Run Like a Mother Review

I keep seeing Run Like a Mother pop up on blogs and different places online, so I was really excited to read it. I'm the type of person who only reads the first few lines of the inside cover of a book, I want to know what it's about, but I want to find out for myself what happens. So I wasn't sure what to expect from Run Like a Mother, but it delivered.

It was a nice change of pace to read a running book that was written by two women, Dimity McDowell, and Sarah Bowens Shea. As I was reading, a light bulb went off, when I realized that they were the women who wrote a Runners World article back in 2008 about training for the Nike Marathon in San Francisco. Dimity had to do the majority of her training on a bike, due to a stress fracture, and I remember thinking of how much of an extra challenge that must of been.

As I read further, I found I really liked Dimity and Sarah, I enjoyed their humor, and we're the same age, so I appreciated their taste in music and references to things from their past (Guess jeans anyone?). I could completely relate to Dimity being prone to injury (at times my past hamstring, arch, hip, and toe injuries have all ached at the same time).

The book is broken into 26 chapters, with a .2 page at the end of each one (a la, the distance of a marathon). The .2's are all different, with lists of things like what goes through their minds during a run or favorite running tunes. The book is a combination of "how to" for women who are starting to run, and for women who already run. It covers topics such as dealing with injury, exercise addiction or running during pregnancy. I'm still learning about the proper fuel for long runs, and I found the nutrition section very helpful, as was the chapter on the importance of cross training. (I'm going to be better about planks. Really).

Scattered throughout the book are "Take It From A Mother" sections, which poses a question, and the answers come from real women who run. From what your favorite speed work out is, to wether you run with a partner, or the most memorable thing your kid has said to you about running.

Which brings me to the Moms who "run and feel guilt" issue. I have to figure out on a daily basis how I'm going to get my run in, life was much easier when my kids napped and they weren't aware of what I was doing with that time. Now that they're older, at times I feel bad taking the time away from them. But the way Dimity addresses this guilty feeling really makes sense to me. The time you spend running strengthens your spirit, it re-charges you to be your best each day. It makes you more present as a mother for the rest of those hours in the day. Which I agree with, if I get to sweat, then everything I'm faced with during my day as a Stay At Home Mom is much easier to handle.

I related to so many things in this book, but I would have done so even if I didn't have children. It really is a celebration of women who run, and all that goes along with it.

In a cool coincidence, Tall Mom Mel is having a Run Like a Mother giveaway, a chance to win an autographed copy of the book. So click here to check it out. If not, run (pun intended) out and buy yourself this book.

*I received a copy of Run Like a Mother for this review, which is my own, I was not compensated for my thoughts on this book.