Book Review: 50 Races To Run Before You Die

I put a post up on my Instagram page recently promoting Tobias Mews' book: 50 Races To Run Before You Die.  I said I would put up a more detailed account of the book on my blog for anyone that is interested.

This book is a great book to have on a coffee table or waiting room for people to flick through.  But it is also much more than that.  If anyone is drawing up a bucket list and an ultra marathon is one thing on it, well this is the book for you. 

It has 3 sections in the book.  Section 1: Good For Beginners. Section 2: Sucker For Punishment. Section 3: Hard As Nails.  You can figure it out for yourself which is the easiest and the hardest section.  17 races each in Section 1 and 2. 16 races in Section 3. 

There is a good mix of locations with the races.  UK, Europe, South Africa, South America, etc.  So there are plenty places for you to go and made a holiday of it after the event.
There is a different mix of races also.  It ranges from Tough Mudder, UK Wife Carrying Race, Zombie Evacuation race, etc. 

Then, it moves on to your normal marathon such as the Paris Marathon, Queenstown International Marathon and the New York City Marathon.  It has other such marathons as Man V Horse Marathon, Comrades Marathon and the Original Mountain Marathon to wet your appetite.
It reviews the more severe and testing races such as the one I have on my bucket list, Ultra - Trail du Mont-Blanc, also the Bob Graham Round, the Sani Stagger Endurance Race and the Madeira Island Ultra Trail.

I will just give an example of what they tell you about when a race is reviewed.  So the author, Tobias Mews, has completed all these races.  That is a unbelievable feat and I can't believe he is still alive to tell the tale. 

I am going to pick the Jungle Ultra review. It is based in the Manu National Park, Peru.  The distance is 230 KM and it is a multi stage race of 5 days.  The completion rate for the race is 73%.  The fastest known time to finish it is 18hrs 11mins, while Tobias finished it in 28hrs 22mins.  It is on the month of June.  The website is www.beyondtheultimate.co.uk/jungleultra.asp

For every race it gives you the general information that I went through above.  After that, Tobias give a very honest and personal detail of the race and the torment he went through to finish.  I will let you buy the book to get his account of the Jungle Ultra.  At the end of each account of a race, Tobias gives you his top tips on how to survive the race which could be very useful.

I have pick 3 races, 1 from each section that I hope to do in the future.  Hopefully, I will have my account of them on this blog.  From Section 1, Hellrunner would be my choice.  Looks like a tough challenge.  From Section 2, I hope to do the New York Marathon at some stage, but I would like to take on the Man V Horse Challenge some time.  From Section 3, I have already told you that the Ultra- Trail Mont Blanc is on my list but since I am a Cristiano Ronaldo fan, I would love to do the ultra trail around his home island, Madeira. 

Anyway, they are my choices but there are plenty to pick from.  I highly recommend this book if you are drawing up that bucket list or just for a bit of easy, enjoyable reading.  The foreword is written by James Cracknell so it is well endorsed.

Thanks for reading.