Running Man: A Memoir of Ultra-Endurance - Softcover

Engle, Charlie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1476785791 ISBN 13: 9781476785790

Publisher: Scribner, 2017

Synopsis

Charlie Engle’s “fascinating account of the high and low points of his life as an ultramarathon runner...is uplifting and inspirational” (Publishers Weekly) as he describes his globe-spanning races, his record-breaking run across the Sahara Desert, and how running helped him overcome drug addiction—and an unjust stint in federal prison.

After a decade-long addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol, Charlie Engle hit bottom with a near-fatal six-day binge that ended in a hail of bullets. As Engle got sober, he turned to running, which became his lifeline, his pastime, and his salvation. He began with marathons, and when marathons weren’t far enough, he began to take on ultramarathons, races that went for thirty-five, fifty, and sometimes hundreds of miles, traveling to some of the most unforgiving places on earth to race. The Matt Damon-produced documentary, Running the Sahara, followed Engle as he lead a team on a harrowing, record breaking 4,500-mile run across the Sahara Desert, which helped raise millions of dollars for charity.

Charlie’s growing notoriety led to an investigation and a subsequent unjust conviction for mortgage fraud for which he spent sixteen months in federal prison in Beckley, West Virginia. While in jail, Engle pounded the small prison track, running endlessly in circles. Soon his fellow inmates were joining him, struggling to keep their spirits up in dehumanizing circumstances.

In Running Man, Charlie Engle tells the surprising, funny, and emotional story of his life, detailing his setbacks and struggles—from coping with addiction to serving time in prison—and how he blazed a path to freedom by putting one foot in front of the other. “A fast-paced, well-written account of a man who accepts pain, pushes beyond imagined limits, and ultimately finds redemption and peace” (Booklist), this is a raw and triumphant account about finding the threshold of human endurance, and transcending it.

About this title

Review:

Dean Karnazes Guest Review of Running Man

Charlie Engle

Photo Credit: Rod McLean

Dean Karnazes

Photo Credit: Corey Rich Photography

Charlie Engle is an ultramarathon runner, an adventure-seeker, a global explorer a philanthropist; he's also a recovering crack addict, a convicted felon, and a man driven to the edge of human endurance and achievement.

And he has written a gripping, vivid, gritty, funny, unforgettable memoir chronicling his globe-spanning races, his record-breaking 4500-mile run across the Sahara Desert, his decade long struggle with addiction and an unfortunate stint in federal prison for mortgage fraud.

More than anything, this book is about how Charlie found solace and salvation through running.

Engle opens up about his many harrowing bottoms and how he found a way out of addiction—or maybe a parallel addiction— through running, first marathons, and when marathons weren’t enough, 50, 100, 135 mile races often in the most inhospitable places on earth: from the Australian outback to the jungles of the Amazon to the hallucinatory heat of the California desert.

He chronicles his ascendance as a superstar in the running community—his charisma and edge made him a natural on the Mark Burnett produced Eco Challenge Borneo and in the Matt Damon produced film Running the Sahara. And how his notoriety attracted the attention of an investigator, who felt Charlie couldn’t possibly afford to pay for all of this adventuring given that he owned a small dent-repair business. Charlie was ultimately convicted of mortgage fraud.

Charlie is self-effacing about his mistakes. He made many—as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a runner, and he was careless in checking over the paperwork that a mortgage broker filled out for him in 2007. It could be reasonably argued that Charlie was little more than a victim of circumstance, but when the housing market collapsed he was caught in the backwash and paid a heavy price: a 16-month sentence in a federal penitentiary in Beckley West Virginia.

But this book is not a defense of Charlie’s actions. It’s, in part, a vivid account of his time in prison, where he chronicles his struggles to keep his spirits up in dehumanizing circumstances. He decides since he cannot run Badwater, a 135 mile race across the hellscape of Death Valley in mid-July, he’ll run that 135 miles around the prison track. He makes it his mission. I never thought a guy running in circles could be so surprisingly funny, upbeat and remarkably inspiring, even transcendent.

Charlie’s story is incredible. It is gripping and emotional and—more than anything—it is real. I enjoyed every page, and I’m sure you will, too.

About the Author:

Charlie Engle is a world-renowned ultra-marathon runner, having won or placed in some of the planet’s most punishing long-distance footraces. In 2007, Matt Damon produced and narrated Running the Sahara, a film about Engle and his successful bid to become the first person to run 4500 miles across the Sahara Desert. Engle has been featured in Men’s Journal, Outside, National Geographic Weekend, Oxford American, Runner’s World, The Huffington Post, PBS’s Need to Know, NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and NPR’s All Things Considered. He lives in North Carolina.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1476785791
• ISBN 13: 9781476785790
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304