Runner's World Your Best Stride: How to Optimize Your Natural Running Form to Run Easier, Farther, and Faster--With Fewer Injuries

Run the Way You Were Born to Run

Every runner wants a smooth, light, powerful, and resilient stride. But there isn't one ideal form all runners should try to emulate. Instead, research and experience show that people can run effectively in a wide variety of patterns with some universal elements.

In lively, accessible prose, author Jonathan Beverly details his search for common ground among physical therapists, podiatrists, biomechanics researchers, and coaches, and reveals how individual runners can apply those principles and improve their performance, avoid injury, and enhance their enjoyment on the run.

With specific, illustrated exercises that show how to counteract tight muscles from excessive sitting, improve limited arm mobility from hunching over electronic devices, strengthen your feet for better balance, and improve speed by lengthening your stride, Runner's World Your Best Stride is an approachable guide to human movement and a practical tool for improved running performance.

Jonathan Beverly was the editor in chief of Running Times magazine from 2000-2015. In addition to overseeing the magazine’s tone, editing all text and working closely with designers during these years, he wrote 150 editor’s notes, more than 35 feature stories and numerous smaller training articles, athlete profiles, race reports, and shoe and gear reviews. His features have ranged from in-depth training articles and athlete profiles to thought-provoking essays about various aspects of the sport. Prior to becoming editor, Jonathan wrote regularly for Runner’s World, Running Times, and other outlets as a freelancer during the 1990s. He has run 26 marathons and innumerable road and trail races throughout the world. He also coached adult runners with Bob Glover and the New York Road Runners Club during the 1990s, taught several community college running classes, and coached junior high and high school track and cross country since 2003. He lives on the border of Nebraska and Colorado.