Readings on running

While training for the Silicon Valley Marathon I had recently run, I read a lot of articles in magazines, newspapers and online. Some of those articles are generic enough to be interesting to anybody interested in sports. Even I came across an excellent article about the novelist Haruki Murakami, in which literature and running seem to intersect, and where my interests also converge to.

These are the links I recommend to read even if you are not into running. The New Yorker articles are especially great examples of non-fiction.

Peter Hessler's article on the winning of Meb Keflezighi, an Olympic silver medal winner but who was once written off due to injuries, in the New York City Marathon this year.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/11/meb-keflezighi.html

New York Times account of Meb Keflezighi's winning of New York City Marathon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/sports/02men.html

A great article by Peter Hessler that was published in New Yorker prior to the Beijing Olympics, which narrates how the culture of running has been evolved since 1970's in America into a popular sport as we know it today. Also it profiles Ryan Hall who had been training at Mammoth Lakes and an Olympic medal prospect at that time.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/11/080811fa_fact_hessler

Haruki Murakami: The Running Novelist. A excellent story about writing and staying fit. (Needs subscription to read the full version online.)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/09/080609fa_fact_murakami

This article is about those runners who take short cuts in finishing and even winning marathon by running short. Sometimes getting a medal is far more important than achieving a personal goal legitimately :-)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/sports/01runners.html

Children were allowed to run in marathons earlier and some of them did very well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/sports/27marathon.html

A good article exploring the compatibility of human body for distance running
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/27well.html

Sometimes there is very little 'running' involved in finishing a marathon. Where do we cross the line, or do we need to do that at all?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/sports/23marathon.html