Book Review: The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide For Women

• Title: The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women
  
• Author: Dawn Dias
  
• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press; (January 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580052053
• ISBN-13: 978-1580052054

Dawn Dias is in her mid-twenties. Her idea of strenuous exercise is getting off the couch to find the remote control. Healthy eating consists of eating only half the bag of Cheeto's instead of the whole bag.

Then one day she receives a postcard from the American Stroke Society talking about a fundraiser. It was asking people to sign up to run a marathon and raise money for stroke research. Dawn recently had an uncle who had died after having a stroke.

In a moment of inspiration, she decided that she was going to run a marathon.

Dawn has a very sarcastic sense of humor. She is pretty easy to identify with, as someone who also isn't much of an athlete. I could also easily identify with her disliking getting up early in the morning. Her weekly journal entries which are interspersed throughout the book provide the fodder for a lot of laughter.

However, I don't think that this book is one that should be taken as a serious training guide. The end result of Dawn ruining one of her knees, I believe speaks for itself.

I would recommend you to read this book just for the humor, but don't rely on her training information. I plan to read it again after I complete my first marathon - I have the feeling that I'll be able to relate to a lot more of it by then!

Readability: 5 shoes
Practical Applications: 3 shoes