Book Review: Got To Live

Those of you who know me, know that as much as I like to write, I love to read a million times more.  Growing up, my nose was always in a book.  I remember devouring books from early elementary school on.  I have always loved to read. 

Now that my time is more limited, I am much pickier about what I read.  I want to be entertained.  I want to be inspired.  I want to learn and grow.  I want to be challenged.  Having been involved more in writing in the last few years, I find myself drawn to memoirs and autobiographies.  I have a theory that there are writers who have a good story, and there are writers who are good storytellers.  It is a true gift to the reader when a writer has both.  Those are the books I can't put down.  Those are the authors that make me feel.

I recently (as in just a few minutes ago) finished Got To Live by Jay Danek.  Jay is a local runner and writer, and when he announced that he was publishing a book, I eagerly awaited it's release.  Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.  I loved this book.  In his book, Jay tells the story of his relationship with his father.  His father passed away at a relatively young age, unexpectedly, and Jay sunk into a deep depression.  Months later, at the urging of his wife, Jay knew he needed to get his life back on track and in a roundabout way, he took to the mountains, the McDowell Mountains, and began to run.  After a time, he chose to honor his father by running 923 days in a row, the number of days signifying the impact of his dad's death on September 23.  I don't want to ruin the story, but I want to share a few of my favorite things about the book. 

 
One of the things that I found most heartwarming in this book is Jay's humility.  He clearly has talent in ultrarunning, though he seemingly stumbled into the sport.  He often finishes on the podium, despite his lack of decades of experience.  In life, there is Jay Before and Jay After.  I met Jay After.  I can't remember when I actually met Jay, or when I became aware of who he was in the trail running community, but to me he was an elite.  Hard core, super fast.  Someone I looked up to as a newbie trail runner.  I was intimidated by him because I viewed him as so much better than me.  In reality, I viewed him much as he viewed Mike Miller, as referenced in his story of his first 50k. 

I began following Jay's blog about mid-way through his running streak.  At that time, I read a little bit of his history, and why he was doing the streak.  I thought it was cool, but mostly I loved to read his race reports because I am always looking for ways to improve my own trail running and learn from other's successes and mistakes, as well as seeing various races from an insider's perspective.  What I didn't realize at the time, was that Jay had been running for less than 3 years.  He went from couch potato to 100 mile finisher in 18 months.  And he has an endearing way of sharing his race stories that draw in the reader.  He will just as eagerly share his mistakes (such as drinking 1000 calories at one aid station) as his successes.  And he looked for ways to honor his father in every challenge. 

Jay has an addictive personality- he throws himself into activities all or none, which I can relate to, being married a man with a very similar personality.  I enjoyed reading how this aspect of his personality affected his progression through college, marriage and navigating the challenges of life.  Many times, he brought tears to my eyes describing how his wife reminds him so much of his father.  She is clearly a calming and supporting influence in his life. 

There are so many great stories and inspirations to be taken from the book.  As someone with a very close knit family, I could relate to the bond that he shared with his father, mother and siblings.  And though he moved to Arizona from Michigan (another similarity!) he remains very close with his family.  They are clearly centrally important in his life.  He closes the book with a letter that he wrote to his father 2 days before the end of the streak.  I couldn't help but think of how my life would be impacted, and what I would write, if I lost someone that integral to my life.  He did what he often did throughout the book-  he made me feel.

This book is about more than running, and you certainly don't need to be a runner to relate to the challenges that Jay faces in his struggle to move on and live.  Jay's story is about finding passion and facing life's obstacles with determination and positivity.  I encourage you to pick up a copy of his book and ask yourself, are you living every day to the fullest?  Do you tell those closest to you every day how important they are?  Do your actions support your words?  Life is short.  We've Got to Live.