Product Description

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

Take your first step toward fitness and a happier, healthier life.

Has the idea of running crossed your mind, but you haven't acted on it because you don't think you have the body of a runner? Have you thought about running but quit before you started because you knew that you would be breathless at the end of your driveway? Well, put aside those fears because you can do it. John Bingham, author of the popular Runner's World column "The Penguin Chronicles," transformed himself from an overweight couch potato who smoked into a runner who has completed eleven marathons and hundreds of road races.

Forget about the image of a perfect body in skintight clothes, and don't worry about how fast or how far you go. Bingham shows how anyone can embrace running as a life-enhancing activity -- rather than as a competition you will never win. In an entertaining blend of his own success story and practical advice, Bingham provides reasonable guidelines for establishing a program of achievable goals; offers tips on clothing, running shoes, and other equipment; and explains how anyone can prepare for and run distances ranging from a few miles to marathons.

After all, in running and in life, the difference between success and failure sometimes comes down to a single step. Waddle on, friends.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26369 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780684854557
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
John Bingham writes "The Penguin Chronicles," a monthly column in Runner's World, maintains a popular Web site, and trains other "slow and steady" runners nationwide. He lives in Tennessee.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From the Introduction

The real joy begins when we, like that boy, run the bases. The celebration begins when we stop deciding if we are going to run or how we are going to run, and start deciding when we are going to run. The miracle begins by taking the first step.

The Courage to Start shows how, with that first step and with every subsequent step, you can begin to write your own story. It shows how each of us, no matter how ordinary we may seem, is capable of greatness...if we will only risk starting.

What you will read in this book is just about everything I know about running and just about everything I know about myself. It's everything I have learned, everything I have been told, and every discovery I have made. There are no secrets. It is just you and me...and the road that we are on.

That road is not always smooth or flat. There are times when it may seem as though you are running away from who you are much more than running toward who you want to be. There may be times when your body betrays you and your spirit abandons you. The path to enlightenment is not always clearly marked.

But millions of runners have gone before you. Each of them has faced the same fear and uncertainty. Each has learned, as you will, the truth in the Penguin credo. For all of us, the miracle isn't that we finish, the miracle is that we have the courage to start.

Copyright © 1999 by John Bingham

From Chapter One: The Courage to Start

Every January it was the same story. Like so many others I looked to the New Year as the time to start my new life. I started thinking about it in July, of course, but I reasoned that it was better to wait until the New Year to start.

Every year I told myself that this was the year that I was going to change my life. Every year I was filled with hope.

Since I had so many bad habits to choose from -- smoking, drinking, overeating, lack of exercise -- I usually just picked the one I was most concerned about at the time. Some years I told myself I would stop smoking. Other years I resolved to lose weight. Once or twice I planned to get into shape.

Quitting smoking was easy. No problem. Although I had been a smoker most of my adult life, I still wasn't willing to accept that it was anything more than a bad habit. Addicted? Not me! After all, I had quit twenty or thirty times.

Losing weight was easy, too. I just stopped eating. Or at the very least I stopped eating all the foods I liked to eat and replaced them with foods I couldn't stand putting into my mouth.

I liked losing weight and I got very good at it. Unfortunately, I got even better at putting it back on. When you are carrying sixty, seventy, or eighty pounds more than your ideal weight, you've got plenty to work with. The beauty is, with that many extra pounds, almost any diet works...for a little while.

Losing weight satisfied the martyr in me. During the first few weeks of January, I would allow myself to feel a strange combination of self-pity and self-righteousness. I stood in judgment over those who didn't have the self-control that I had. Like any good martyr, I wore the wounds of self-denial as badges of courage.

I wasn't sure exactly what getting in shape meant, but I was pretty sure it had something to do with having a flat stomach, since everyone I saw who looked fit seemed to have a flat stomach. So all of my getting-in-shape programs began with doing sit-ups.

Once, in my early thirties, I actually tried to become a runner. I had an old friend who had become a marathoner and appeared to be a fairly normal person. He lost weight, looked great, and seemed more content than I had ever known him to be. I figured if he could run marathons, so could I. At the time, I had no idea that there was any other distance for a road race. If you were a runner, I thought, you ran marathons.

For a few painful months I tried to be a marathoner. I didn't read any books or magazines about running before I started. How complicated could running be? I reasoned. How much could there be to know? You just put one foot in front of the other, right?

Of course, none of my "get fit" plans lasted more than a few weeks. They never lasted until the spring thaw. In the course of my lifetime I became very accomplished at one thing though: I became very good at quitting.

Copyright © 1999 by John Bingham

Customer Reviews

You'll want to read this book over and over again.
Do you enjoy "The Penguin Chronicles", a monthly column in Runner's World? The column's author, John "The Penguin" Bingham, now has a book out to complement the column. The book is entitled "The Courage to Start : A Guide to Running for Your Life."

This book is a must read for runners of all ability levels, from beginning runners to those who have been running for decades. Bingham gives practical advice to beginning runners, as well as showing how running transcends from a physical activity to a self-discovery of yourself. His revelations are insightful and motivational. Once you start reading this book, you will not be able to put it down.

Bingham began running in 1992 as a 43-year-old, 240-pound, couch potato. His first run consisted of sprinting down his driveway for about 30 seconds. That was all his legs, lungs and ego could take. But unlike many other times in his life when he had given up, he didn't quit this time. For some reason he stuck with running, and managed to run ¼ mile, then ½ mile, a mile, and increasingly more. As the months passed and he shed the excess weight, he found himself running 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, and eventually, full marathons.

He first began to tell his story on the internet via the Dead Runners Society (DRS). He sent out an e-mail telling about a race where he nearly finished last, but was finding himself a happier and healthier person because of running. Much to his surprise, he received responses from readers that said he had told their stories. They said he had managed to put into words what they were feeling about themselves, and about the metamorphosis that running was causing in their lives.

From these initial e-mails, "The Penguin Chronicles" was born. First it was a monthly e-mail on the DRS, and then Bingham set up a web site to host his columns. Eventually, Runner's World became aware of his columns, and in May of 1996, the column became a regular part of the magazine. It appears near the back of the magazine each month, a comfortable place for the many back-of-the-packers that are touched the most by his writings. The column has generated a huge following as runners from around the world find Bingham's words to be entertaining, inspirational, down-to-earth, and humorous.

Hoping to share his joy of running with other runners around the county, Bingham set out on the Penguin Tour in the summer of 1997. He traveled by motorcycle for eight weeks and visited runners from coast to coast. Bingham did another Penguin Tour in the summer of 1998, this time traveling by car and logging more than 14,000 miles over three months. On each stop during his trips, he found others who share the joy of running, and who discovered themselves via running. He found people who had moved past the self-imposed limitations that society places on us. After running with both new and veteran runners, Bingham found how little difference there was between them. At the start of his 1997 trip, he thought his story was unique, but by the end, he realized he was just one of many who had found themselves via running. His solitude was replaced by a sense of belonging.

In "The Courage To Start," Bingham shares his experiences with us. He shares the metamorphosis that he has gone through because of running. He shares his joy, happiness, and humor. This book will make you think, smile, cheer, and perhaps will bring tears of joy and courage. Don't walk or drive to your favorite bookstore, but run and pick up a copy today. Get one for yourself, and another to give to a friend. Share the joy of running with others.

garunteed to get you going
I have tried becoming a "runner" many times in the past..I was on the "brink" once again when I read this book and have now been running 4-5 days a week since reading the book about 2 months ago.

The author makes you realize how anyone can enjoy, and even become addicted to this elusive, seemingly insane activity. Unlike many other running books, he doesn't ever say "you just have to really want it", he just tells his story, in which, after many years of inactivity and weight gain, he took up running at age 43.

The focus of this book is on enjoying the process, not the end result (how many min. it takes you to run a mile) of running. If you are looking for nutrition or speed advice, this is not the book for you. If you want an inspiration easy read, this IS the book!

This book spoke to my soul!
There have been other wonderful reviews written about this book already. All I can say is this book is so inspiring for those of us who always wanted to be athletic, but thought our chance had passed us by. I'm a 35 year old, stay at home, slightly plump mom. I've always admired runners, I always wanted to be one. But the truth is, I suck at running. This book gave me something wonderful. It gave me hope. It's a book that says so what if you suck, so what if you're slow, so what if the neighbors kid runs faster than you, and that kid runs with crutches. It's okay! If you are getting out there and putting one foot in front of the other, you're a runner!

I've been running for five months now. And I don't think I would have ever had the courage to step outside my door, take a deep breath and start jogging without this book