Book Review: “Run To Overcome”
- By Mario Fraioli
- Published Aug. 1, 2011
- Updated Mar. 15, 2012 at 5:10 PM UTC
This review first appeared in the July issue of Competitor Magazine.
Written by: Sabrina Grotewold
“Run to Overcome” (By Meb Keflezighi and Dick Patrick; $24.99, Tynsdale House Publishers) epitomizes an immigrant family’s quest for the American dream. Meb Keflezighi’s autobiographical journey begins with memories of surviving political strife in Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa—sometimes separated from his father, forced to eat dirt to stifle hunger, tasked with cleaning up body parts of a friend torn apart by a land mine—to reuniting with his father in Italy to settling in California, where Keflezighi’s running talent develops. The simple prose and linear plot allow the persevering marathoner motif to shine: Keflezighi rose from the ashes of potential disaster twice during his career to earn an Olympic marathon silver medal and win the 2009 ING New York City Marathon.
FILED UNDER: Inside The Magazine TAGS: book review / Meb Keflezighi / Run to Overcome
Mario Fraioli
Mario Fraioli is a senior editor at Competitor magazine. A cross-country All-American at Stonehill College in 2003, he now coaches the Prado Women's Racing Team in San Diego and was the men's marathon coach for Costa Rica's 2012 Olympic team. His first book, The Official Rock 'n' Roll Guide To Marathon & Half-Marathon Training (VeloPress, 2013) is available in bookstores, running shops and online.