Running the Seven Continents: Tales of Travel and the Marathon - Softcover

Clint Morrison

3.4

5 ratings by Goodreads

9781592992379: Running the Seven Continents: Tales of Travel and the Marathon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592992374 ISBN 13: 9781592992379

Publisher: Inkwater Press, 2006

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Seven beautifully written journeys, marathons run at the ends of history, culture and the planet. YUKON - Yukon River Trail JAPAN - Lake Kawaguchi AUSTRALIA - State Championship of Victoria ANTARCTICA - Antarctic 'Last' Marathon SOUTH AFRICA - Two Oceans Ultramarathon ATHENS - From the Plain of Marathon to Athens BRAZIL - Florianopolis, Santa Catarina EPILOGUE - Tashkent, Uzbekistan on the day of the Andijan massacre in May 2005

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About the Author:

The journeys in this book took place at various times and for various reasons between 1983 and the present, each with its own motive and rhythm, time frame and budget, and each different from all the others.

The preparation for a marathon is a journey, each training run a journey. Add to that the challenge of a journey to an intriguing destination, and the result is a race report that easily becomes a constellation of images, events, and lessons.

The race itself may be only one day and one run, sometimes dramatic and sometimes not, but to the thinking runner, or the running thinker, the journey is the reward.

Clint Morrison is a professional translator and lifelong runner. Born in southern Illinois and raised in Chicago, he took a job teaching in Japan immediately after college. Graduate school in Ann Arbor, Michigan came next, followed by a return to Japan with a corporate business job that also involved time in Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Together with his wife, anthropologist Nancy Rosenberger, he has lived in Japan, Australia, India and Uzbekistan, also traveling in Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia. Most days, running means in the parks, hills, or forests of Oregon, occasionally in local races. Even if you don t see a bobcat or an eagle, or climb above the snow line, or solve the problems of the universe, there is no such thing as a normal run. Ask any runner.

Review:

A good put-down-and-come-back-to publication, seven distinct stories, each in a separate chapter... Morrison is a keen observer... each story is a mix of running, autobiography, travelogue and history, in a readable, free flowing style.... he made the effort to be part of us.
--Don Hampshire, Stride Out Magazine of the Victorian Road Runners (Australia)

The author's motivation for running and travel mirror my own. He eloquently and repeatedly answers the age-old question Why do you run? His intertwining of history with each adventure and entertaining storytelling make for a very good read.
----Meghan Arbogast, 2007 US 100K Champion, Sixth in the 2008 World 100k Championships (Italy), Winner 2003 Christchurch (NZ) Marathon

This book will surely inspire other runners to grab their passports and venture to some exotic corners of the Earth to pursue their passion for running marathons. The goal of running a marathon on all seven continents is an extraordinary feat attempted by ordinary people in their pursuit of self-discovery. --Thom Gilligan, President, Marathon Tours and Travel

If warm weather is a problem, perhaps you would enjoy running the Sunrise to Sunset ultramarathon in northern Mongolia, 100 miles through spectacular scenery, and all proceeds go to preserving Lake Hovsgol National Park, which has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage consideration.

Or you might get some ideas from Clint Morrison's new book called Running the Seven Continents: Tales of Travel and the Marathon. Morrison combined his love of running with travel and ran marathons in Japan, Yukon, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Greece, Uzbekistan and Antarctica:
--Marilyn Terrell, "Gadling" "Excuses For Traveling The Marathon"

I'm beat to the punch, in the sense that someone has already written a book about the philosophy of running a marathon in Japan and running marathons across all seven continents, and, not only that, but an entire sect of Buddhism has been in existence since AD 788 advocating running as a way of achieving enlightenment.

There are monks on Mount Hiei whose meditation exercise consists of running, running all through the night, in any weather, running until the mind itself is empty of any awareness. Perhaps I have been running the whole time I have been in Japan, perhaps I run only when I run. But in some way I sense a kinship with the monks of Hiei. In daily life, running is both my means of exuding awareness and enhancing awareness, and I now know that this is no contradiction.
---Running the Seven Continents, Clint Morrison --Turner Wright, Once A Traveler; Blog

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