This book will take the reader on Hilary's decade-long journey as she trains for and runs her first 5K, swims the aqua-blue waters of the Caribbean, cycles a hilly course in Milwaukee, learns how to run-walk her way through the New York City Marathon, and competes in her first triathlon in Sanibel, Florida. The reader will be right with Hilary as she narrates each experience--even a 5-mile swim in the murky waters of Long Island.

For those who have ever thought they were too old or too unfit to finish a triathlon, From Couch Potato to Endurance Athlete will prove that it is never too late to compete! This is a story about overcoming life's obstacles—from injury and business trouble to grief and loss and everything in between. Hilary Topper was a 48-year-old working mother who once upon a time had practically failed high school gym class. She was working 60-plus hours a week, running a small business. Her focus was on others—her children, her aging parents, and her staff. In the meantime, her weight kept increasing, and she was unhappy with the way her life was going. She needed a change. To turn things around, she joined a gym for the first time in her life. This book will take you on Hilary's decade-long journey as she trains for and runs her first 5K, swims the aqua-blue waters of the Caribbean, cycles a hilly course in Milwaukee, learns how to run–walk her way through the New York City Marathon, and competes in her first triathlon in Sanibel, Florida. You will be right with Hilary as she narrates each experience—even a 5.5-mile swim in the murky waters of Long Island. Hilary's story will move, motivate, and inspire. You will laugh and cry as you follow her on her journey. Even if you don't start out as an endurance athlete, after reading this book, you will walk away feeling that no matter what happens, you can cross the finish line, too.

For those who have ever thought they were too old or too unfit to finish a triathlon, From Couch Potato to Endurance Athlete will prove that it is never too late to compete! This is a story about overcoming life's obstacles—from injury and business trouble to grief and loss and everything in between. Hilary Topper was a 48-year-old working mother who once upon a time had practically failed high school gym class. She was working 60-plus hours a week, running a small business. Her focus was on others—her children, her aging parents, and her staff. In the meantime, her weight kept increasing, and she was unhappy with the way her life was going. She needed a change. To turn things around, she joined a gym for the first time in her life. This book will take you on Hilary's decade-long journey as she trains for and runs her first 5K, swims the aqua-blue waters of the Caribbean, cycles a hilly course in Milwaukee, learns how to run–walk her way through the New York City Marathon, and competes in her first triathlon in Sanibel, Florida. You will be right with Hilary as she narrates each experience—even a 5.5-mile swim in the murky waters of Long Island. Hilary's story will move, motivate, and inspire. You will laugh and cry as you follow her on her journey. Even if you don't start out as an endurance athlete, after reading this book, you will walk away feeling that no matter what happens, you can cross the finish line, too.

Every runner's story is part of a great tradition of running stories. Running Throughout Time tells the best and most important of them. From Atalanta, the heroic woman runner of ancient Greece—when goddesses advised on race tactics—to the new legends of Billy Mills, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Allison Roe (the modern Atalanta), this book brings the greatest runners back to life. It's the perfect runner's bedside storybook. Colorful, dramatic, alive with human insight and period detail, these stories are also full of new discoveries. Within these pages, you will find the true story of Pheidippides and the Battle of Marathon; you will read text from the world's first newspaper report of a footrace (1719). This book uncovers important evidence of the first road races, the origins of cross-country running, and the earliest marathons, telling the true story of the origins of the marathon and just why racers must run exactly 26 miles, 385 yards (42.2 km). New light is thrown on more modern stories like the first fourminute mile and the troublesome birth of the women's marathon. All runners should read this book to really know whose footsteps they run in and why running is worthy of the effort they give to it.

This book is a collection of editorials from Competitor Magazine and Triathlete Magazine. The stories bring out the human side of running, cycling and triathlon in a unique way. Through humor and inspiration, this book will become a must-have for all endurance athletes who have made these sports not just their hobbies, but an integral part of their lives.

Training for and completing a triathlon is one of the most grueling life experiences anyone can have, requiring a degree of personal commitment, individual strength and iron will that few people possess. A true test of your ability to find, and then surpass your physical, mental and emotional limits, the only real analogue to triathlon…is the challenge of life itself. In Finding Triathlon, professional athlete Scott Tinley explores the world inside and outside endurance sports, seeking answers to age-old questions. Part memoir, part cultural exploration, Tinley uses the language of sports to speak universal truths. Told through anecdotes, both personal and shared, with a critical, inquisitive, and often humorous interpretation of a life lived through the medium of sports, Tinley reflects on the sport of triathlon, honest competition, and the drive to improve ourselves as a whole, looking to understand how and why we live our lives. Finding Triathlon is not a self-help book, and it’s not a fitness guide. Nor is it just about triathlons and triathletes. It’s about a lifestyle, a perspective, a way of looking at the world and its challenges, as you strive to better yourself and better understand yourself. Whether you’re training for the next big race or you’ve never run a mile in your life, Finding Triathlon speaks to the champion in each of us, demonstrating how making the decision to push ourselves to succeed in our dreams can affect our life, our world, and our future.

The courageous and transformative story of triathlon hall-of-fame athlete Julie Moss. In 1982, Julie Moss ran the Ironman triathlon for her college senior research project. Her idea was quirky, even crazy; only a handful of hardcore, highly trained enthusiasts competed in the little-known, 140.6-mile combination of swimming, cycling, and running. Julie brought no experience or appreciable training beyond running two marathons. She did bring a latent willpower that, the world soon found out, wouldn’t be denied. What happened next changed Ironman forever . . . After becoming the unlikely leader during the marathon, the final leg of the Ironman, Julie fell and lost all bodily function fifteen meters (50 feet) from the finish. While on hands and knees, she watched her rival pass her. Thirty seconds later, she crawled across the line—stunning the millions who were watching on television. At age twenty-three, Julie became the instant global icon, and the public face of fitness and endurance sports — which exploded in popularity, partly because of her inspiration. That this young co-ed would represent such a new sport was unlikely. That she would inspire millions to change the courses of their lives in the three decades years since was unthinkable. Yet, it happened. And keeps happening. In April 2017 Julie won her age group in the Ironman North American Championships—racing 25 minutes faster than her 1982 Ironman. How does a 58-year-old woman beat the time of her 23-year-old self? Which begs the question, could she also beat her 1982 time in the more demanding Kona? That’s the goal, and the world will find out in October 2018. Crawl of Fame is the long-awaited release of her incredible story. Julie describes how she found her greater purpose while lying across the finish line at Ironman 1982 — and how that greater purpose as a woman, athlete, endurance sports symbol and, now, iconic figure has defined her life and inspired others since. Several endurance sports athletes have written memoirs, but none have changed a sport so dramatically as Julie Moss. Now, readers will join the inner and outer journey of one of the world’s most impressive athletes, a woman who has already inspired millions — with millions more to come.