Out of Thin Air : Running Wisdom and Magic from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia

Crawley, Michael

ISBN 10: 1472975324 / ISBN 13: 9781472975324

Published by Bloomsbury Sport, 2021

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Out of Thin Air : Running Wisdom and Magic from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Sport
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472975324
• ISBN 13: 9781472975324
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2021

'Inspiring'
The Guardian

'Excellent'
Runner's World

'Fascinating'
Publishers Weekly

'Brilliant'
Ed Vaizey

'Through reading this book you will come to understand that the heart and soul of running are to be found in Ethiopia.' Haile Gebrselassie

'Engaging, warm and humane… A delight' TLS

‘Full of wonderful insights and lessons from a world where the ability to run is viewed as something almost mysterious and magical.’ Adharanand Finn, author of Running with the Kenyans

‘Ethiopia is a place where I have been told that energy is controlled by angels and demons and where witchdoctors can help you to acquire another runner’s power. It is a place where an anonymous runner in the forest told me, miming an imaginary scoreboard and with a completely straight face, that he had dreamt that he would run 10km in 25 minutes. It is a place where they tell me that the air at Mount Entoto will transform me into a 2.08 marathon runner. It is a place, in short, of wisdom and magic, where dreaming is still very much alive.’

Why does it make sense to Ethiopian runners to get up at 3am to run up and down a hill? Who would choose to train on almost impossibly steep and rocky terrain, in hyena territory? And how come Ethiopian men hold six of the top ten fastest marathon times ever?

Michael Crawley spent fifteen months in Ethiopia training alongside (and sometimes a fair way behind) runners at all levels of the sport, from night watchmen hoping to change their lives to world class marathon runners, in order to answer these questions. Follow him into the forest as he attempts to keep up and get to the heart of their success.

About the Author

Michael Crawley is an anthropologist, writer and runner based in Durham. He has run a 2.20 marathon and represented Great Britain in road running. In 2019, Michael was awarded a PhD in anthropology by the University of Edinburgh, following fifteen months of research living and running alongside runners in Ethiopia. His book Out of Thin Air: Running Magic and Wisdom from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia won the prestigious Margaret Mead Award in 2022. Michael has written for the Guardian, Runners' World and Trail Running and his latest research is on endurance, self-tracking and doping which has taken him to Nepal and Mexico amongst other places.