It’s an absolute privilege to be joined today by Mara Yamauchi as she celebrates publication of her debut book … Marathon Wisdom!
I am thrilled that my first book, Marathon Wisdom: An Elite Athlete’s Insights on Running and Life, has been published my Meyer & Meyer Sport this week!
At age 11, I decided that I wanted to become a world-class athlete and sporting champion. At age 35, I finally stood on the start line of the Women’s Marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It took me 24 years to realise my childhood dream.
This journey, lasting nearly a quarter of a century, was incredibly enriching, exciting and varied, full of ups and downs. The life of an elite athlete brings so much joy – the satisfaction of winning, representing your country, and becoming the best version of yourself that you can possibly be. But it also brings many downsides, such as inexplicably disappointing performances, injuries, and of course the hard work of training.
It took me 24 years to realise my childhood dream.
In my book, I have described these ups and downs in the hope that what I learned from becoming an elite athlete will help runners of all abilities. As I say in my Introduction, we runners are all in this together – it is simply the speed at which we run which separates us from one another. If you are a runner, or indeed a non-runner who is taking on a major, challenging project, I sincerely hope that my book will be informative and useful. The wisdom I have distilled into my book is broken down into 42.195 insights – the number of kilometres in a marathon. You can dip in and out of my book or read it from cover to cover. Some of my insights, such as do the basics properly and focus on the important inputs, are timeless and apply to all parts of our lives.
Recording my life as an elite athlete in writing will also, I hope, be something I can look back on fondly when I am 60, 70 or older. One of the running world’s joys is to look back at the generations of runners who have come before you – the shoes they wore, how they trained and competed, and what sort of people they were.
Running is something that we humans have done for millions of years, and will continue to enjoy far into the future
One of my running heroines is Joyce Smith MBE, who kindly wrote a comment for my book. Now in her 80s, Joyce was a pioneer of the women’s marathon, and I love looking back at old photos of her and hearing about her races. As I say in my conclusion, running is something that we humans have done for millions of years, and will continue to enjoy far into the future. Each of us who runs occupies just a brief window of this human running continuum. My book records my discovery of running, and subsequent love and experience of it. I am just one person amongst millions who has made running a big part of their lives. Running is an integral part of the human condition, and of course is how we have survived all this time. I hope you will come on my running journey with me!
My book records my discovery of running, and subsequent love and experience of it
Mara’s book is available now through all good bookstores and online retailers. There is more information here!
