Description
Book SynopsisAn exploration of the transformative power of running--and it can be the key to unlocking resilience we never knew we had. With a foreword by Dean Karnazes.
Outrunning the Demons is an in-depth exploration of just why running can so often seem the answer to everything when you find yourself in extremis. Phil Hewitt has been there himself. He was viciously mugged in 2016 and left for dead. Suffering the acute symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and unable to make any sense of what had happened to him, Phil found that dedicating himself to running--and its possible healing powers--was the only route ahead.
Running can take us to fantastic places. Just as importantly, it can also bring us back from terrible ones. For people in times of crisis, trauma and physical or mental illness, running is often the means by which they reconstruct fractured, fragmented identity--or indeed the means to a new identity. When normality collapses, running can put it bac
Trade Review
... an inspiring collection of stories about runners who have run through unimaginable adversity to find perspective, resolution and ultimately peace, within themselves and with the universe. -- Dean Karnazes, ultramarathoner and New York Times bestselling author
Uplifting and important... This is a book about courage, about kindness, about grief and fortitude, about healing after trauma, about running as a way of finding oneself, about witnessing the best in humankind having experienced the worst -- Kate Mosse, author of 'The Burning Chambers' and 'Labyrinth'
[a] remarkable collection of intensely personal stories connects the reader to the restorative power of running. With the assured touch of an experienced journalist and editor… his absorbing accounts allow voices from around the world to remind us that despite the suffering humanity inflicts and endures, through the exhilarating discipline of running the indomitability of the human spirit can prevail. -- Hugh Bonneville
Exhilarating, compelling and beautifully written; this extraordinary book, both humbling and uplifting, is a hymn to the triumph of the human spirit and the human heart. -- Peter James, international bestselling writer
I defy anyone not to be inspired, moved and excited by the stories of these brave runners, beautifully narrated by Phil Hewitt, who understands their challenges because he is still outrunning his own demons. This book may be a life-changer - or a life-saver. -- Peter Lovesey, crime writer and historian
A really good book ... with fascinating stories * BBC Radio Four, Today Programme *
Extremely readable… a sane, unsentimental commentary on why they keep on running * The i *
An enriching and celebratory exploration of the transformative power of running – and how it can be the key to unlocking resilience we never knew we had … deeply affecting … compelling. * Fit Pro *
Table of Contents
Foreword by Dean Karnazes The Start Line: ‘And then I did what I have always done. I ran.’ Charlie Engle: ‘When I run, I become the absolute epitome of who I am.’ Theresa Giammona: ‘I know he was with me every step of the way.’ Isabel Hardman: ‘I learn so much about how to cope with life when I go on a long run.’ Jessica Rigo: ‘When I need that extra push to finish strong, I think of my fallen running partner . . . my chosen sister.’ Eleanor Keohane: ‘I was an absolute mess. . . But I did it. I ran. Three times, sobbing my heart out.’ The Schneider Twins: ‘I truly believe that running has saved my family.’ Sandra Laflamme: ‘They said there was blood everywhere.’ Dan Keeley: ‘You’d be hard-pressed to find a happier, more grateful person than I am right now.’ Caroline Elliott: ‘Knowing that I ’ m always recovering, one small step at a time.’ Sujan Sharma: ‘I am so glad now that I had that hallucination.’ Linda Quirk: ‘A disease so insidious that it captures the best in everyone.’ James Buzzell: ‘Once you have seen dead people, you realise that death is real and that it is going to happen.’ Anji Andrews: ‘I remember seeing a solitary robin . . . and thinking it was a sign my dad was watching.’ Emma Malcolm: ‘[Running] clears my mind and enables me to think about all the tough stuff.’ Lisa Hallett: ‘I ran two of the ugliest miles ever, and it was the first time I accepted that John was not coming home.’ Serena Wooldridge: ‘Through running there was light and hope at the end of the tunnel.’ Bryn Phillips: ‘I remember thinking we are not going to survive.’ Hanny Allston: ‘I have found a way to run for the absolute joy in the freedom it brings me.’ Kate Jayden: ‘How could I let anyone steal running from me?’ Don Wright: ‘I am exceedingly lucky to be here.’ Daniele Seiss: ‘Running long distances . . . creates a sense of oneness that I can’t explain.’ Carolyn Knights: ‘[He spent] his whole life wrapped in the loving arms of his mum and dad.’ Alastair Campbell: ‘I see [running] as my best meeting of the day.’ Liz Dunning: ‘I have got children. I am not going to concede their future to a world of guns.’ Danny Slay: ‘It gave me an outlet to think, focus and unwind.’ Ana Febres-Cordero: ‘I am amazing, I am strong, I am beautiful, I am kind.' Lisa Taylor: ‘Not only am I still here, I now have a lovely baby with my lovely husband.’ Jason Nelson: ‘I put the barrel of my pistol in my mouth with my finger firmly on the trigger.’ Amanda Trafford: ‘I wish I could scoop them all up and inspire them to run!’ Cherissa Jackson: ‘Purging me from my grief and my sadness, my anger and my pain.’ Lynn Julian Crisci: ‘In my mind, you win when you reach the start line, not the finish line.’ Paul Shepherd: ‘My son would have become another fatherless child.’ Bryn Hughes: ‘I was thinking if I allow myself to die, then evil will win.’ Stephanie Foley: ‘Then we did as Sarah did – we ran with all our Hart!’ The Finish Line: ‘A group of people I have come to admire hugely.’ Postscript: ‘ Better Things ’ Appendix: The Science Behind the Transformative Power of Running Acknowledgements References About the Author
