Ray ZahabRunning for my Life: On the extreme road with adventure runner Ray Zahab

Ray Zahab's Running for My Life will inspire readers to dream big and take action. It's an extraordinary tale of perseverance to push past one's limits and discover purpose. Ray's story is at once mythic yet relatable -- he has achieved superhuman feats of endurance but chooses to also share his shortfalls, anguish and challenges in a deeply intimate way. The reader is drawn to Ray and roots for him throughout. I recommend Running for My Life to weekend warriors, aspiring adventurers, and those who love a great adventure story. Ray Zahab is an ultramarathon legend and this book sheds light on his generous and enduring spirit.

This is a good read for any endurance athlete. I am always inspired by the stories I hear from people who started running (or any other endurance sport) after completely turning around their life. I read this after seeing the movie Running the Sahara which the author of this book was in. The book was an easy read and I found the author to be very down to earth...a trait that runners tend to share. Enjoy!

Interesting story and quick easy read. Lots of errors and poor editing. I felt he could have expanded his storytelling of running through the Sahara but that was the shortest section of the book.

If you are expecting something like "Ultramarathon Man", this book isn't it. The Author was in "Running the Sahara" and seemed like a charismatic person in that documentary / i figured a book by him would be a great read. Well, i got to about chapter 5 or 6 then gave up - this book isn't worth it. I'm sure he has some great stories, but unfortunately lack of editing and re-editing of this book didn't occur (or else it would have been a great read). Just read Dean's book again - that's great motivation for any runner...

I enjoyed reading this book, finding it had its own way to keep the reader interested in its balance! Really enjoyed reading Ray's insight on the Badwater race. Go Ray Go!!

Love the honesty of Rays thoughts and i can relate to the personal path of discovery through the extreme 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.

Ray Zahab's Running for My Life will inspire readers to dream big and take action. It's an extraordinary tale of perseverance to push past one's limits and discover purpose. Ray's story is at once mythic yet relatable -- he has achieved superhuman feats of endurance but chooses to also share his shortfalls, anguish and challenges in a deeply intimate way. The reader is drawn to Ray and roots for him throughout. I recommend Running for My Life to weekend warriors, aspiring adventurers, and those who love a great adventure story. Ray Zahab is an ultramarathon legend and this book sheds light on his generous and enduring spirit.

As someone who has completed the MdS and Yukon Arctic Ultra, this charmingly naively written book perfectly captures so many of the feelings and emotions generated from the experience of ultra-running that I have felt. Good stuff.

An enjoyable read. I'd have liked more information about the exotic races he took part in, rather than so much back story, but it's inspiring to see how far one can go, a man exploring his capabilities and pushing his boundaries.

Ray is a brilliant guy and resells some stories of his initial delve into the world of adventure racing. Some very inspiring and funny moments in the book and one which I have now read twice. Keep on inspiring Ray!

The writing was real. Obvious that Ray is a man who lives from his soul. A must read even for those who have never experienced endurance challenges.Thank you.