Racing the Clock: Running Across a Lifetime

by Bernd Heinrich

An award-winning, much-loved biologist turns his gaze on himself, using his long-distance running to illuminate the changes to a human body over a lifetime

Part memoir, part scientific investigation, Racing the Clock is the book biologist and natural historian Bernd Heinrich has been waiting his entire life to write. A dedicated and accomplished marathon (and ultra-marathon) runner who won his first marathon at age 39, Heinrich looks deeply at running, aging, and the body, exploring the unresolved relationship between metabolism, diet, exercise, and age. Why do some bodies age differently than others? How much control do we have over that process, and what effect, if any, does being active have?

Bringing to bear research from his entire career and in the spirit of his classic Why We Run, Heinrich probes the questions of how we use energy and continue to adapt to our mutable surroundings and circumstances. Beyond that, he examines how our bodies change while we age, but also how we can work with, if not overcome, many of these changes - and what all this tells us about evolution and the mechanisms of life, health, and happiness.

Racing the Clock offers fascinating and surprising conclusions, all while bringing the listener along on Heinrich’s compelling journey to what he says will be his final race - a 50-kilometer race at age 80.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Science, Sports, Audiobook, Nature, Fitness

Audible Audio

Published July 6, 2021

About the author

Bernd Heinrich was born in Germany (April 19, 1940) and moved to Wilton, Maine as a child. He studied at the University of Maine and UCLA and is Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Vermont.

He is the author of many books including Winter World, Ravens in Winter, Mind of the Raven, and Why We Run. Many of his books focus on the natural world just outside the cabin door.

Heinrich has won numerous awards for his writing and is a world class ultra-marathon runner.

He spends much of the year at a rustic cabin that he built himself in the woods near Weld, Maine.

Reviews

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in two sittings on today’s bus journey (only because I had to do some work in between). Brilliant book as Heinrich manages to interweave an autobiography with a running memoir and a big helping of his thoughts and reasoning and ideas, that’s enabled him to be a great biologist researcher and runner. Calm, thoughtful and a fantastic reading treat. His thoughts on all aspects of aging alone makes it well worth it.

(I did happen to pick up the fact, from one of the references, that ultra runners seems to drop out, as a rule, at age 54. Out of the game before I even got in then.)

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a PRC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review. Bernd Heinrich is the runner you've never heard of. He's also well known in the scientific arena for his work on insect physiology and biology. He's published many scientific papers and books; he has written one book on running, Why We Run: A Natural History, which I have not read. In Racing the Clock, Heinrich once again attempts to link his observations of nature with running. The book was initially an attempt to document his goal of running a 100k at age 80. The pandemic took care of that and he shifted focus to running and aging. It's all very interesting. But for me, the stories about his running and races were much more compelling than his musings about nature. When he attempts to tie the two concepts together, to this reader, it felt a bit awkward. Yet I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn about this runner, a renaissance man who quietly made his mark on the world of running.

If you want to learn more about Bernd Heinrich, Bill Donohue's wonderful profile in Outside Magazine is a great read. https://www.outsideonline.com/2267886...

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I was listening to this on audio, I realized it's exactly in my wheelhouse for books I like to read on audio-- memoir/science! As a bonus, this also focuses on Heinrich's passion for running.

Heinrich is very earnest in a very German sort of way. There was a lot of, well, I just kept running and then realized 24 hours had passed and I still felt fine. Let me try it again to make it Science!

I haven't been able to run in almost a year due to a foot and/or tendon injury so these kinds of books make me feel like I'm doing something.

Anyway, easy and enjoyable. Check!

[Ron S · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not the book I'd been expecting to read, based on its marketing, any book by Bern Heinrich is a rewarding joy to read. Memoir combined with science, nature and biology, from the author of Racing the Antelope.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the way the author linked both his occupations running and being a scientist. I like his personal running stories more than the scientific ones but that was just me because his science ones were harder to understand and left me confused. Overall, I’m glad I stuck this book through for a real and raw ending.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest problem with this book is that it has nothing to do with the title, publisher's description, or even, what Heinrich claims the book is about. Heinrich says early in the book that this is a book about aging. It is not. It is a memoire framed by the relationship between nature and running.

So, I was expecting one book and got something completely different and the further I went through the book the more frustrated I felt. I happen to be both a runner and a nature enthusiast so I might still have been drawn to this book, had it been more honestly labeled. Even so, I found the constant hubris throughout the book really tiring and boring - despite the fact that Heinrich is a very accomplished person and truly does have bragging rights. Additionally, I don't fully line up with Heinrich's ethics on animals so I was cringing throughout much of the book during discussions of capturing species for the purposes of taxidermy for museum display. I realize it was his parent's livelihood during a different era. But it wasn't enjoyable or even interesting for me to hear about.

I understand Bernd Heinrich has something of a following - my Dad loves him. I congratulate him for everything he's done and wish him well, but this book didn't make me a fan.

[Emanuele Gemelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the book I expected to be; I think the title does not really respect the content of the book. This is a kind of memoir intertwined with science and occasional links to running in the first part and the opposite in the second part. In general the authors tends to stay very light on both of those. Usually, when I am reading a book about running, I get inspired to wear my running shoes and start churning some K, but with this I just got a lite tickle to do it.

[Sharaya Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 and a half stars

Although I enjoyed this title, it didn't turn out to be a must-have for me.

Can one have too much biology, in a memoir? IDK

At least I didn't get bored to death.

I appreciate what I learned about various species of trees, moths, birds, and eels. Will I remember all of it? Probably not.

My favorite parts were the stories about Bernd's life that came across a bit unexpected. I smh countless times throughout reading because Old Bernd can at times come across a bit crazy either over biology or running. Some bits made marathons seem a bit like torture, but runners clearly don't care.

Overall, I'm glad to have read this story.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't find too much truly scientific information linking running with longevity, the reason I asked for this book in the first place. But I enjoyed reading about the author's life as a runner and even more as an insect biologist. The last few chapters describing how his running pace has declined with time were not in any way depressing to me, but rather encouraging, not because they gave me any hope of besting him but instead confirmed my normalness. I plan to see if other of his books are as good or better than this one.

[Amanda Slack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for some running motivation, so I gave this book a try. It was a cool autobiography of a runner and a scientist. It didn’t motivate me to run more, but it was a good read.

[Nureader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the book, it is a semi-autobiographical account of the author's life combined with a small tangents on locomotion in animals( and how it differs from humans), insect lifecycles, and cutthroat competition in academic circles. But overall it was an enjoyable read, and I am impressed how the author, even at age 80, continues to run daily and take trips to the woods to keep himself engaged in nature.

[Kimberley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was like a stream-of-consciousness dump of thoughts on running, his life, and insects/nature by the author. Did it need a better editor? Was it me not getting his writing style? I don’t know. I eventually just tried reading fast and trying to glean the big themes rather than all the stories and details of his research throughout his lengthy career.

[Russ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Self-indulgent memoir, part running journal and part scientific speculation on the aging process in the natural world. My wife often tells me that runners talking about running are insufferable, and this book proves the point.

[Hideo Imamura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just rumbling memoirs of the topics I care but the book is dull and does not resonate me at all.

[Tom]

Interesting memoir about the intersection of aging and running, written by a scientist ultramarathoner who has run well into his 80s. Fun to learn about growing up as a track athlete in Maine and developing a life-long love for nature. In this book, Heinrich tracks animal development and abilities and applies to human running, and clearly has a deep passion for both disciplines. A few passages:

“The older I have become, the more it has struck me how much all of life has in common.”

“I already loved my country, especially the part called Maine. I loved Nature; it was sort of my god. And now I also loved running.”

“That summer I sometimes ran on one of the trails that snaked through the acres of surrounding woods to feel the movement, the exertion, and the pleasure of recovery.”

“I wonder what else will be up when daylight comes—will the Phoebe, the Hermit thrush, the Winter wren that came back probably too early retreat south, or will their biological clocks not allow them to change from their normal schedule of being here now to sing and to nest?””

“There was nothing else—no paper, no books, and no music except that of the birds… The birds were the most fascinating of all. A gray flycatcher nested in a box attached to one end of the cabin. Little brown wrens with stout, stubby tails sang from near the edge of the brook where trout lay under the banks, and one wren tucked its nest into the roots of a fallen spruce tree.”

“Talent can allow me to become good, but to excel in a crisis will require pigheadedness, blind obstinacy, and maybe even an inflated opinion of my ability. But I’m doing it for myself, not because anybody wants me to. Indeed, these may be the most crucial elements. However, confidence that is too great reduces effort where it counts even more: during the months of training and at the beginning of the race, where caution is just as essential. The former is long past. All I now see is the race looming ahead like a threatening monster.”

“Running ability may be as complex as the bumblebees’ flight and as natural if trained. It is one of, if not the defining difference between us and our closest living relatives… Pondering our own sensitivity to cold, our lack of body fur, our shock of thick head hair, and especially our ability to sweat profusely, it is abundantly clear that we both are born to run and originate from a hot climate.”

“Running is contact with the real and, because it demands effort, is often associated with acute discomfort. Nevertheless, the contentment of rest cannot be felt without a backdrop of experienced exhaustion. Pleasure in running is reminiscent to me of the pleasure of sidling up to the fire in a stove after experiencing the routine of a long, cold winter day.”

“a time will come when I’m just plodding, due to the unstoppable biological clock. Some things—especially running—get a lot harder for all of us, and they are or become seemingly impossible to many… “making the best of it” is being realistic about what we have achieved or can achieve rather than what we think we must or should achieve. One lesson I have learned is that life is a journey, and too-careful planning of the road ahead can lead to a dead end and frustration.”

“As befits our social nature, we unite in rituals, preferably in special places. These places become part of the rituals, and a great effort is made to maintain them as grand, beautiful, long lasting, and readily available. In the Middle Ages, such places were man-made cathedrals, still standing as symbols of the faith for many of the great religions. Wherever a religion goes, the places to worship go with it. Why not instead cultivate and use and worship in the sacred groves themselves, those made by Nature? John Muir worshipped in them, as did Henry David Thoreau and millions of others then and now; all those who get close enough to Nature feel its beauty, power, and majesty. However, we are highly social, and for us there was and perhaps still is one thing missing before Nature can be worshipped, and that is the human ritual of communal participation. For that I cannot think of anything better than running; it feeds the soul and the body, the seat of the soul.”


— Racing the Clock: Running Across a Lifetime by Bernd Heinrich
https://a.co/iucXbtb

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could leave a longer and more favorable review, but I don't recall a lot of this book because it frankly wasn't very memorable. With the wealth of material Heinrich has to work with, the book should've been more compelling. But this short memoir is unfocused. The title leads readers to believe it will be primarily about running and, more specific, running across one's entire lifespan and how age slows runners. It is only partly about these topics. "Racing the Clock" also touches on Heinrich's childhood in Germany during the war, his emigration to the US, college in Maine and at UCLA, the temperature regulation of insects, training for ultramarathons, attempting to break running age-group records. All these are interesting topics. Heinrich's unique upbringing in a cabin in Bavaria, dirt poor, focused on insects, would be enough for a full-length book. And he writes about his passion for nature with such conviction that it draws the reader in, even when he's describing things like termites or honeybees. But "Racing the Clock" is barely 200 pages, so Heinrich merely flits from one topic to the next. Runners will be disappointed by the dearth of running-related material here. I think that's the main problem with this book: expectation. An editor should've kept Heinrich to a more narrow outline. The author tries to wrap everything around training for a 100K race at age 80, but this event slips into the background. And strangely, when he runs a trail race in old age, he seems surprised that trail running is even a thing. By the last few pages, Heinrich has slipped into generalities about how we are all one and how we share the earth with all other creatures. I don't necessarily disagree - this just seems like a less than fitting way to end a memoir by a truly unique man who struggled through trying circumstances in early life to become a great runner and great scientist.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Champion, record-setting (circa 1980's) ultramarathoner and retired professor of biology reflecting as he turns 80 on running, nature, and aging. Very inspiring -- as soon as I hit send on this review, i'm going for a trail run! A few extended recaps (the time he had to drop out of Spartathlon in Greece, his first mountain ultra late in life in Vermont), but mostly he intersperses little lessons about nature/insects/evolution with his own memories of growing up in rural Maine and getting the distance running bug in high school and staying with it thereafter.

Ties it up at the end with somewhat grandiose stuff about running as a religion, the internet as evidence we're all coming together, and our interconnected web of life. But......hard to put my finger on it; there's just something about his style or the specific observations in which he anchors the thematic flights that kept me reading along and nodding rather than gagging. For every "Nature is everything" quote, there's an exciting story of trying to find his way back home when he's two hours out on a trail run on a snowy day attempting unsuccessfully to chase down a deer.

So if you were like me and used to skip Dr. George Sheehan's Runners World columns BITD ("you know, at the end of a race I am reminded of what Goethe wrote about.......") as being too pretentious, don't be put off by the title or jacket copy. This is a fun read. As the very credible Bill McKibben, himself an amazing thinker and writer, says in his blurb: "Bernd Heinrich is not just a great naturalist writer; he's a great writer, period"

[Cinthia Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one, though I have to add that if you've read "Why We Run," much of the first half is repetitious, though still layered with interesting tidbits from the animal/bird/insect world. Heinrich was an esteemed runner in the early days of ultra running, and his accomplishments are impressive. I just wish that he had dug deeper in the retelling of races and events from his past. Running an ultra or even a marathon is hard, and yet there is little grit, little struggle, except in the second half, when he rehashes the Spartathlon race and throws in enough detail that the reader can feel as if they are also running and sweating (and being passed by others) along with him.
It's the end of the book, when Heinrich runs his first ultra trail race at age 79, that the writing really shines. Here we see and feel him struggle, feel him come to terms with a new way of looking at running and racing, not to win so much as to test oneself and be part of a cohesive group where the only thing that matters is that you are all in the suffering and joys together. Which, when you think about it, is a perfect metaphor for life.
I recommend this to those interested in running, biology or immersing themselves in the odd musings and facts of Heinrich's rambling and yet always interesting mind.

[Dave Franklin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bernd Heinrich’s “Racing the Clock” is a desultory memoir about the nexus between aging and running. Heinrich, a biologist and ultramarathoner, has continued to run into his 80s. The author references animal development and selectively relates certain properties of animal physiology to human exercise. Clearly, Heinrich has given much consideration to the evolution of his performances over the arc of his lifetime, and seeks to relate his running experiences to the findings of his professional inquiries.

Ostensibly about aging, this book is somewhat ponderous. In short, the author creates a book with a pace suitable for an ultramarathon. After a slow beginning, Heinrich does manage to address some big issues inherent to the human life cycle. However, as a whole, this manuscript displays a paucity of both passion and science.

A book for aficionados of Bernd Heinrich, but not his best work.

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know that I'd recommend this book to anyone in particular, but overall it did earn that third star for me toward the end. Finally in Ch.15 there was the type of insightful analogy I'd expected throughout the book, and it was excellent: "[Birds migrate], we say, because they are migrating to escape winter and, in the reverse direction, to come back in the spring to nest. But let us never forget: the ravens and the warblers do it for the same reasons we [run]...they do it because they feel like doing it. Period. And how did evolution make them feel like doing it? By linking the activity to a flow of endorphins that make it fun and - if important enough - irresistible. So it is for the joy of it, with no thought of an ultimate reward."

[Patricia Burgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heinrich, a biologist and ultrarunner, explores the connection amongst humans, plants, and humans, seeking answers to why we age, ways our metabolism, food choices, and exercise may affect our longevity. He weaves stories of his running, becoming a naturalist (insects, primarily), and his research into insect thermodynamics, flight patterns, and other behaviors. He believes that we humans have more capacity to expand our abilities even as we age; his curiosity for his “study of one” is inspiring and requires each of us to study our own behaviors if we want to make the best life we can. An ode to running and to biology, this short memoir is a delightful read. I preferred the more science-focused "Why We Run", which is probably one of his seminal works for non-scientists.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heinrich is an unbelievable athlete capable of translating his sprawling running career in a thoughtful way, and this worked best for me during his flashes of insight where I really felt the poetry of running, all the joy and anguish of his experiences. But where I was expecting a deep dive on the physical science of our bodies as we age and its impact on running (or vice versa), what I got instead was a scattershot autobiography and overstuffed accounts of his field work (there are only so many chapters on grant funding around moths and dung beetles I can handle). More "Racing the Clock: Running Across a Lifetime" please, and less "here's a long story about hunting a deer and collecting pupal exoskeletons"!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m already an unapologetically big fan of Bernd Heinrich coming into this book. I’ve always loved his focused ambitions towards better understanding our world through the natural sciences. I am also an avid runner and relate wholeheartedly to the aspect of that identity that somehow awakens us to our greater connectivity to the entire world.
This book is about aging and it builds steadily from a slow beginning to be culmination of some big ideas about Life, much like the demonstrated trajectory of Bernd’s own life story. It makes me a bit sad to realize this is probably his last book, but overly thankful for his tremendously valuable shared wisdom of that self-realization we will all inevitably face as we age.

[Greg Zimmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really fascinating anecdotes about running -- this dude was one of the first champion ultra runners in the 1980s when no one was running ultras, and NO ONE was running them as fast as he did -- alternate with deep-dives into beetle and moth biology...which are not quite as interesting.

Hard to blame the guy -- as much as running is part of his life, so too is biology, and so he can't help himself giving us a several page summary of his college thesis, etc. Which is fine. But I was here for the running. :) Worth reading for the last chapter -- which really finally gets into a lot more about his thoughts on aging and running (and mortality).

[Karina Pineda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a PRC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I was hoping this book would be more focused on the subject title - "running", instead it was mostly an autobiography of Mr. Heinrich and his work as a naturalist. I just so happen to also enjoy learning about wildlife, but I feel like this book may leave astray many readers who are expecting the book to solely focus on the aging process and its effects on running (it does, but not that much). I definitely enjoyed learning about this author's career as a runner (I had never heard of him), but otherwise I feel a bit disappointed by how unfocused this book was.

[JulesB · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggle in giving this book three stars. The rationale is this: I’m still not sure what this book was about. I enjoy Heinrich’s work. I’ve read many of his books on birds, and I appreciate his style. However, this book shifted topics and themes and objectives so often and so quickly that when he would finally return to his memoirs about running, I was lost. I also chose to read this via audiobook. The narrator sounded a bit more like those voiceovers that accompanied a field strip when I was young.

All and all, I learned a great deal. I just don’t think I could tell you about what I learned.

[David Kessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A memoir of Bernd Heinrich which goes into great detail his life spent racing: road races, marathon races, 100 mile runs, 24 hour runs. He set some records for his age group.
He also talks about his accomplishments in his specialty field in science.
He has run all his life as a high school trackster, in college and during his adult life. If you enjoy reading about racing at any long distance, you will love the book.....

[Bryce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what I expected this book to be, but this wasn't quite it. It's a memoir of an eighty year-old naturalist, scientist and runner that wanders through his personal story, his career and his life as a runner. It's full of interesting facts and tidbits about nature, but the personal details alternate between slow and self-congratulatory. It's a light read and a fairly quick one, but it doesn't stand out.

[Balkan Şencan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give 5 stars to a book; this is one of them. The reason is the sincerity and the authenticity of the writer himself; without hiding details from the reader, thus displaying a vivid picture of a real person who runs in high volumes may be for seventy years; I don't know any other book to be written in this perspective with these scientific explanations on human body and running. Life wisdom statements along the lines are also well noted.

[Terzah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up from Bernd Heinrich, a storied ultrarunner and scientist who has written and studied the history of human beings and running, because I was hoping for some insight into how he has handled running and aging. While there were some good insights here, and occasionally some beautiful writing, there was also a lot of repetition and abrupt transitions that made no sense. This one could have used a heavier edit job.