Brought to tears by a book on running! (Read 607 times)

Ok, let me start by saying that I don't usually cry and that I have only once cried at TV (pregnant) and never at a book so this is not the norm for me. Yetserday I went to the library to get some Arthur Lydiard books (Run to the top & Jogging with Lydiard) and I also picked up a book called 'Uncommon Heart' about Anne Audain. I knew only that she was a New Zealand distance runner, and the honest truth is that I only knew this because I read the blurb on the back of the cover. I started reading the minute I got home and could not put the book down! At the very begining she tells of living on the Island Waiheke (with hills so steep that the bus stops to let the passengers off before ascending) and I was so excited to read of this world class runner that lived there. There, on Waiheke, on the island that has become my goal, my dream to run, my driving force really. When she was young she left the island to move to Otahuhu! She ran at the Otahuhu athletics club (inside the volcanic crater that I run around on my long runs!) and it was so cool to read about someone that trained and ran on the same streets as me! I read the book for about two hours and at some points was brought to tears as I thought 'That's exactly why I run'. Then I put on my shoes, hit the streets and enjoyed every step. I can only hope that the Lydiard books do the same for me! They had to order those in from a different library so they said I should get a phonecall soon to collect them. Claire xxx

Kirsten - Anne Audain lives in the States now. She was in Idaho at the end of the book and was director of the Idaho Women's Fitness Celebration (book was written in 2000). Because of this I would guess that her book would be available. Claire xxx

I feel better about being a 'girl pants' and crying now that I know others liked it too.