
Ultrarunning for Normal People
Life Lessons Learned on and Off the Trail
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $14.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Sid Garza-Hillman
About this listen
Whether you're an experienced runner or a complete beginner, this inspiring book will motivate you to train your body and mind to complete one of the hardest physical feats of all—an ultramarathon
Ultra-races—distances longer than 26.2 miles—aren’t for “normal people.” Normal people have jobs, families, or a million other obligations that do not exist in the world of ultrarunning. Or that’s what Sid Garza-Hillman thought as he faced the starting line of his first 50K.
But the more he learned about the sport, the more he realized that ultrarunning is for more than elite athletes: moms, dads, grandparents, young people, old people, people with full-time jobs, and others successfully cross the finish lines of ultra-races around the world every year.
In this book, Sid distills the life lessons he's learned from the trails—as a ten-time ultramarathoner and Race Director of the Mendocino Coast 50K—to teach you how to:
- Move through the fear and mental blocks that prevent you from reaching your goals—on and off the trail
- Slow down and be present in a world full of endless distractions
- Test your mettle and prove you’re stronger than you ever knew
- Commit to a well-rounded—but realistic and adaptable—training plan
Not your typical ultramarathon training guide with rigid schedules and prescribed workouts, this book powerfully outlines the invaluable struggles, benefits, and life lessons that await anyone who dares to dive into the world of ultrarunning.
©2024 Sid Garza-Hillman (P)2024 Blue Star PressListeners also enjoyed...
-
Choose Strong
- The Choice That Changes Everything
- By: Sally McRae
- Narrated by: Sally McRae, Eddie McRae
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Honest, relatable, and raw, every listener will connect with Sally’s story and see how they too can overcome even the most difficult situations in life and sport. Choose Strong is a story for everyone from every age and walk of life looking to live their strongest life.
-
-
In awe
- By T Cockrell on 05-16-25
By: Sally McRae
-
In the Spell of the Barkley
- Unravelling the Mystery of the World's Toughest Ultramarathon
- By: Michiel Panhuysen
- Narrated by: Rupert Holliday-Evans
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the Barkley Marathons, a fever dream of an ultra event, inspired by a prison break, heralded by a conch blast, paid for in cigarettes and socks, and completed only by a select few. A race in which competitors haul themselves up mountains, through extreme weather conditions, beyond pain and exhaustion, mile after mile. Completed 60 miles? That’s just the fun run. In the Spell of the Barkley is a story of sporting obsession, exploring what drives individuals to challenge themselves at the limits of what is possible – and what it takes to succeed.
-
-
3/5 - a fun run but not a finish.
- By C. Oestreich on 12-19-23
-
Unleash Your Inner Ultrarunner
- Beginner's Guide to Trail Running: Training for Endurance, Embracing Epic Outdoor Adventures, and Conquering Ultra-Distance Racing
- By: Sarah Russell
- Narrated by: Jodi Grochal
- Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Are you facing doubts about your endurance, wondering if you have what it takes to push your limits and endure the grueling demands of an ultramarathon? Do you long for guidance that not only hones your physical capabilities but strengthens your mental tenacity? Are you struggling to find your footing in the running world, let alone considering the leap to ultramarathons? Overwhelmed by the immense gap between your current ability and the demands of endurance running? This book is for the everyday person that dreams of becoming more....
-
-
great intro to trail and ultra running
- By Anonymous User on 10-10-24
By: Sarah Russell
-
Running & Being
- The Total Experience
- By: George Sheehan, Kenny Moore
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by the late, beloved Dr. George Sheehan, Running and Being tells of the author's midlife return to the world of exercise, play, and competition, in which he found "a world beyond sweat" that proved to be a source of great revelation and personal growth. But Running and Being focuses more on life than it does, specifically, on running. It provides an outline for a lifetime program of fitness and joy, showing how the body helps determine our mental and spiritual energies.
-
-
Great book of introspection
- By Charles West on 07-03-18
By: George Sheehan, and others
-
Trails and Tribulations
- The Running Adventures of Susie Chan
- By: Susie Chan
- Narrated by: Susie Chan
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Susie Chan is an icon of endurance running. Since taking up running at the age of 35, she has completed the legendary Marathon des Sables more times than any other British woman, set the 12-hour treadmill World Record and was one of the first women to finish all the World Marathon Majors. Susie’s story is an inspirational fight against the odds. From leaving a dysfunctional marriage, managing as a single mum and tackling cancer treatment, Susie has had her fair share of adversity. Throughout it all, running has kept her going.
-
-
Strength
- By Charles M Rohre on 05-06-25
By: Susie Chan
-
The Ultra Marathon Bible
- Your #1 Beginner’s Training Guide to Prepare, Run, and Survive Your First 50k to 100 Mile Race
- By: Samuel Nash
- Narrated by: Danny Fakih
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you want to run your first ultra marathon, but are afraid of being unprepared for such an incredible adventure, then you need the secrets to success this book holds. Ultra marathons require a healthy body, a strengthened mind, and a solid resolve to see everything through from start to finish. However, you are not going to do anything you have not already done. You just need to use your previous experiences and the new techniques you will learn from this book to help you carve the best path forward.
-
-
Synopsis of Running Classics
- By Anonymous User on 02-17-25
By: Samuel Nash
-
Choose Strong
- The Choice That Changes Everything
- By: Sally McRae
- Narrated by: Sally McRae, Eddie McRae
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Honest, relatable, and raw, every listener will connect with Sally’s story and see how they too can overcome even the most difficult situations in life and sport. Choose Strong is a story for everyone from every age and walk of life looking to live their strongest life.
-
-
In awe
- By T Cockrell on 05-16-25
By: Sally McRae
-
In the Spell of the Barkley
- Unravelling the Mystery of the World's Toughest Ultramarathon
- By: Michiel Panhuysen
- Narrated by: Rupert Holliday-Evans
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the Barkley Marathons, a fever dream of an ultra event, inspired by a prison break, heralded by a conch blast, paid for in cigarettes and socks, and completed only by a select few. A race in which competitors haul themselves up mountains, through extreme weather conditions, beyond pain and exhaustion, mile after mile. Completed 60 miles? That’s just the fun run. In the Spell of the Barkley is a story of sporting obsession, exploring what drives individuals to challenge themselves at the limits of what is possible – and what it takes to succeed.
-
-
3/5 - a fun run but not a finish.
- By C. Oestreich on 12-19-23
-
Unleash Your Inner Ultrarunner
- Beginner's Guide to Trail Running: Training for Endurance, Embracing Epic Outdoor Adventures, and Conquering Ultra-Distance Racing
- By: Sarah Russell
- Narrated by: Jodi Grochal
- Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Are you facing doubts about your endurance, wondering if you have what it takes to push your limits and endure the grueling demands of an ultramarathon? Do you long for guidance that not only hones your physical capabilities but strengthens your mental tenacity? Are you struggling to find your footing in the running world, let alone considering the leap to ultramarathons? Overwhelmed by the immense gap between your current ability and the demands of endurance running? This book is for the everyday person that dreams of becoming more....
-
-
great intro to trail and ultra running
- By Anonymous User on 10-10-24
By: Sarah Russell
-
Running & Being
- The Total Experience
- By: George Sheehan, Kenny Moore
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by the late, beloved Dr. George Sheehan, Running and Being tells of the author's midlife return to the world of exercise, play, and competition, in which he found "a world beyond sweat" that proved to be a source of great revelation and personal growth. But Running and Being focuses more on life than it does, specifically, on running. It provides an outline for a lifetime program of fitness and joy, showing how the body helps determine our mental and spiritual energies.
-
-
Great book of introspection
- By Charles West on 07-03-18
By: George Sheehan, and others
-
Trails and Tribulations
- The Running Adventures of Susie Chan
- By: Susie Chan
- Narrated by: Susie Chan
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Susie Chan is an icon of endurance running. Since taking up running at the age of 35, she has completed the legendary Marathon des Sables more times than any other British woman, set the 12-hour treadmill World Record and was one of the first women to finish all the World Marathon Majors. Susie’s story is an inspirational fight against the odds. From leaving a dysfunctional marriage, managing as a single mum and tackling cancer treatment, Susie has had her fair share of adversity. Throughout it all, running has kept her going.
-
-
Strength
- By Charles M Rohre on 05-06-25
By: Susie Chan
-
The Ultra Marathon Bible
- Your #1 Beginner’s Training Guide to Prepare, Run, and Survive Your First 50k to 100 Mile Race
- By: Samuel Nash
- Narrated by: Danny Fakih
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you want to run your first ultra marathon, but are afraid of being unprepared for such an incredible adventure, then you need the secrets to success this book holds. Ultra marathons require a healthy body, a strengthened mind, and a solid resolve to see everything through from start to finish. However, you are not going to do anything you have not already done. You just need to use your previous experiences and the new techniques you will learn from this book to help you carve the best path forward.
-
-
Synopsis of Running Classics
- By Anonymous User on 02-17-25
By: Samuel Nash
-
Ultramarathon Man (Revised)
- Confession of an All-Night Runner
- By: Dean Karnazes
- Narrated by: Michael Braun
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ultramarathon Man helped introduce the world to ultramarathoning. Now, after three decades of running ultramarathons across the globe, Dean Karnazes is still going strong. This updated and revised edition includes an afterword full of the lessons he’s picked up along the way. He gives personal details on the essential pillars of health—fitness, diet, and sleep. What does he eat, what supplements does he take, and what kind of mattress does he sleep on? Aging well takes work, and the man who hasn’t stopped is sharing the tips and learnings that have kept him going.
-
-
The motivation
- By Hannah on 03-14-24
By: Dean Karnazes
-
The Other Talent
- The Curiously Complex Role of Mental Health in Athletic Greatness and Why It's Never Too Late to Harness Your Potential
- By: Matt Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Gregory Abbey
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the playing field, natural talent isn’t enough—there’s a mental component that determines whether athletes win the race or wipe out before the finish line. But what separates standout sports stars from the rest? In a paradigm-shifting new theory, acclaimed sportswriter Matt Fitzgerald identifies two key traits behind athletic success: strict self-regulation over thoughts and emotions and an unquenchable psychological need to pursue victory—even when it means enduring extreme mental and physical suffering.
-
-
Excellent
- By CC Coach Mike on 12-18-24
By: Matt Fitzgerald
-
The Champion's Mind
- How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive
- By: Jim Afremow
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Champion's Mind, sports psychologist Jim Afremow, PhD, LPC, now offers the same advice he uses with Olympians, Heisman Trophy winners, and professional athletes, including tips and techniques based on high-performance psychology research, such as how to get in a "zone," thrive on a team, and stay humble; how to progress within a sport and sustain excellence long-term, and customizable pre-performance routines to hit full power when the gun goes off or the puck is dropped.
-
-
Excellent content, mediocre narrator
- By Chris on 10-08-14
By: Jim Afremow
-
Going to Maine
- All the Ways to Fall on the Appalachian Trail
- By: Sally Chaffin Brooks
- Narrated by: Sally Chaffin Brooks
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From comedian Sally Chaffin Brooks comes a memoir about the thing she can't seem to shut up about— her life changing thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. 25-year-old Sally has no reason to upend her comfortable, conventional life to spend 5 months hiking the Appalachian Trail; no reason except that her charismatic best friend, Erin, asked her to come along. A woefully out-of-shape Sally quickly realizes she may not actually be prepared for the realities of thru-hiking— brutal weather, wrong turns, and painful blisters have her wanting to quit almost as soon as she starts.
-
-
Loved the story as a whole.
- By Denise on 05-13-25
-
The Ultra Mindset
- By: Travis Macy, John Hanc
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Travis Macy has summited glacial peaks in the French Alps, rappelled into limestone caves in China, and raced through parched deserts in Utah. In 2013 he famously won the Leadman Series, a combination of nearly 300 miles of high-altitude trail running and mountain biking over the course of five epic endurance races. Macy achieved all of these victories without elite professional training or even exceptional strength, speed, or flexibility.
-
-
Well tested advice
- By Snowdreams on 07-25-16
By: Travis Macy, and others
-
The Endurance Diet
- Discover the 5 Core Habits of the World’s Greatest Athletes to Look, Feel, and Perform Better
- By: Matt Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Gregory Abbey
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sports Nutritionist Matt Fitzgerald has spent nearly twenty years studying the diets of top professional endurance athletes, who are among the fittest and healthiest people in the world. As a result, he has identified five core habits that are essential to maximizing workout benefits. The Endurance Diet shares key strategies for optimal health and performance: eat everything, eat quality, eat carbohydrate, eat enough, and eat individually. Whether you want to lose weight, win a race, or look a little more like an elite athlete, this plan is for you.
-
-
The Endurance Diet by Matt Fitzgerald
- By Joe Crismon on 05-01-25
By: Matt Fitzgerald
-
Run Elite
- Train and Think Like the Greatest Runners of All Time
- By: Andrew Snow
- Narrated by: Andrew Snow
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover the blueprint used by Olympic gold medalists and world record holders to achieve their best performances. Andrew Snow, a powerhouse in the running community with over 27 years of experience offers his highly acclaimed, results-proven triphasic model that runners have used to set lifetime PRs from the 5K to the marathon in as little as three months—even in their 40s and 50s!
-
-
Run like an elite
- By Jessica on 07-25-24
By: Andrew Snow
-
North
- By: Scott Jurek, Jenny Jurek
- Narrated by: Scott Jurek, Jenny Jurek
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scott Jurek is one of the world's best known and most beloved ultrarunners. Renowned for his remarkable endurance and speed, accomplished on a vegan diet, he's finished first in nearly all of ultrarunning's elite events over the course of his career. But after two decades of racing, training, speaking, and touring, Jurek felt an urgent need to discover something new about himself. He embarked on a wholly unique challenge, one that would force him to grow as a person and as an athlete: breaking the speed record for the Appalachian Trail.
-
-
Couldn’t take Jenny
- By M. Bissett on 08-27-18
By: Scott Jurek, and others
-
Relentless Forward Progress
- A Guide to Running Ultramarathons
- By: Bryon Powell
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marathons have become too easy for some runners. What was once the pinnacle of achievement in a runner's life is now a stepping stone for extraordinary adventure in ultramarathoning. The number of ultrarunners - those running distances of 50k (31 miles), 50 miles, 100k (62 miles), or 100 miles - is growing astronomically each year. To date, there has been no practical guide to ultramarathoning. Now, Bryon Powell has written Relentless Forward Progress, the first how-to manual for aspiring ultrarunners.
-
-
Good for those with zero running knowledge
- By Anonymous User on 04-10-18
By: Bryon Powell
-
Beyond Impossible
- From Reluctant Runner to Guinness World Record Breaker
- By: Lucy Waterlow, Mimi Anderson
- Narrated by: Lucy Brown
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This incredible story of how an ordinary mum ran her way into the record books will inspire beginner runners and die-hard marathon devotees alike, proving that, no matter where life takes you, it’s never too late to achieve your dreams and do the impossible. When Mimi first started jogging on a treadmill as an unfit 36-year-old mother of three, she never imagined she would go on to become a world-record-breaking ultrarunner.
-
-
Nothing Is Impossible
- By Oscar's Mom on 01-29-24
By: Lucy Waterlow, and others
-
Iron Hope
- Lessons Learned from Conquering the Impossible
- By: James Lawrence
- Narrated by: James Lawrence
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lawrence’s accomplishments are nearly impossible to comprehend. After breaking two Guinness World Records, he shattered possibilities in 2015 by completing 50 full-distance triathlons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. Yes, THE IRONMAN®, “the single most difficult day in sports”—a 2.4-mile swim, 112 miles on a bike, then a 26.2-mile run, all completed in under 17 hours. It is a race so intense that less than .01% of the population have completed one.
-
-
A real ironman
- By Amazon Customer on 05-16-25
By: James Lawrence
-
The Rise of the Ultra Runners
- By: Adharanand Finn
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once the reserve of only the most hardcore enthusiasts, ultra running is now a thriving global industry, with hundreds of thousands of competitors each year. But is the rise of this most brutal and challenging sport - with races that extend into hundreds of miles, often in extreme environments - an antidote to modern life, or is it a symptom of a modern illness? In The Rise of the Ultra Runners, award-winning author Adharanand Finn travels to the heart of the sport to investigate the reasons behind its rise and discover what it takes to join the ranks of these ultra athletes.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Brandon S. Galvez on 07-27-19
By: Adharanand Finn
Guy who has always runs tells you how to run
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Mostly Worth the listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.