THE RUNNING GROUND

Writer and editor Thompson recounts a family tradition of lacing up and running out the door—and running, and running.

Now CEO of The Atlantic, Thompson grew up running under the tutelage of his father, an admired professor who, in midlife, realized that he was gay, breaking their patrician family apart. That did nothing to detract father and son from their shared devotion to running, in the son’s case to long-distance runs that recently landed him a world’s record in the 50-mile event in his 50+ age group. Some of Thompson’s narrative is given over to discussing his father’s foibles, from overdrinking and overspending to enduring the indignities of aging. “My father believed in experience, and the more the better,” Thompson writes admiringly, after having expressed some impatience with his undisciplined lifestyle. “My entire life, I never worried about waking him up when I called, because he was always awake,” he adds. Some of the narrative comprises autobiographical notes, from marrying and having children of his own—a family that, he allows, deserves sainthood for putting up with his addiction to running—to achieving steady success as a writer and editor (including eventful stints at The New Yorker and Wired) and surviving cancer. But the best part of the book is the runner’s equivalent of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, when Thompson applies lessons learned from marathons and other long-distance journeys on foot to daily life, including acquiring discipline of his own and gaining mastery of useful life skills: “You don’t get ahead by putting in more time. You get ahead by training smarter and with more focus.” Peppering his narrative with visits to other runners, including octogenarian Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, Thompson exudes calm and wisdom, as when he notes, elegantly, “You’re not running to seek shelter; you’re running because you seek the storm.”

An exemplary memoir of a life spent on the run.