6 Books Guaranteed to Inspire Miles and Miles of Running

Through ups and downs, running ultimately changed Jen Miller's life for the better. In Running: A Love Story, the author explains the beauty of having a sport as a constant companion through rocky relationships and more. This is an honest tale of self-empowerment derived from putting one foot in front of the other.

Japanese author Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is a contemplative chronicle of the author's relationship to running and writing. Committing to these two solitary and separate activities greatly influenced Murakami's ability to reach success in both marathoning and completing his many long and lovely novels.

Widely considered the best novel on the subject, Once a Runner was self-published in the late '70s but has clearly become a classic for all competitors. The novel follows a collegiate runner on his quest to run the mile in under four minutes, but it's the details on the life and mind of a runner that will pull you in and inspire you to hit the track.

The highly visual quarterly Meter is a love letter to running from the brand Tracksmith. The pages, full of gorgeous images, explore running culture and heritage in engaging long-form essays.

For better or worse, Born to Run can pretty much be credited with launching the barefoot running movement. The book segues seamlessly between author Christopher McDougall's quest to run faster and without pain and his investigation of the Tarahumara, a Mexican tribe with endurance running built into its culture.

In Run the World (available in July), professional distance runner Becky Wade chronicles her international running adventures. Over the course of the year, Wade traveled to nine countries, from Ireland to Japan, and immersed herself in each nation's running culture.