Full book title: From Last to First: A long-distance runner's journey from failure to success.
Author: Charlie Spedding
Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd
Released: 7th April 2011
Charlie Spedding’s Official Website:
http://www.charliespedding.com/
Amazon link to buy the book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845136284?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
In ‘From Last to First’ Charlie Spedding describes a running career full of setbacks and disappointments, race by race, injury after injury.
He is beaten again and again on a sprint finish. An achilles tendon injury keeps flaring up, stopping him from achieving his goals. An allergic reaction in hospital (where he was having an operation that was supposed to sort out his injury problems) almost kills him, and he runs in races ending up much further down the field than he ever anticipated. So much goes wrong, and a lesser man would give up, but he never settles, he always wants to improve, and eventually he is rewarded.
Charlie never gives up, because he knows that he can get better. He might have been out-sprinted, he might have come 34th in that race that he wanted to win, but it doesn’t matter. He will do better in the next race, the important race, and he will keep on running and running, until his maximum potential is achieved.
His book is about determination, will power, and getting the most out of what you have. Charlie Spedding pushed as hard as he could go, and when his legs ached and all he wanted to do was to stop, he refused, and pushed even harder.
Self-determination discipline, dedication and the desire to run to the fullest of his potential eventually paid off. 1984 was his year. He won the London Marathon, and a bronze medal (also in the marathon) at the Los Angeles Olympic games.
That’s a man that you have to admire. A man who willed himself to be the best that he could be, and succeeded.
Charlie Spedding’s book is a lesson in determination, of not coasting, of not letting negative thoughts self-sabotage your potential to be better at what you are doing, of working hard to get better, and to maximise what natural talent that you possess.
It’s full of advice, psychological and physical, advice on how to train, how to run, how to race, and how to get the most out of what you have. If you do that, if you work hard, if you refuse to give up, and if you reach your potential, you have not failed, you have succeeded.
‘From Last to First’ is a book about running, but there’s an important life lesson there as well. The lesson is about success, not how it is commonly defined, but how it should be defined. It is a definition of success as a barometer of the individual, not living and striving for something that is defined by others, but doing the best that he can, for himself, and for the pleasure of knowing that he was the best that he could have been.
Book rating: 8/10 (A book that will turn a jogger into a runner)
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