This Girl Ran

Ive always enjoyed this author. Her Sugar Daddy Diaries was brave, witty, moving, and launched a writing career that has continued to produce fascinating memoirs. This latest one is quite a change from party girl to extremely competitive triathlete in just two years. The topic is not one I would normally be interested in, but because I had enjoyed her previous two books so much, I couldnt resist. And I am so glad I did her journey is interesting and full of compelling experiences and insights. I read it all in one go couldnt put it down. I felt a bit guilty all warm and cozy in bed reading about the frozen extremities and punishing physical experiences of triathlon training!

This book shows what you can achieve when you push your body to the limit. The writer did this and as a result she performed all over the world and even qualified for a place in a World Championship. She found a truer version of herself through sports and became a more approachable and warmer person. She ditched the high heels, fancy clothes and designer handbags for jeans, boots and a backpack. A good example of how sports can change a person, on all levels.

Through training, pushing pain to the side and a keep-going attitude, she becomes a winner. She is amazing and didnt give up after lumps, pains and dizziness but with endurance, perseverance and resistances she reached her goals.

What I love about this book is that the writer combines telling her story with giving interesting information about aspects of sports e.g. types of pain, importance of food.

When youve read the book, you realise that, in the writers words: Fitness is a medical miracle and your body is a sophisticated and intelligent machine.

Overall a great book that teaches an important life-lesson that can be applied in a sport environment but equally in any persons life: The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow.

Congratulations for all your achievements!

I pre-ordered This Girl Ran , based on the pre-publicity I wanted to read it as soon as it came out and this story of a journey from glamorous party loving media girl to muddy cross country runner to international triathlete was a captivating read. Helen Croydon brings a lot of humour to her writing much of it at her own expense as she flung herself into her new sporting world and learnt how to do it along the way. As with most good sports books the story of her running , cycling and swimming journey is really part of a personal journey of self discovery which she writes on with disarming honesty. The book should be an inspiration to anyone in that place of dissatisfaction with their current life to follow their dreams and go for it. The closing chapters where Helen reflects on the complex reasons why we runners choose to throw ourselves into sports were one of the best expositions on the subject I have read. Id thoroughly recommend this book to runners and non-runners alike.

Don’t be deceived by the topic of this book – while it is about a journey of becoming an athlete, the heart and soul is about the journey a lot of us face at one point or another in our lives – shedding our old skin and taking on a big lifestyle change which comes along with a change from within… along with the challenge of finding meaningful connections. Helen goes through a journey of a new life that really pushes herself to the limits in a completely new way. She really opens up and shows vulnerability at the end of the book as she longs to build meaningful connections – which makes this especially heartfelt and relate-able – with lots of exciting and funny adventures along the way! Great work!

So much great advice, so many great stories. Even though shes a natural born runner and Im the opposite I still found this book tremendously useful and entertaining. And inspiring. Interesting to find more about amateur triathlon too.

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