Running Times, Online

by Scott Douglas

No work of art is perfect, but almost all has something in it that speaks to someone. As Gore Vidal likes to say, if you get nothing else out of “War and Peace,” there’s at least Tolstoy’s gourmet recipe for strawberry jam.

With that in mind, let’s consider Anthony Famiglietti’s new DVD, “Run Like Hell.” The Olympic steeplechaser has created something unique among running products—part biopic, part motivational vehicle, part instructional video, part fly-on-the-wall look at one world-class runner’s competitive year, with outtakes and a brief detour to pay tribute to a dead childhood friend thrown in. (Sorry, no gourmet recipes, which shouldn’t be surprising after watching the segment “Worst Diet Ever.”) How much any of that appeals to you says as much about the role of running in your life as it does about Famiglietti’s production skills, which are, like Famiglietti, solid, quirky and a little metaironic.

Take, for example, the many shots of Famiglietti working out on the track. It’s hard to imagine anyone who has toured the oval not getting fired up by these sequences. If I were 18 years old, I would have been out the door for a hard run immediately after watching these. Given that I’m 42, I instead made myself some green tea and reminisced about past glories, but I did make a mental note to watch the scenes again the next time I’m going to do something other than putz around the neighborhood.

The track scenes should also resonate with many viewers because Famiglietti, a resident of Manhattan, has little of the romantic isolation in his training that many of his peers do. Distance runs are done amid the hordes in Central Park, and track sessions mean running 60-second quarters around joggers, soccer players and others who care not a whit that he will soon be competing against some of the best runners in the world. The next time I get frustrated about seemingly deaf walkers in lane 1, I’ll remember Famiglietti reeling off a 2:57 1200-meter repeat in similar circumstances.

It’s likely that a lot of runners will find something to draw sustenance from in “Run Like Hell.” I can think of far worse ways to spend $25 than on something that will repeatedly make a tough running day a little better. To view trailers of “Run Like Hell” or to order a copy, visit www.runfam.com.

Sole Sisters - Stories of Women and Running
by Jennifer Lin and Susan Warner

Reviewed by Katie Wolpert

Why DO we run? We’ve all thought about this from time to time - answers varying depending on your mood, the day, the season, the weather and what kind of shape you are in at that moment. For most of us, running is an intensely individual sport. Even those who have a team, club or group to call our own still have a particular way of practicing the sport that is uniquely our own.

Sole Sisters offers a multitude of examples - personal and historical - of female runners who have made an impact on our sport and what running means to each one of them. In some of the stories, the ripples would barely register outside of the woman’s household or neighborhood while in others, the impact is on the scale of a tsunami, changing the course of women’s running worldwide.

Lin and Warner have thrown their impressive collection of stories into the pot for our enjoyment. The organization of the book defies any concrete chronology and so as one chapter blends into the next, the reader finds herself directly comparing otherwise unrelated stories. First the reader is pulled into the story of Cheryl Treworgy crashing through the gender barrier in the 1960’s and the next moment she is learning about the organization behind an women’s 5K in Eastern Pennsylvania and before she knows what’s happened, she is meeting a teenage girl running a 400 mile relay across the Great Plains, shirtless in January.

By the end, the Running As Therapy For Women line wears a bit thin, but the multitude of unique and fascinating tales has provided ample evidence of the huge variety of meaning the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other has for women worldwide.

Easily mistaken for nothing more than an inspirational read, Sole Sisters does its part to shed light on some less known groundbreakers, to remind us of unheralded details about the well-known stars and to help the reader look inward and appreciate the many ways that the sport has improved his or her own life.

Take the Lead - A Revolutionary Approach to Coaching Cross Country
By Scott Simmons and Will Freeman

Reviewed by Katie Wolpert

Just like a good doctor knows to treat the problem to get rid of the symptom, with Take the Lead Will Freeman and Scott Simmons have dug straight down to the root of coaching philosophy and practices to help you find answers to your most pressing questions. The book takes a straight-forward, no frills approach to learning about coaching. This fact makes the book appropriate for coaches at all levels - from grade school through master’s levels.

If you are looking for a Daniels’ Running Formula-like collection of tables and charts explaining what you need to be doing when and how fast and for how long, you will not find that in Take the Lead. In fact, the authors argue that such charts have very limited use in the wide-world of real life coaching and training. They hope instead to provide the reader with “the concepts and guidance for you to develop your own philosophy and to build a program with respect to your qualities as a coach, the uniqueness of your training environment and the specificity of your athletes.”

Simmons is a hugely successful NAIA coach currently working at Virginia Commonwealth University. His multiple team and individual champions are the most noticeable outward sign of his quiet, effective coaching methods. Freeman is the long-time coach at Grinnell College in Iowa where he has managed to produce results of surprising consistency and quality from the ever changing cast of characters found on a small college campus. Freeman has also been involved in coaching education for many years. Both have made themselves lifelong students of the sport and urge all coaches - indeed, all runners too - to do the same. For while their results have been consistent, they will quickly point out that their methods have been constantly evolving and changing to fit the needs of their programs on a day to day basis.

At times in the book, the reader might feel overwhelmed by the simplicity of the concepts being discussed. The methods presented make so much sense, that one is left with the feeling of having known it already. The writing is simple and informal and in the end, the authors do not claim to have the final answers to anyone’s questions - including their own. Instead they leave the responsibility with the reader to improve his or her methods based on the described concepts.

In his introduction, Freeman urges the reader to “ponder these concepts, be ready to kill some sacred cows… and remember, ultimately it is you that has the right answers for your athletes.”

The ten chapters address everything from basic coaching philosophy to preparing your athletes to race effectively and with confidence to sorting out the lifestyle choices of a collegiate cross country runner.

As described by Will himself, “short and with no fluff,” Take the Lead could be the meat and potatoes from which every coach can construct a successful running program.