Andrea Marcolongo sets out to answer a fundamental question that most amateur and recreational runners have asked themselves at least once while out on a run: why on earth did I decide to do this? While I have no idea how fast a runner Marcolongo is, her stories indicate that she isn’t an elite runner with blistering times. As a marathon runner who uses “finish” as the goal pace, it was easy to imagine Marcolongo as another member of my running club, hanging out in the middle of the pack, even if she does eschew running with a group. While I don’t agree with all of her opinions on running, a substantial part of the book felt like someone had taken my feelings about running and articulated them onto a page, much more eloquently than I ever could have. This is a fun blend of memoir, history lesson, and exploration of what it means to be a runner.

I received this book from the publisher for an honest review via NetGalley.

To the long tradition of writings on running - from Alan Sillitoe's “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" to John L. Parker Jr.'s "Once a Runner" - we can add Andrea Marcolongo’s medatative "The Art of Running." Rejoice, she conquers! Will Schutt's translation reads as effortlessly as a ten miler on a summer Sunday morning.

An entertaining read: philosophical musings about running
I was drawn to the book by its subtitle - to run like a Greek. Interesting. The author is a classical scholar who took up running on a whim during the Covid pandemic. And decided to write about it.
At first I didn‘t know what to expect and then the book captured me: quite a few comparisons of modern day running with the way it was in classical times, philosophical musings about running and especially what is made of it in modern times, Marcolongo‘s personal story of eventually running the marathon from Marathon to Athens. A quirky mix which totally worked for me.
The writing is excellent and the points Marcolongo makes are valid - sometimes it is as if she steps outside of the modern running frenzy and looks at it with fresh eyes.
An entertaining and recommended read.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. The review is left voluntarily.