The Incomplete Book of Running

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 661 ratings

Price: 14.24

Last update: 02-01-2025


About this item

Peter Sagal, the host of NPR’s Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! and a popular columnist for Runner’s World, shares lessons, stories, advice, and warnings gleaned from running the equivalent of once around the Earth.

At the verge of turning 40, Peter Sagal - brainiac Harvard grad, short, bald Jew with a disposition toward heft, and a sedentary star of public radio - started running seriously. And much to his own surprise, he kept going, faster and further, running 14 marathons and logging tens of thousands of miles on roads, sidewalks, paths, and trails all over the US and the world, including the 2013 Boston Marathon, where he crossed the finish line moments before the bombings.

In this new audiobook, Sagal reflects on the trails, tracks, and routes he’s traveled, from the humorous absurdity of running charity races in his underwear - in St. Louis, in February - or attempting to “quiet his colon” on runs around his neighborhood - to the experience of running as a guide to visually impaired runners and the triumphant post-bombing running of the Boston Marathon in 2014. With humor and humanity, Sagal also writes about the emotional experience of running, body image, the similarities between endurance sports and sadomasochism, the legacy of running as passed down from parent to child, and the odd but extraordinary bonds created between strangers and friends. The result is a funny, wise, and powerful meditation about running and life that will appeal to listeners everywhere.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Joseph Trinh
    5.0 out of 5 stars A runner's journey
    Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2024
    I really enjoy this book. I hear Peter on the NPR show "Wait, wait, don't tell me" and I like his style of humor on the podcast, and I started to run again. So I bought this book just for fun. And it did not disappoint! This book is funny, and I picked up some good pointers on running also. He shared his personal stories also. this book has it all, humor, running stuff and some sad stuff also.
  • willinjersey
    4.0 out of 5 stars Quick read. Great story
    Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2022
    Easy read for anyone that is or is not into running. Lot's of humor and interesting stories about his life.
  • art
    5.0 out of 5 stars Philosophical, Funny, and Entertaining
    Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2018
    I need to preface this review by noting my biases: I am also a short, bald father employed by an NPR station who loves to run and who also loves the Boston Red Sox. So my affinity towards Mr. Sagal is a given.

    With that said: I really loved this book and would have loved it whether or not my affinity towards Mr. Sagal was an undercurrent in my thinking. As a runner, a father, a husband, a person who has questioned their lifestyle upon notice of love handles, a person who has gone through both triumphs and struggles, this book hits nearly every reason why I don't "go out for a jog," but call myself "a runner."

    Perhaps it's best to start with what this book IS NOT.

    It's not a Talmudic interpretation of Hanson's marathon training (although both the Talmud and marathon training come up in the book). It's not a self-help book on how to start running (although you'll be inspired to start running if you aren't a runner already). It's not a sojourn through Mr. Sagal's lifetime running accomplishments (although you do visit several periods of his life and he does note some of his accomplishments). It's not like any other running book I have ever read (and I've read quite a few).

    The best way I can describe the book is this: it's what I imagine it would be like if I bellied up to the bar with Pete (because it's a bar, I'd call him Pete and not Mr. Sagal, unless he insisted) and had a few beers while talking about life, running, fatherhood, marriage, heartbreak, struggles, and triumphs.

    There are funny parts (obviously), some great stories (especially his experience as a guide for blind runners at the '13 and '14 Boston Marathon), and some pretty profound moments. No offense to Mr. Sagal (notice we aren't at the bar in this situation, so I'm more formal), but I didn't think I'd have to read this book with a pencil for underlining purposes as I, perhaps naively, did not approach this book with the idea that there would be quotes or thoughts to which I would want to return. But there were many moments where I stopped to think about the profundity of a sentence or an observation or a quote.

    Every runner will feel a familiarity with some of the concepts, thoughts, and feelings about which Pete writes (I'm drinking a beer as I type this so I'm going back to the informal for this part). Every father, husband, mother, wife, sibling, aunt, or uncle will feel the same. The book not so much explores the life of a runner, but all of our lives: searching for meaning, for a goal, for security, for self-worth, for a life well lived.

    I highly recommend it for everyone.
  • Curtis
    5.0 out of 5 stars Like listening to Peter tell a story
    Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2020
    I'll start by saying I'm biased: I both listen to WWDTM and am an amatuer runner so I fit square in the target demographic of this book. I love listening to Peter Sagal as a humorist but even more so when he's talking on a serious note. And this book is one long serious note (true to form there's more than enough humor throughout to keep it from becoming too heavy-handed).

    To sum it up: it's musings on life and its struggles as viewed through running-colored glasses. You likely won't walk away with any new, profound knowledge. (Peter clearly states that he's not here to give running advice, just go out and run.) But you will set the book down having felt like you just shared a drink and a few hours of conversation with someone who's spent a lot of time contemplating mortality and trying to find purpose in life. Peter's a thoughtful person and I enjoyed this little biography-of-sorts.
  • Balkan Sencan
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good Writing of a Stubborn Man
    Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2019
    I enjoyed reading this book as an amateur runner myself to see sharing similar thoughts and emotions for and during running. I liked it exept one thing; the implications of Sagal about her ex wife as a bad person without giving a perspective from her side. Besides there is not a single word in the book pertaining his faults in his old marriage. Not only he does not accept and embrace them he does not even talk about them. I think a honest chapter on this would be much better instead of an eggress issue. Not only I have felt some kind of hatred from him towards his mother of well raised three children, I found it unnecessary to skip thanking her in the acknowledgements and put his new wife on top of everything after such a relatively short amount of time. I would like him consider what would happen if they had shared that nineteen years together; let him ask her daughters about this. A gentleman never talks about his expartner in such a way in this book and it is clear running did not help him get away from his past life. He writes very well on the technical side of running but if this book was going to be an allegory between running and his life, it is lacking a lot without him in the same openness accepting his faults and past life, along with his ex mariage. God, where have all the good editors gone?
  • Troy Larsen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and thought provoking. Not just about running.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2019
    I enjoyed the book, so much so that I started reading it a second time. There was a small portion that ran contrary to my personal beliefs, but i skipped over it. I enjoyed how Peter interwove his personal running experiences with events affecting running and how different people approach running. In particular, those for whom running poses additional challenges. Many have mentioned how much Peter's decaying marriage and subsequent divorce are mentioned in the book. I personally viewed it as a sad background story and sought to enjoy the merits of the book despite it. That aspect does seem to come to a happy ending.
  • Michael J. McGinniss
    3.0 out of 5 stars Would have given it 3.5 stars if I could
    Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2019
    This is a good book for anyone who also became a middle aged runner or is thinking of it. There are some great insights and anecdotes. I missed having a little more of the sense of humor Mr. Sagal provides on Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me, and I thought at times it was a little self indulgent but enjoyed it and would recommend it.

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