A global running magazine recently ran a blog post (no pun intended, but let’s go with it) that recommended 9 books all about running. Brilliant! I can’t get enough books about running.
Then I spotted that only ONE book was written by a woman.
So now I present 12 books about running, ALL written by women. These are 12 books that I have on my bookshelves – there are countless other books out there! They’re presented in the order I got them off the shelf because they're all brilliant.
There are two common threads in these books: how each of these women got started with running, and the relationship between running and mental health. Where their running takes them differs slightly: winning Olympic medals, running the length of New Zealand, first marathons, ultra marathons, and everyday running.
Here’s a quick summary of each book so you can see if any take your fancy (my own summaries, not just a copy and paste of the publisher’s blurb!).
1. The Pants of Perspective by Anna McNuff
A self-confessed adventurer, Anna takes on the New Zealand Te Araroa trail: 2,000 miles along the length of the country. Extremely witty and packed with dry humour, with a few moments of ‘What are you doing??’ thrown in.
2. Running Like a Girl by Alexandra Heminsley
Follow Alex’s account from beginner runner to first marathon and beyond. Recounted with glorious cinematic detail and practical tips for beginner runners, such as what it’s really like to get your first pair of running trainers.
3. Eat, Drink, Run: How I Got Fit Without Going Too Mad by Bryony Gordon
As you’d expect from Bryony, nothing is held back in her frank memoir of how she trained for the London Marathon, with her mental health as its central theme.
4. Jog On: How Running Saved My Life by Bella Mackie
I’d describe this as part memoir, part informative non-fiction about the relationship between running and mental health. Bella includes plenty of data and statistics surrounding mental health, alongside her own approach to and experiences with running.
5. Good for a Girl: My Life Running in a Man’s World by Lauren Fleshman
I read this during the 2024 Olympics, the perfect backdrop! Lauren reveals the scary truth about the prevalence of eating disorders and severe underfueling that runs rife in the US elite track space, citing her own experience in this area and how she almost made it so many times to become champion.
A wonderful anthology of runners’ experiences from across the country, where the time and distance matter not one jot!
7. Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink (Running Can Be the Best Therapy for Depression) by Nita Sweeney
Nita’s memoir of her discovering running later in life (a year before she turned 50) includes beautiful detail of her literal step-by-step approach to running and how although it isn’t a miracle, running can change your life.
8. Running For My Life: How I built a better me one step at a time by Rachel Ann Cullen
If you want to read a running memoir that reads like fiction, this is it. Rachel writes with such wry humour and wit that you forget the phenomenal undertaking she’s committed herself to: running the London Marathon just months after having her first baby. But before we get there, Rachel beckons you into her childhood and teenage years, fraught with anxiety, depression, and disordered eating.
9. Run Mummy Run: Inspiring Women to Be Fit, Healthy and Happy by Leanne Davies and Lucy Waterlow
This one does exactly what the subtitle tells you! Packed with hints and tips to find your love of running, including real stories from inspirational women who were all beginner runners once too.
10. Just Run: Discovering My Love for Running and How the Impossible Becomes Possible by Merili Freear
In 2023 I set a goal to edit a book about running, and that’s what Merili helped me do. Although we follow Merili’s extraordinary progression from 3,000 steps a day to her first ultramarathon, in the end all Merili wants you to do is just run. It doesn’t matter if it’s a parkrun once a week or you're training for an ultramarathon. Use her tips to improve your running or just feel inspired by her love of running to lace up your trainers.
11. Running for Our Lives: Stories of everyday runners overcoming extraordinary adversity by Rachel Ann Cullen
Rachel’s third book returns to her love of running and how it becomes a lifeline to so many people going through incredibly tough times, including grief, cancer diagnosis, and mental illness.
12. This Mum Runs by Jo Pavey
While I love reading about everyday runners (of which I am one), Jo Pavey’s story of competing in FIVE Olympic Games and winning the 10,000m European Championships at age 40 was one I was very happy to be swept away by.
Are there any other books about running written by women that I should add to my list? Let me know!
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