Run for Your Life: How to Run, Walk, and Move Without Pain or Injury and Achieve a Sense of Well-Being and Joy

Book Title: Run for Your Life: How to Run, Walk, and Move Without Pain or Injury and Achieve a Sense of Well-Being and Joy

Book Author: Mark Cucuzzella

Publication Information: New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2018, 384 pp., $26.95, hardcover

Mark Cucuzzella, MD, is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve, family physician, and competitive long-distance runner who lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia with his wife and two children. As a competitor, he currently holds the world’s longest active streak for consecutive years running a marathon in under 3 hours (30 years). As an educator and entrepreneur, he is a professor at West Virginia University School of Medicine, race director, owner-operator of his own educational running website (Natural Running Center), and owner of two running and walking shoe stores.1 Having immersed himself in the world of running and completing over 100 marathons and ultramarathons (including 24 Boston Marathons), he offers a unique perspective as an elite athlete and physician.

In his book, Dr Cucuzzella draws from his unique experience to discuss multiple aspects of running and advocate for the activity to which he has devoted his professional life. He explains basic biomechanics, how our modern lives contribute to incorrect posture and running adaptations, discusses types of running shoes, and goes over injury prevention strategies. Later, he goes on to address basic physiology and dietary considerations surrounding glucose and fat metabolism in relation to exercise, with special attention paid to insulin resistance. The tone shifts toward the end of the book, when Dr Cucuzzella explores the social and mental benefits of running. While there does not seem to be one concise theme, in its variety, this book has the potential to appeal to seasoned and prospective runners alike. In the context of modern running literature, it is most similar to Anatomy for Runners, by biomechanics researcher and therapist Jay Dicharry.2It is a practical and specific guide, very different from George Sheehan’s Running and Being, which provides a philosophical view of running and life.3

At the end of each chapter, he includes stretches as well as physical and mental exercises to encourage movement, functionality, correct breathing, and proper mentality. The drills and exercises are comprehensive, complete with pictures and descriptions, and for the most part are easy to complete. He gives a good foundation of drills to boost performance by mastering the correct technique and by increasing strength and flexibility to maximize the forces within that technique. The limitations of the drills and exercises offered in the book include the large number of exercises and the requirement of proper equipment. The average runner reading this book may have difficulty discerning which drills or exercises to perform due to time limitations for each running session.

Dr Cucuzzella frequently uses examples from his own life as he describes injury prevention and nutrition. He uses a few examples of friends, fellow runners, and patients. More patient examples would have been helpful to connect the concepts to primary care. Overall, he is pretty dogmatic in terms of his running advice: minimalist running is good, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories should be avoided completely. Although at times the solid evidence behind these claims is lacking, he does not stray too far from conventional wisdom.

The appendix references the book’s website, which is a very well-organized web portal for additional resources, information, and links to videos of the drills and natural running technique.4 The appendix also has great training plans for a 5K, half marathon, and full marathon, aligned with the concepts of the book. The training plans are based on running for a certain length of time instead of distance, and include drills, cross training, and recovery days.

This book is a dense read that encompasses many aspects of running including mechanics, nutrition, footwear, and step-by-step plans for training. It is all about injury prevention; it is not a book about how to deal with common running injuries. Overall, it is geared more toward runners than physicians, and would be a great reference for a new runner at any age, a runner contemplating a first marathon, a seasoned runner trying to avoid continued injury, or a running coach in need of good drills for the team.