Reason Number Four that I am running this marathon, which is a reason I won’t dwell on too long, is that I like to travel, and I like to write about my trips. At the moment, however, I am not traveling. I got back from nine months abroad in September and now I’m trying to finish my master’s thesis. After that I’ll be looking for a job. For the moment, I’m not going anywhere.

So basically I needed something to write about, and running a marathon seemed about as ridiculous as hanging out in Serbia.

When I go somewhere I like to read all about it (I can recommend lots of good books on Serbia…) and so it seemed natural to do the same thing for running. I wanted to see the full range of running book options, so I skipped my usual favorite independent & used bookstores for the local giant megabookstore with built-in giant megacoffeeshop.

There were endless shelves of running books, as I had hoped. They fell largely into five categories:

(1) Training books, with weekly schedules on how far to run. I don’t need these, because I have a coach and I’m stickin with him.

(2) Weight loss books, with advice on how to run and diet in order to slim down. I’m guessing this will happen anyway, whether or not I read a book about it. What with the insane amount of running I am now doing.

(3) Inspirational books, with various combinations of quotes and stories for motivation and encouragement. Gag, gag.

(4) Better running books, with information on how to run faster / farther / more. Pretty much any running I do at this point is faster farther more than I used to. Don’t need no book for that either.

(5) Women’s running books, which were a lot like the other running books but more irritating. And with sections on pregnancy and menopause. Nope.

In the spirit of giving this a real go I left with the Runner’s World Complete Book of Beginning Running – mostly because it had a nice glossy section on nutrition, and Why We Run by Bernd Heinrich. The latter has turned out to be a neato natural history book about the physiology of endurance in the animal kingdom.

Online I ordered cheap used copies of How Running Changed My Life and First Marathons, both collections of predictably soggy sentimental essays with titles like “What Is She Running From?” and “Zen and the Art of Marathon Running.” I bought these mostly to ridicule. So far so good.