|
Links | ||
 Ray's Home page Buy the Book! FAQ Ray's blog |
||
Follow Ray on:
|
Ray's new book! | ||
 |
||
| ||||
|
More Praise for "Chasing the Runner's High" |
"I really enjoyed your honestly written book and would recommend to my friends. I also can relate to the feeling of the runner's high."
-Suzy Favor-Hamilton, 3-time US Olympian
"In a comfortable, self-revealing style, Charbonneau tells of the life of a long-time runner (or addict, as he calls it). The book provides considerable advice, but never strays far from personal, insider experiences and thoughts."
-Jonathan Beverly, Editor in Chief, Running Times
"What you are reading is a story about a man, a passion, and an addiction. From running multiple long runs to back to back endurance races, to the blisters, pain, and chafing, you not only read about Ray’s physical ailments, you are in the race with him, scrambling up ice-packed trails, slogging through pouring rain, or mucking through shin-high mud. ... I was inspired by Ray's candor and ability to tell a story about a man on a mission."
-Alix Shutello, Editor, Runners Illustrated
(read more on the book from Alix here and here)
It was scary reading about you because your reasons, metrics, likes, dislikes, habits, unsolved issues (maybe never solved) rang so true to me....I love your writing style.
"Ray--I'm a little sleep-deprived today...and I blame YOU! Stayed up late last night reading "Chasing the Runner's High. Wanted to sleep...but had to keep turning the pages. What would happen next? Would Ray run an Ultra? Would he Buckle? Read, read...turn, turn. Sure, as a runner you had blisters, hamstring...ITB--but man, I'm lucky I didn't get a paper cut!"
-Ken Skier (the running photographer)
“I believe without reservation that this is a book that deserves a far wider audience than it will probably get give the nature of modern of publishing and marketing and your (assuredly deliberate) failure to include formulae of the "Ten Steps to Your Best 5K in Only 8 weeks!" sort.
Your happily admitted OCD helps to make the book linear and logical and thereby fascinating, since your description of how you consider and go about things, and the results of it all, resonate as clearly as any first-person account I have ever read. You also capture, better than I have ever seen, an admixture of the reality, hard technical and physiological truths, and spirit of running at (and this is one of the things that makes it so good) any level--this is a book to be enjoyed by the veteran and the first timer in equal measure.
I have read dozens if not scores of running books and this is easily the best non-technical book I have ever read. This is one that every runner should look up and read more than once--I am halfway into my second helping and and enjoying it as much if not more than the first time.
Plus, you are one funny bleeper, too!”
-Dan Solomon, former president, Somerville Road Runners
"That's the thing, well one thing anyway, about the book, it is all about plotting and planning, obsession, all of it, and we get that, but its about something else as well, not just wanting more, but having to obtain it...this book is a gift, a book we might have killed for in high school, certainly begged for, because books like these weren't written then, or at least published...it is a book that is also ultimately about gaining control over your life by being less in control, being in balance by focusing on all elements of who we are at the same time, and finding pleasure in something that once was, but no longer is, allowed to dominate your every thought."
- Ben Tanzer , author of 99 Problems: Essays about running and writing
"Running shoe salespeople, take note: Ray Charbonneau writes like Raymond Carver and runs like Raymond Chandler! Reading "Chasing the Runner's High" is a fast-paced, ever-changing activity, like finding free beer in a hailstorm."
- Mickey Hess, author of Big Wheel at the Cracker Factory
"Rips the lid off running, and shows the raw meat inside!"
“Chasing the Runner's High is a look at one man's life and obsession with running and addictive behaviors. Humorous at times, but always looking toward the greater good, Ray shares life's ups and downs and provides a hard look into the mind of a runner, offering advice that can only be had with experience and hard fought miles underfoot."
-Marshall Ulrich, 4 time winner of the Badwater Ultramarathon (and author of "Running on Empty
"These are not stories for the weak; these are brutally honest tales, told with candor and frankness about strength, courage, obsession, desire and hard won understanding of self and sport....You’ll see yourself in here, sometimes not in the best light. You’ll revel in Ray’s successes, but fear the possible pain and disillusionment ahead. Following Ray on a quest to get better, go farther, get faster and conquer 50, then 100 mile ultramarathons can be grueling, but like the best stories, you hang on to find out how it will end.
The best news for Ray, and for runners and potential runners, is that the book concludes on a high note. Ray comes to a place of understanding and peace with running. That's something I think all runners strive for, if even if they don't realize it or address it formally."
-Adena Schutzberg, women's winner of the 2006 Arkansas Marathon
"Written at a professional level that's worth your time."
-Rated 8 out of 10 by (non-runner) Jason Pettus of the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography