous benefit that you will walk away with...if you complete it.

This book is not only trains your body, but your mind as well. Do it. Hooyah!!!

The book is easy to follow and it works. It provides step by step details on how to produce the kinds of desired results.

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I think this may work for some people, but I am suspicious of any book that tells you that you only have to work out for half an hour a week to get good results. I tried the method detailed in the book (extremely slow and intense lifting without a break for half an hour) and didn't find it to be as effective for me as stated. However, that said, I am sure it does work for some. For me, the main benefit of this book is the detailed instructions he provides on how to use various weight lifting machines.

I am not sure this is the correct style for everyone. I am trying to get strong which is typically done using heavy weight and low reps. And this training is not designed for that. I think you can only get so strong with this style because you will burn out before you build up.

I was recommended this book by a guy from my church who lost something like 50 lbs on the program. I checked it out and was impressed that the program was both simple and yet also up to date with contemporary fitness research. It takes much of what I've read in books on fitness and nutrition and what my trainer has told me and puts it into a program that is simple to follow and easy to remember. It is probably not for the intense athletes or serious body-builders, but for those who want to stay or get into shape and stay there while still living a relatively normal and busy 21st century lifestyle, it is quite good.

This program has helped me lose the "last 10 pounds." My muscle tone has improved by leaps and bounds as has my balance and flexibility. As an added incentive, I lost 10 pounds! I recommend this program because it is well blanced, fun, and challenging. As an "over 50" R.N., I can see the benefits even for disabled patients I work with. The only weakness is compiling all the exercises into a book for use in the gym. I tore apart a book and copied each page, enlarging at the same time, and then arranged in a notebook according to the daily plan. A benefit is the web site where you can actually see the exercises demonstrated as well as the CD that is available (info in the back of the book)

This book is great for beginning fitness levels and experts alike. It is very detailed and thorough. I recommend it to coaches, trainers, and athlete

I was very excited about the workout routine and really think the concept makes sense.He was good at getting your attention and reminding you that it's not all about looks but about health for years to come.
What I didn't like was that it was very confusing to me. The way it was laid out and the terms used were kinda of tricky for me to remember.
I felt like I had to plan out what I was going to do for 15 minutes before doing a single exercise.
I also didn't see any mention about how to customize exercises for those that have knee problems or other issues someone may have. I know he cannot address everyone's problems but there doesn't seem to be any advice in that area.
I think I would have rather borrowed the book from a friend/library but now that I have it I will continue with the program.

Like alot of the excersices but some are a bit to advanced. Lost a few pounds tho. :-)

I originally checked this book out at the library thinking it would just be another repeat of other core books I have read, but I was pleasantly surprised. I have been a certified personal trainer for 4 years and some material can get pretty redundant, so I'm always looking for fresh new ideas on fitness. This book was very informative on not only exercises for strengthening the core, but also proper nutrition and recovery tips. I share a lot of the author's ideas and beliefs regarding all of these issues, so I decided to buy this book from my favorite online store- Amazon. You will wear this book out, it's great.

This is a great book.
Here's a story about the creation and promotion of this book -- which launched Chris as a bestselling sports author. This is an excerpt from my book, Book Marketing DeMystified: Enjoy Discovering the Optimal Way to Sell Your Self-Published Book, Practical advice from the inventor of print-on-demand (POD) publishing...

Chris Lear, a competitive cross country runner and freelance sportswriter,
knew all about focusing on one's personal goals. Chris saw publishing
through an on-demand service [Trafford Publishing] as a cost-effective
and fast way to refine and market-test his new
book in order to get `scouted' up to the major leagues
of publishing. Chris threw himself full-time into publicity
and promotion: speaking at athletic meets and
camps, ensuring that elite running stores were displaying
the book, securing reviews from Sports Illustrated,
USA Today and other media, contacting everyone he knew. Meanwhile
early readers were providing comments that fed into 30(!) rounds of revisions and corrections to perfect his story. The book was Running With
The Buffaloes: A Season Inside with Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher and
the University of Colorado's Men's Cross Country Team.

The result of Chris's 6-month marketing sprint? Chris's book was
high on Amazon.com's sports bestseller list, and The Lyons Press offered
him a contract - with an impressive advance on royalties - for
a new hardcover edition [isbn 9781585743285] with a national advertising
and publicity budget. Chris had won his first race as an author
and was soon commissioned to write another running classic called Sub
4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile [Rodale Books, isbn
9781579547462].

Chris's purpose (getting his book picked up by a major sports publishing
house) pointed to the optimal marketing mix solution: refining
his product while promoting through publicity and personal sales, and
ensuring it was available in influential places.

I highly recommend both of Chris's book -- very readable AND informative.

Incredibly engaging, very hard to put down. This book is a well written documentary of a season with the University of Colorado cross country team. It mixes team dynamics, coaching, training, and racing in an informative and engrossing way. It is difficult to imagine a current/former cross country or distance runner not relating to parts of, and thoroughly enjoying, this book.

Running with the Buffaloes was a great depiction of the CU X-cntry team. As a former Division 1 college cross country runner I have heard of Wetmore's heavy mileage programs, but really was able to gain a better understanding of it in his pseudo diary. I was also able to gain an appreciation of the team's woes through one of it's hardest seasons losing a member of the team and the numerous injuries they had. A must read for all runners and a great read for any athlete who wants to compete at a higher level.

I bought three copies of this book (and 2 other non-fiction, cross country based running stories "Harriers" and "God on the Starting Line"). I had the intent of donating two copies of each of these three to our local school libraries (middle and high schools) in the desire of trying to bring more attention to youth running in our semi-rural, football-is-everything Southern town. Big mistake with this story, for one main reason: just the titles of several of the chapters themselves contain unacceptable language for a school library. In fact, if I listed the chapter title names here I would bet that this review would be removed due to profanity.

The content of the book is undeniably a very entertaining read, but the book as a whole is best left OUT of school libraries.

Great detail. As a coach I actually used some of the work outs that he goes into great detail about.