Running Ransom Road by Caleb Daniloff

Caleb Daniloff used to be a drinker and troublemaker, a poor student and an unreliable person. Then, as an adult, he found running. Running helped save him. It gave him an identity and a purpose.

In this book, he details the first few marathons he ran. He chose races in locations where he used to live. By running the streets of his past, Caleb confronts his demons and the person he used to be. However, he ultimately discovers a valuable truth: He doesn't need to run away from or achieve victory over his drinking and mistakes. Rather, he should accept his past as part of who he was and look forward to the person he's becoming.

Here are a few observations Caleb makes about running:

- Running is the most democratic of sports, open to anyone and any age. Anybody can do it.
- When running, your mind is loosed from your brain, free to think or feel anything.
- Running taught him to “put one foot in front of the other” and not look back at his past mistakes; by moving forward, he can forge a new life for himself.
- When he was younger, and a drunk, his life was about incompletions: failing classes, getting fired, etc. Now, running is about experiencing that sense of completing, of getting to the finish line.
- He abhors walking or stopping for the bathroom because it interrupts the flow of the run. “Continuous flow was the reminder that I was no longer that fragmented, damaged person who blew off work, family, and friends.”
- A marathon reveals who you really are. You can’t fake something that strenuous and challenging.
- “Running is a state of being more than a sport, a way of life.”
- Through running, he learned to accept things that are beyond his control.