Product Description

In Ray Zahab's world, a comfortable jog is 30 kilometres, a serious marathon is 200 kilometres in extreme conditions, and an honest test of a man's endurance is running through the Sahara Desert - all of it. Zahab was once a pack-a-day smoker, but through dedication and persistence, he managed to achieve a level of fitness that allowed him to run in some of the world's toughest tests of endurance, including the crossing of the entire Sahara Desert on foot."Running for My Life" is the story of a man's journey from a world of partying and hard living to a world of eco-challenges, epic long-distance races, and championships. As a young man, Ray Zahab almost lost himself to excessive drinking and smoking. Then on New Year's Day of the year 2000, he caught a glimpse of where his partying would lead him and decided to turn his life around. "Running for My Life" is a brave and bold autobiography that follows Zahab's travels down the roads to destruction and redemption. It is a book that documents one man's passion for challenge, distance, and discovery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #120369 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Keep on Running!
Having read `Running through the wall', `Feet in the Clouds' and `Ultra Marathon man', I searched Amazon for another running book and came across this one; `Running for my life' by Ray Zahab. Like the other books it was very difficult to put this down. The first thing which should be noted before buying this book is that it is not a pure running book as he didn't take up running till later in his life. Meaning that the first half the book focuses on his horse riding and bad habits. While the second half the book is about his astonishing running adventures. So it really should be called `Running for half my life and riding for the other half', just kidding. But don't let the riding part put you off as by telling the whole story it makes his running achievements seem even grander and shows how he always has this inner drive to do his best.

From the books I have read the obvious comparison would be to Dean Karnases who along many others for example Scott Jurek and Pam Reed have set many benchmarks within ultra running. I would definitely put Ray Zahab in the same bracket as these characters. This book takes you through his early encounters with ultra running from the Yukon Artic ultra to multi stage races from the Jungle marathon in Brazil to his many outings in the Dessert of Africa.

Although Ray has done remarkably well in many of the races he has completed in. You get the sense that running in theses races are more to him than simply doing well. It is about experiencing the different cultures, raising awareness and simply being in awe of the beautiful world we live in. With every turn of the page Ray's enthusiasm for running and for life will just leap out at you. It truly is an inspiring story and does what the purpose of a good running book should do; get you out the door and the realisation you can do it too!

I am now an avid follower of Ray's adventures with his highlight (not covered in this book) being running across the Sahara desert! He has also just this month completed the fastest trek to the South Pole using snow shoes and plans to do the same to the South Pole in 2010. A great book and I'm looking forward to his future adventures.

the guy who ran the Sahara
Ray Zahab is the guy who ran the Sahara with two other ultra-runners. This book is the story of the process, how he started to run and became an ultra-runner. Even if you think to start to running or already have years under your belt, this book can encourage you to run "longer". It sounds weird and crazy to run 100's of miles and kilometers, even for runners, but give yourself a chance and read his story. His story is a good proof that ultra-running is more than a sport.