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Out of Thin Air

Running Wisdom and Magic from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia

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Out of Thin Air

Written by: Michael Crawley
Narrated by: Raj Ghatak
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About this listen

Bloomsbury presents Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley, read by Raj Ghatak.

‘Full of wonderful insights and lessons from a world where the ability to run is viewed as something almost mysterious and magical.’ – Adharanand Finn, author of Running with the Kenyans

What we can learn from Ethiopian running culture – written by an anthropologist and 2:20 marathon runner who trained with the Ethiopians.

‘Ethiopia is a place where I have been told that energy is controlled by angels and demons and where witchdoctors can help you to acquire another runner’s power. It is a place where an anonymous runner in the forest told me, miming an imaginary scoreboard and with a completely straight face, that he had dreamt that he would run 10km in 25 minutes. It is a place where they tell me that the air at Mount Entoto will transform me into a 2.08 marathon runner. It is a place, in short, of wisdom and magic, where dreaming is still very much alive.’

Why does it make sense to Ethiopian runners to get up at 3am to run up and down a hill? Who would choose to train on almost impossibly steep and rocky terrain, in hyena territory? And how come Ethiopian men hold six of the top ten fastest marathon times ever?

Michael Crawley spent fifteen months in Ethiopia training alongside (and sometimes a fair way behind) runners at all levels of the sport, from night watchmen hoping to change their lives to world class marathon runners, in order to answer these questions.

Follow him into the forest as he attempts to keep up and get to the heart of their success.

©2020 Michael Crawley (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Running & Jogging

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Another great book on running after ‘Born to run’

Great book Ethiopian running and their background. In the same world, most of us run for recreation but there are a few who run for changing their life with the prize money. Very sad to hear the fate of few runners who don’t achieve top 10 in major races run errands for life.

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