About two weeks before I ran last month’s New York City Marathon, I texted my friend group to see if anyone had a copy of Deena Kastor’s memoir that I could borrow. I was inspired by my training partner, Cathy Lee, who had read it before she ran New York back in 2023. I had also been watching a lot of Scandal recently, and wanted something a bit lighter to put me in the right headspace leading into the race.

My friend Cynthia came to my rescue with this text: "My ex sent it to me for my birthday a couple years ago after we broke up and it’s been in a shoebox in my closet ever since and the one time I took it out of the shoebox and was considering reading it, it accidentally summoned him back into my life. So it went right back into the box and I would actually love for it to be re-homed if you can deal with whatever questionable energy it comes along with."

Fortunately, there was no bad juju once the book was in my possession. Although I didn’t quite finish reading it before race day, I’m certain I’ll return to it before future marathons.

No disrespect to Deena, but I did not follow her career while it was happening. I was a little too young, and by the time I really got into the sport and started following marathoning in earnest, it was already the Des and Kara and Shalane era. Of course I knew that Deena was an Olympian and held the American record in the marathon, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you where she went to college (Arkansas), or who coached her to bronze in Athens (the legendary Joe Vigil), or that she was so passionate about racing cross country as a pro… or literally anything about her character.

Reading Deena’s memoir enlightened me to her career and the landscape of running in the early 2000’s. Moreover, it was very special to learn so much about Coach Vigil, who passed away in July. Many of my favorite quotes and pearls of wisdom from the book were actually Coach Vigil-isms. Deena does a great job articulating his philosophies and the mark they made on her and her training. The writing was well done and it was easy to follow the progression and evolution of her career, as she told her story chronologically.

My only initial qualm about Deena’s memoir was that she made it seem like the gratitude and the positivity that were so transformative to her came as easily as the mile repeats she did once a week at Cole Park. This critique was premature though, because it wasn’t until I finished the memoir portion that I realized there was a guide afterward containing tips and habits for the reader to implement—the same tools Deena herself had used to hone her mental game. Personally, I am eager to practice re-framing my negative thoughts and also to use “I’m positive this sucks” as a mantra during tempo runs this winter.

Deena was manifesting before manifesting was trendy. We can’t all declare that we are going to win the Chicago Marathon and then do it, but I can declare that I am going to podium at my Turkey Trot (I did) and break 3 hours when I run Boston in 2027. You might declare that you’ll OTQ in the marathon or run a 10-minute mile. No matter what, these endeavors require no less commitment, mental fortitude, and grit than Deena’s did. The mind is a powerful thing, and like Deena, we can accomplish our goals with the right mental and physical work, a good attitude, a reliable support system, and most importantly, gratitude. Reading Deena’s memoir can endow all of us with the tools and inspiration to accomplish whatever our own personal version of winning the Chicago Marathon might be.

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This was the first in a monthly to bi-monthly column for CITIUS. Below are some books in my queue, but feel free to reach out if you have any recommendations! You can follow me on Goodreads to see some other running-related books I’ve read, and also what non-running books I’m into.

My Queue:

• Don’t Call it a Comeback, Keira D’Amato
• The Running Ground, Nicholas Thompson
• The Race to be Myself, Caster Semenya
• Running Up the Mountain, Matt Baxter