I love running. It is on my bucket list to finish a marathon. I love traveling. It is on my bucket list to go back to Africa and to travel to a whole bunch of places. So I imagine my sense of anticipatory glee when I saw this book about a woman who runs seven marathons on all seven continents. IT has travel and running. Oh I will definitely LOVE THIS BOOK!
Except I didn’t love this book.
While the author believes that long distance can helpful spiritually and psychology as well as physically, she also uses phrases like “my inner divine,” “My inner warrior,” and “my inner bitch.” Something about this fragmentation of her soul in this language annoys me. I know that some of her language and description of her spiritual journey is from feminist spirituality writings. I am also very certain that she has read “Women Who Run With Wolves”
Something about her voice just bugs me. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it did lessen my overall enjoyment of this book.
Second Wind: One Woman’s Midlife Quest to Run Seven Marathons on Seven Continents