Is your daily run starting to drag you down? Has running become a chore rather than the delight it once was? Then The Happy Runner is the answer for you.
Authors David and Megan Roche believe that you can’t reach your running potential without consistency and joyful daily adventures that lead to long-term health and happiness. Guided by their personal experiences and coaching expertise, they point out the mental and emotional factors that will help you learn exactly how to become a happy runner and achieve your personal best.
Following the “some work, all play” approach, The Happy Runner introduces the three commandments of happy running and teaches you how to balance the effort of running with the simple joy of the activity:
- Learn how to run fast, run long, and stay healthy with proven training methods.
- Read real stories from professional and recreational athletes who have had personal breakthroughs as they learned to love the process of running.
- Understand how to adapt your running based on your personal lifestyle and goals as well as avoid setbacks from injury.
- Develop your self-belief and make positivity your default setting so you can reach your goals.
Whether you’re battling burnout, are returning after an injury, or are new to running and want to enjoy a 5K or an ultramarathon, the science-based training guidance in The Happy Runner will help you get faster, go longer, and live stronger—all with a smile.
Part I. The Happy Runner Rules
Chapter 1. Embrace the Process
Chapter 2. Know Your Why
Chapter 3. Power Yourself With Kindness
Chapter 4. It’s Not All Puppies and Unicorns
Part II. The Happy Runner Training Principles
Chapter 5. Principle 1: Easy Means Easy, Not the Absence of Pain
Chapter 6. Principle 2: Learn How to Run Fast Before You Practice Running Hard
Chapter 7. Principle 3: Build Strength From Speed
Chapter 8. Principle 4: Specificity Matters, but Less Than You May Think
Chapter 9. Principle 5: Healthy Running Is Active and Earned
David Roche started the Some Work, All Play (SWAP) team in 2013 and is a coach to some of the top trail runners in the world. He has been called one of the best ultramarathon coaches by several running media outlets. His athletes have won some of the biggest trail races, including the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run and the Hardrock 100. He is a two-time national champion, a three-time member of Team USA, and the 2014 USATF Men’s Sub-Ultra Trail Runner of the Year. He is also a contributing editor for Trail Runner Magazine. David graduated from Columbia University with a degree in environmental science and received a master's degree and law degree from Duke University.
Megan Roche joined the SWAP coaching team in 2016. She is the 2016 USATF Women’s Ultra Trail Runner of the Year and Sub-Ultra Trail Runner of the Year, a four-time national champion, the North American Mountain Running Champion, and a six-time member of Team USA. She attended Duke University, where she played on the field hockey team and raced on the cross country and track teams before graduating with a degree in neuroscience. Megan received her medical degree from Stanford University in 2018.
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