So y'all know I love real-life and autobiographies. And y'all know I love to run. So a book about someone's running adventures is like pure gold! If there's a hint of adversity, it's even better. One such book I would recommend is Stronger by Jeff Bauman, a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing. If you've read that and enjoyed it, you will love Grace to Race written by Sister Madonna Buder, a lady known as the Iron Nun.
While the first half of the book recounts her growing up and enjoying various activities (which admittedly doesn't move that quickly), the second half deals with her foray into the competitive world of running and triathlons. Madonna details her decision to join the Catholic faith, her family's reaction to choosing the life of a nun, and the emotional reactions she had throughout all of that. While serving as a nun, she is constantly shifted from one convent to another all over the country - from Washington to Florida and everywhere in between. While attending a conference at the age of 48, she randomly decides to go for a jog on the beach and discovers she loves the sport. Over time she expands her distance and begins running marathons regularly, even qualifying for Boston (insert jealousy here). As marathoning loses its lore, she eventually tries her hand at triathlons, which is a whole new beast, but it is where she truly begins to flourish. With painful honesty, Buder recalls the various injuries she sustains, many of which required surgery, while training and racing. In spite of it all, she somehow manages to set record after record. She opens new age categories in multiple Ironman triathlons (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) and sets long-standing records in them. Sister Madonna is nothing short of a pioneer who truly makes you wonder what your excuse is. If she, in spite of her injuries and setbacks, can do all this, why can't I conquer my fears? This was a good, quick read that was enjoyable most of the way.
3.5 (of 4) dusty book jackets.
No comments:
Post a Comment