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RE: Near death experience.
I'm halfway through the book and I must say, this really is my bag. The reviewer has taken a (fair) view of part of Askwith's book but it is far more than a simple rage against The Machine. RF still runs competitively but he makes a key point. If your best times are undoubtedly (not applicable to a few on here) behind you, obsession with shaving fractions here and there can only lead to disappointment. All this charting and cross-referencing won't make you stronger, faster or a better runner. It simply feeds your inner geek. My inner geek is obsessed with sport, movies and music. I've never put much stock in running stats, though I do appreciate others here would need intensive care if they lost their spreadsheets.
Askwith's quest takes him back to nature, back to the basic joy of running. He makes it clear that he spent years chasing PBs, even taking to treadmills to standardise his training to the Nth degree. But he got stale, there was no joy in the endless pursuit of the next tenth off his 10k time. Askwith wanted to want to run for running's sake.
He advocates leaving the road and running wild. With his eyes off his watches Askwith is drawn to the flora and fauna that he flies past every morning. Of course this 'new religion' won't appeal to many. He writes, albeit a lot better, words and sentences I recognise from my own local runs. I've often said that I can run the same trail three times a week and it looks and feels different every time.
His opening barrage against the Multinationals, the false promise of 2012's Olympic legacy and the average consumer's insatiable appetite for horribly expensive stuff that is rarely proven to actually help has clearly been bubbling away for a while.
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