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Running Man: A Memoir Hardcover – September 13, 2016
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After a decade-long addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol, Charlie Engle hit bottom with a near-fatal six-day binge that ended in a hail of bullets. As Engle got sober, he turned to running, which became his lifeline, his pastime, and his salvation. He began with marathons, and when marathons weren’t far enough, he began to take on ultramarathons, races that went for thirty-five, fifty, and sometimes hundreds of miles, traveling to some of the most unforgiving places on earth to race. The Matt Damon-produced documentary, Running the Sahara, followed Engle as he lead a team on a harrowing, record breaking 4,500-mile run across the Sahara Desert, which helped raise millions of dollars for charity.
Charlie’s growing notoriety led to an investigation and a subsequent unjust conviction for mortgage fraud. Engle would spend sixteen months in federal prison in Beckley, West Virginia. While in jail, he pounded the small prison track, running endlessly in circles. Soon his fellow inmates were joining him, struggling to keep their spirits up in dehumanizing circumstances.
In Running Man, Charlie Engle tells the gripping, surprising, funny, emotional, and inspiring story of his life, detailing his setbacks and struggles—from coping with addiction to serving time in prison—and how he blazed a path to freedom by putting one foot in front of the other. This is a propulsive, raw, and triumphant story about finding the threshold of human endurance, and transcending it.
- Length
304
Pages
- Language
EN
English
- PublisherScribner
- Publication date
2016
September 13
- Dimensions
6.0 x 1.3 x 9.3
inches
- ISBN-101476785783
- ISBN-13978-1476785783
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Dean Karnazes Guest Review of Running Man
Charlie EnglePhoto Credit: Rod McLean
Dean KarnazesPhoto Credit: Corey Rich Photography
Charlie Engle is an ultramarathon runner, an adventure-seeker, a global explorer a philanthropist; he's also a recovering crack addict, a convicted felon, and a man driven to the edge of human endurance and achievement.
And he has written a gripping, vivid, gritty, funny, unforgettable memoir chronicling his globe-spanning races, his record-breaking 4500-mile run across the Sahara Desert, his decade long struggle with addiction and an unfortunate stint in federal prison for mortgage fraud.
More than anything, this book is about how Charlie found solace and salvation through running.
Engle opens up about his many harrowing bottoms and how he found a way out of addiction—or maybe a parallel addiction— through running, first marathons, and when marathons weren’t enough, 50, 100, 135 mile races often in the most inhospitable places on earth: from the Australian outback to the jungles of the Amazon to the hallucinatory heat of the California desert.
He chronicles his ascendance as a superstar in the running community—his charisma and edge made him a natural on the Mark Burnett produced Eco Challenge Borneo and in the Matt Damon produced film Running the Sahara. And how his notoriety attracted the attention of an investigator, who felt Charlie couldn’t possibly afford to pay for all of this adventuring given that he owned a small dent-repair business. Charlie was ultimately convicted of mortgage fraud.
Charlie is self-effacing about his mistakes. He made many—as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a runner, and he was careless in checking over the paperwork that a mortgage broker filled out for him in 2007. It could be reasonably argued that Charlie was little more than a victim of circumstance, but when the housing market collapsed he was caught in the backwash and paid a heavy price: a 16-month sentence in a federal penitentiary in Beckley West Virginia.
But this book is not a defense of Charlie’s actions. It’s, in part, a vivid account of his time in prison, where he chronicles his struggles to keep his spirits up in dehumanizing circumstances. He decides since he cannot run Badwater, a 135 mile race across the hellscape of Death Valley in mid-July, he’ll run that 135 miles around the prison track. He makes it his mission. I never thought a guy running in circles could be so surprisingly funny, upbeat and remarkably inspiring, even transcendent.
Charlie’s story is incredible. It is gripping and emotional and—more than anything—it is real. I enjoyed every page, and I’m sure you will, too.
Review
Engle is a man drawn to the sensation of pushing himself fully, and he’s found various kinds of extremity in all sorts of places—in a crack pipe and in a brutal four-month run across the length of the Sahara. He has also found himself, in powerful ways, in ordinary relationships—in partnership and fatherhood—and this book is a moving account of his attempt to reconcile his hunger for extremity with his commitments to the ones he loves.
Engle reports on the difficult and joyous places to which his suffering has delivered him, but he reports on them with wit, and candid self-interrogation, and genuine curiosity. He never takes himself too seriously, but he does take seriously the questions of where we find meaning and freedom, as well as the question of what might grant him—or anyone—the sense of a life well-lived."--Leslie Jamison, New York Times bestselling author of The Empathy Exams
“Running Man is a fascinating story about a man who has shattered the limits of human endurance and lived life on the edge.”--Dean Karnazes, endurance athlete runner and best-selling of author of RUN! 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Blissand Ultramarathon Man
“Running Man will make you cry, laugh, cheer out loud, redefine what you think is possible and leave you in awe. Most of all, it is a powerful and unfailingly authentic testimony to something we all share — what it means to be truly human.”--Rich Roll, endurance athlete, best-selling author of Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself
“Riveting. Running Man gets at the heart—better than anything I've ever read about endurance sports—of what compels a person to compete in the world's toughest foot races. Charlie probes his own life and psyche with remarkably honesty, offering the reader a portrait of a world class athlete, but also an addict, an inmate, a son, a father and a man committed to his own sobriety and sanity. Thanks to this book I finally understand what drives the spirit of ultra runners."--Chris Kostman, Chief Adventure Officer and Race Director AdventureCORPS, Inc.
"Running Man is a fascinating read, proving something I always believed, that running is the ultimate faith healer, restoring belief not only in oneself but in life’s possibilities."--Bart Yasso, author of My Life on The Run and Chief Running Officer at Runners World
"Whether surviving the pain of ultra marathon running or of incarceration, this is a story of redemption and courage in the face of adversity. "--Mary Gadams, Founder, RacingThePlanet, 4 Deserts Race Series
"An open tale of one mans battle with two addictions. When he finally puts the substance addiction in check, the power of the human spirit shines and his need to run prevails!"--Matt Long, author of The Long Run
"Ignore the title of this book, the cover shot of its author, along with his staggering running resume. For this is not a book about running, but rather a tale about human capacity: for misery, for self-destruction, for rebirth, for redemption, for grace, and most importantly, for love. This one's got it all."--Caleb Daniloff, author of Running Ransom Road and co-author of November Project
“First-time author Engle’s fascinating account of the high and low points of his life as an ultramarathon runner is written with cinematic quality…uplifting and inspirational.”--Publishers Weekly
"Running Man is a captivating insight into how Engle forged the ability to conquer the impossible by overcoming physical and mental challenges so brutal they would break most people." --Joe De Sena, Founder & CEO, Spartan Race
"A fast-paced, well-written account of a man who accepts pain, pushes beyond imagined limits, and ultimately finds redemption and peace."--Booklist
"[A] turbulent journey from addiction to recovery to sports world fame."--New York Post
"Harrowing."--The New York Times
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Scribner (September 13, 2016)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1476785783
- ISBN-13 : 978-1476785783
- Item Weight : 15.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,069,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,577 in Running & Jogging (Books)
- #5,726 in Sports Biographies (Books)
- #27,946 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author
I try not to take myself too seriously despite the fact that I undoubtedly take on serious challenges. I love adventure and I am fueled by testing myself to do things that push the far reaches of my ability, both physically and mentally. My chosen endeavors sometimes seem impossible and are often wrought with pain and even failure. Yet I’ve discovered that if I employ humor and laugh in the face of grim circumstances, I will survive and even enjoy almost anything.
I’ve run across deserts, summited ice-covered volcanoes, swam with crocodiles and served a stint in federal prison. But my greatest challenge is the one I take on every single day—sobriety. I have been clean and sober since July 23rd, 1992. While my daily urge to drink and use drugs has waned over the years, I still struggle with the addict that lives inside of me. It took me a long time to figure out that I can not, and should not, kill my addictive nature. Instead, my challenge has been finding a way to use the addict in me for positive, purpose-driven pursuits.
My list of pursuits is long and diverse. I’ve bounced around the world and continue to bounce around inside of my own ideas, searching for the “next thing”...
But it is fair to say that running, and running far, is at the core of my vitality and enduring sobriety. It lays a foundation for goals that keep me focused and it gives me the freedom of movement that I love. It keeps my body and mind sharp, and it refines and smoothes out my most jagged edges. Each time I run hundreds of miles, I learn something new about myself and even about the world.
Running has allowed me to explore the far-reachinug corners of the globe and meet amazing, diverse people. I have found that even in cultures that generally distrust strangers, people are more likely to welcome me if I am on foot. It somehow makes me less threatening, perhaps more human. Most cultures understand running as a part of their daily lives. It is something that shines a light on how we are the same and briefly dims how we are different. When I run, I always feel connected to others and that is truly what I love about my life.
Last year, I finished writing my first book. It is a memoir titled Running Man. With the disclaimer that I am not giving life advice: I often joke that if you do enough crazy things and too often find yourself in the heart of bizarre, improbable and sometimes dire circumstances, someone might just pay you to write a book! I can say in all seriousness that writing this book was one of the toughest things I have ever done. While hunched over messy piles of paper and my laptop, I’d sometimes say to my wife that running a hundred miler that day would be easier than finishing another chapter. Having said that, I love writing. I enjoy the creative journey of crafting words on a page and I find great satisfaction in putting the final punctuation marks on something I’ve written. I want to write more, and I will. I’ve decided that my line going forward is: I’m an addict who runs and I’m a runner who writes.
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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I recommend that you read this book and be open to embracing his vulnerability and you'll gain insight into his struggles many of which are problems that we see in the lives of others. He helped me understand the "WHY" of addiction and his compelling story is so satisfying because he is REAL about his past in such a way that opens up his life for others to see how you can overcome anything by reconfiguring your relationship with pain. He exposes the life of an adventure runner, something I knew nothing about prior to this book! This book was so much more than I expected, as I learned about his struggle in such a vulnerable light, he's very descriptive, and I felt like I was right there, in his shoes. He's an EXCELLENT WRITER! GET THIS BOOK, grab a blanket and get cozy on your couch because you won't leave until you finish it! Share it with your friends!
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2023
I also love how he was able to take you to his lows, but not keep you there. Some books can become too heavy and hard to more forward. This book does not do that. He brings you to his hardest chapters of his life but shields you from getting stuck. The way he tells the story you feel like you are with him. I have been very lucky to not have an addiction, but I feel that this book could be very inspirational to those fighting those demons. Charlie is a very gifted man and I look forward to a part 2 as I'm sure he has a lot of wonderful adventures in his future.
Top reviews from other countries
It changed my thinking in terms of how capable the human body and mind are. So recommendable for runners and non-runners. Excellent!