Maria’s Comments (group member since Mar 27, 2021)

Maria’s comments from the Bookhounds Running Club group.

Yes! I saw it displayed quite prominently in Waterstones the other day. Well done, Elise!

Having read this, I’m wondering now if I’ve met Lowri. Back in 2012, a group of us did a sponsored walk up Snowdon, trying to get as many lurchers to the top to raise money for a lurcher rescue. We got three up there, mine being one. On the way down, a lady power walked past us with her poles. Didn’t think anything of it until a bit later we’d stopped for a drink and she was coming back up! A bloke I was with called out “haven’t we just seen you?” And she replied that she went up and down three times a day. “Why?!” We all asked! She told us she was training for something but couldn’t tell us what for. Reading this book now, it would have been the May the year after she raced in the Artic so who knows? I like to think it was her though!

This book was brilliant! I felt like I really connected with Elise in just the first few pages and the rest was just a breeze to read. I loved the adventure, and the kindness of strangers shown whilst Elise was coasting. But I also loved how human Elise remained throughout. She was honest about the mistakes she made and was occasionally self-deprecating. I think Elise touched on this herself when she said that it’s so easy to get a certain idea about people that you only know and read about online. But each of these people are people, they haven’t always got it figured out, they have good days and bad days just like everybody else. I don’t feel like you need to be a runner in order to enjoy this book, and I like that’s why I loved it so much.

Thanks for this book! I’ve been umming and arring about joining parkrun. Like many interviewed in the book, I thought it would be competitive and I was put off when I saw the average finishing time for my local event was faster than I’ve ever been able to achieve. So this book came at a great time for me. It alleviated all my worries and I signed up yesterday.

I’ve just finished it! I must admit, I did find this a little bit hard to get into. But around the halfway mark I was totally invested! So pleased I stuck with it. Damian strikes me as a really nice and down to earth guy. His outstanding running achievements aside, he raises the important issues of climate change and his endeavours to offset his carbon footstep is inspiring in itself. As a relatively new runner, I did get a bit lost with some of the abbreviations and maybe a key at the front or back of the book would have helped! But, otherwise, it was an amazing insight into ultra running. Great pick this month, thank you 😊

A bit late to the party so apologies for dragging up an old topic for everybody who has to suffer with the notifications. I joined BookHounds in month 3 and decided to order the two books I’ve missed.

I’ve just finished Finding Gobi and have rather mixed feelings. I am a dog lover (I have 5!) so this story really appealed to me. I love Gobi’s spirit and she’s an absolutely amazing dog. To run so far with a strange human for reasons only she knows is just incredible. I don’t think any of my dogs would follow me that far by their own choice!

Like other members, though, the author initially rubbed me up the wrong way. I haven’t read the author interview yet so I might change my mind but I just couldn’t get on with him at all. His story is inspiring and I admire everything he’s done both in his ultras and in searching for and then keeping Gobi safe. But I didn’t like him 🤣 I did feel like he made some growth towards the end but first impressions sit deep.

Just finished it. I’m new to the club so this is my first book and I absolutely loved it! What an amazing, inspirational woman. I couldn’t have gone through what she did and come out smiling the other side. Really loved the additions from some of the other women too. Was in tears at several points, sometimes sad and sometimes happy.

I’ve been thinking recently that I’d love to run a marathon one day. But I don’t have time in my day for the training required and probably won’t until I’m near retirement. This book gave me hope that it’s never too late!