Book Review: Bart Yasso's "My Life On The Run"

While Runner's Lounge and many others are reviewing Dean Karnazes' new book, 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days, I wanted to provide a review on another great running book I read over the past month: Bart Yasso's "My Life On The Run: the Wit, Wisdom and Insight of a Road Racing Icon".

If you're not familiar with Bart, he is the Chief Running Officer (what a great job!) at Runner's World, which is based in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. In addition to coordinating Runner's World's participation in races across the world, he acts as the running ambassador for the magazine and chief cheerleader for the sport. You may also know him as the creator of the Yasso 800s, which is a program that predicts your marathon running time based on your 800-meter time.

The book walks you through the tough times in Bart's early life and how running saved him and ultimately became his way of life. He talks about a run where he comes face to face with a rhino and others where he had to pull a donkey or do a "bare buns run" at a nudisty colony.

I found the tone of the book to be extremely upbeat and very fun to read. Bart clearly has a passion for the sport and is only happy if he can share that passion with others. The chapters were quick and inspirational and I loved every minute of it.

Bart still travels the country and speaks the night before races. He uses his now infamous PowerPoint presentation to show people how much fun you can have by running (as in the donkey, bare buns or rhino stories above).

I'd highly recommend that you pick up the book and give it a read. I'm already starting to share it with others and I'm sure you'll do the same. Happy reading!