Running Man

July 4, 2016
First-time author Engle’s fascinating account of the high and low points of his life as an ultramarathon runner is written with cinematic quality. Starting with a bleak depiction of himself as “a middle-aged white guy who ran laps alone” in a prison’s recreation yard, Engle flashes back to life as a 29-year-old drug addict at the end of a 10-year addiction to cocaine, “sitting in a gutter, in filthy clothes, my fingers black and blistered.” What saves him is a love of running, and he becomes an amazing marathon runner. His career peaks with a record-breaking 4,500-mile run across the Sahara Desert, captured in a Matt Damon–produced documentary, Running the Sahara. But a subsequent investigation by the IRS, focusing on income reported on a home loan application, leads to a 16-month stint in a West Virginia jail in 2011, a conviction that New York Times writer Joe Nocera publicized as unfair. Engle’s story has an uplifting and inspirational ending: he decides to spend his time in prison training for a 135-mile race that he successfully runs after his release, which reinvigorates his career as a runner. Agent: Deborah Grosvenor, Deborah Grosvenor Literary.

September 1, 2016
World-renowned ultrarunner Charlie Engle chronicles his descent into alcohol and cocaine addiction and his long journey back from an unlikely venue: the confines of a federal prison after being convicted of mortgage fraud. Admittedly, the first 60 pages are raw, like watching back-to-back episodes of the TV show Intervention, with Engle eventually hitting rock bottom before embracinghis true passion: running. Never satiated, he soon replaced marathons and triathlons with the tougher physical and mental challenges of adventure racing (The Raid Gauloises, Eco-Challenge) and extreme endurance events like RAAM (Race Across America) and the Badwater Ultramarathon, also known as The World's Toughest Footrace. Engle's best-known challenge is likely his 2007 run across the Sahara Desert (more than 4,500 miles across six countries) made famous by the Matt Damonproduced and narrated documentary, Running the Sahara. Similar to the journey of self-discovery chronicled in Rich Roll's Finding Ultra (2012), this is a fast-paced, well-written account of a man who accepts pain, pushes beyond imagined limits, and ultimately finds redemption and peace.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)