The Running Ground: My Thoughts
I recently read Nicholas Thompson’s The Running Ground, and I found myself deeply moved and inspired by its honest and insightful exploration of running, resilience, and family. I enjoyed the book immensely, taking extensive notes along the way to capture the many lessons it offers. The book’s honesty and wisdom transcend athletics, offering lessons that resonate far beyond the running track.
Embracing Pain and Building Habits
Thompson writes openly about pain as a companion on the journey, not an adversary. He teaches himself to “push the pain away,” viewing self-doubt as “a smoldering fire” that should never be given air. Pain, in his philosophy, is not only inevitable but integral, a signal of growth and progress rather than defeat. This attitude seeps into habit-building: “Quit once and it'll be easier to quit the second time too.” Every run is a rehearsal for building persistence, and every small act of discipline lays a foundation for more.
Mindfulness on the Move
Running, for Thompson, is as much a cognitive challenge as a physical one. Eschewing music, he chooses to immerse himself in the rhythms of his breath and stride, tuning into the micro-adjustments of posture and effort. In races, his goal is to “spend as little energy as possible thinking about anything extraneous,” conserving focus for the essentials—a principle that could reshape any demanding pursuit.
Growth Through Challenge and Setback
What stands out is his clarity on how growth arises. There’s no magic to getting faster, only consistent effort, minor optimizations, and the courage to run even on “sore, tired, cold, grumpy” days. He catalogues the discomforts that runners accept—blisters, exhaustion, cramps, even monotony. But the key is learning to “enjoy the pain,” to transform suffering into a kind of pleasure that signals progress.
Learning From Both Parents
The memoir doesn’t idealize. Thompson’s family story is complicated, with a mother whose strength and resilience shaped him just as much as his father’s quirks and demands. Chores, productivity, storytelling, and shared runs with his father live alongside more difficult memories, proof that people and relationships are always shades of grey, not easily sorted into categories of “good” or “bad.”
The Balancing Act
As he grows older, Thompson realizes that experience can balance—at least temporarily—the effects of aging. He likens this balance to “a man walking slowly forward on a moving sidewalk going slowly backward.” The metaphor encapsulates the ongoing tension between learning and decline—how wisdom and practice, if cultivated, can stave off the backward pull of time.
Resilience Beyond Athletics
Perhaps most moving is how running’s lessons transfer to the rest of life. Parenthood sharpens his focus and priorities: “I had less time in my life, but I cared about everything more.” The routines of training mirror the rhythms of family life and career; pacing, patience, and habit-building are universal skills. Even during cancer recovery, Thompson finds purpose in small wins and recalibrates hope with each turning point in his journey.
Living With Limits and Trade-Offs
Distance running, much like ambitious work, demands trade-offs. Thompson describes the practical realities: runs interrupted for family, flexible training plans, compromises with his partner. Success, he learns, does not come from doing everything, but from focusing on “one thing”—a decision guided, at key moments, by what will make him the best possible father.
The Gift of Running
Ultimately, The Running Ground is not a manual for success, but a meditation on meaning. Running connects Thompson to his father, to the landscape, to his children, and to his own sense of self. The closing lines capture a fragile hope: “We give our children our genes and our love, and we don’t have any idea of what, in the end, they’ll do with them.” Through running, Thompson finds a template for acceptance, humility, and lasting connection.
The Running Ground doesn’t promise perfection, but it offers something better: a guide to finding steadiness, even joy, amid discomfort and complexity. Its lessons are about running, yes—but more about how to live. I highly recommend this book!
