Chi Marathon

Challenges common practices while outlining a technique-based program for pain- and injury-free high-performance half and full marathons.

From the authors of the bestselling Chi Running, a game-changing training guide for injury-free long distance running. In Chi Marathon, Danny Dreyer, creator of the revolutionary ChiRunning program, highly respected running coach, and accomplished distance runner, takes a whole-body approach to long-distance running—much like T’ai Chi—making ease and efficiency of movement the prime goal of one’s training. Chi Marathon is the first book to focus not on building stamina first (though that is covered here) but on how to run all those miles without harming your body. A staggering 80 to 90 percent of marathoners face injuries during their training. This book debunks the myth that marathoners need to push through and beyond pain, and presents a technique-based plan for pain- and injury-free, high-performance half and full marathons. Chi Marathon also shows how to improve your performance by developing your own race-specific training plan tailored to your event, and will help you cross the finish line feeling strong no matter your age, body type, or running ability. -Run a marathon or half marathon free of pain and injury -Transform your racing with the training triad: form, conditioning, and mastery -Tap into your chi, an energy source more powerful and enduring than muscles -Teach your mind and body to work together as a team and master your event This is the book that distance runners have been waiting for. With Chi Marathon you can enjoy the run and feel confident no matter the distance.

The revised edition of the bestselling ChiRunning, a groundbreaking program from ultra-marathoner and nationally-known coach Danny Dreyer, that teaches you how to run faster and farther with less effort, and to prevent and heal injuries for runners of any age or fitness level. In ChiRunning, Danny and Katherine Dreyer, well-known walking and running coaches, provide powerful insight that transforms running from a high-injury sport to a body-friendly, injury-free fitness phenomenon. ChiRunning employs the deep power reserves in the core muscles, an approach found in disciplines such as yoga, Pilates, and T’ai Chi. ChiRunning enables you to develop a personalized exercise program by blending running with the powerful mind-body principles of T’ai Chi: -Get aligned: Develop great posture and reduce your potential for injury while running, and make knee pain and shin splints a thing of the past. -Engage your core: Shift the workload from your leg muscles to your core muscles, for efficiency and speed. -Add relaxation to your running: Learn to focus your mind and relax your body to increase speed and distance. -Make it a Mindful Practice: Maintain high performance and make running a mindful, enjoyable life-long practice. It’s easy to learn. Transform your running with the ten-step ChiRunning training program.

Received the Hal Higdon Journalism Award, recognizing serious journalism about running from the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA, 2007). The first book-length study of the city’s great annual contest In The Chicago Marathon, Andrew Suozzo reveals this citywide ritual as far more than a simple race. Providing a full-spectrum look at the event’s production and participants, Suozzo shows how the elements that comprise the marathon also reflect modern Chicago’s politics, it’s people, and the ways the city engages with the wider world. The book encompasses all of the forces that come together to make the race the spectacle it has become today. Beginning with a brisk history of the marathon, Suozzo leads readers from its origins in Greek mythology to its modern reality, and also along its rocky road to international prominence. He investigates the roles of sponsorship, small-business support, and the city’s intervention on behalf of the marathon, as well as the alliances the event has forged with the media and charity fundraisers. He also discusses race management and the grassroots support that ultimately make it possible, with a special perspective on the aid station directors and volunteers. Finally, The Chicago Marathon features numerous interviews with the runners themselves, ranging from world-renowned professional athletes to amateurs with diverse backgrounds and abilities.

DOES IT SEEM LIKE YOU NEVER HAVE TIME TO MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE? Are you waiting for a hero to come and rescue you? Do you feel like the universe is conspiring against you to keep you from doing what will make you happy? Duane Martinz knows those feelings, but over time, he has learned not to let fear and setbacks stand in his way. In 'Becoming Your Own Champion', Duane shares the inspirational tale of how he learned to change his thoughts and the stories he told himself into a tale with him at the center as the champion of his own life. Through his story, you will learn how to declare your own championship season and rescue yourself from monotony and lack of fulfillment. When you embark on this championship season journey with Duane, you will finally discover how to: * Live life to the fullest * Not die with your music still in you * Surround yourself with greatness * Have an attitude of gratitude * Trust yourself * Become an uncommon leader * Do the right thing * Direct your outcome Overcome your fears After reading this book, you'll join Duane in being a reverse paranoid–someone who believes the universe is conspiring to bring about good in your life. And once you become your own champion, you'll discover that no doors are barred against you. Opportunity is knocking and you just need to open that door to experience life to the fullest, and it all begins with reading this book.

"With an appendix containing a full analysis of the debts of the United States, the several states, municipalities etc. Also statements of street railway and traction companies, industrial corporations, etc." (statement omitted on later vols.).

“It soon becomes clear that this book isn’t just about an athletic race. It’s also about the human race” (Bloomberg Businessweek). Having run in more than six hundred races over the span of fifty-five years, Ed Ayres is a legendary distance runner—and this book is his urgent exploration of the connection between individual endurance and a sustainable society. The Longest Race begins in 2001 at the starting line of the JFK 50 Mile—the nation’s oldest and largest ultramarathon and, like other such races, it’s an epic test of human limits and aspiration. At age sixty, his sights set on breaking the age-division record, Ayres embarks on a course over the rocky ridge of the Appalachian Trail, along the headwind-buffeted towpath of the Potomac River, and past momentous Civil War sites such as Harpers Ferry and Antietam. But even as Ayres focuses on an endurance runner’s familiar concerns—starting strong and setting the right pace, controlling his breathing, overcoming fatigue, and staying mindful of the course ahead—he finds himself as preoccupied with the future of our planet as with the finish line. A veteran journalist and environmental editor, Ayres reveals how the skills and mindset necessary to complete an ultramarathon are also essential for grappling anew with the imperative to endure—not only as individuals, but as a society—and not just for fifty miles, but over the real long haul, in a unique meditation that “ought to be required reading even for people who have never run a step” (The Boston Globe). “He seamlessly moves between discussing running to exploring larger life issues such as why we run, our impact on the environment, and the effects of the nation’s declining physical fitness . . . Thought provoking.” ―Booklist “To read this book is to run alongside a seasoned athlete, a deep thinker, and a great storyteller. And Ayres doesn’t disappoint: He is the best kind of running companion, generously doling out hilarious stories and hard-won insights into performance conditioning and the human condition. His lifetime of ultra-running and environmental writing drive his exploration of what keeps us running long distances―and what it might take to keep the planet from being run into the ground.” ―Nature Conservancy magazine

From the authors of the bestselling ChiRunning comes a revolutionary program that blends the health benefits of walking with the core principles of T’ai Chi to deliver maximum physical, mental, and spiritual fitness. The low-impact health benefits of walking have made it one of the most popular forms of daily exercise. Yet few people experience all the benefits that walking can offer. In ChiWalking, Danny and Katherine Dreyer, well-known walking and running coaches, teach the walking technique they created that transforms walking from a mundane means of locomotion into an intensely rewarding practice that enhances mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Similar to Pilates, yoga, and T’ai Chi, ChiWalking emphasizes body alignment and mindfulness while strengthening the core muscles of the body. The five mindful steps of the ChiWalking program will get anyone, regardless of age or athletic ability, into great shape from head to toe, inside and out. 1. Get aligned. Develop great posture and better balance. 2. Engage your core. Make back and knee pain disappear. 3. Create balance. Walk faster, farther, and with less effort. 4. Make a choice. Choose from a menu of twelve great walks such as the Cardio Walk, the Energizing Walk, or the Walking Meditation, to keep your exercise program fresh. 5. Move forward. Make walking any distance a mindful, enjoyable experience, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned walker.