Despite believing he was bionic as a child, Ira Rainey was far from an
elite athlete with superhuman running abilities like the ones he read
about in books. He was in fact an overweight and unfit slacker who felt
a bit sorry for himself because he had sore feet. Sure he ran a bit, but
he also sat around a lot and ate and drank too much. Why? Because he
could, and because he was a delusional optimist who thought everything
would always be just fine. That was until a friend was diagnosed with
terminal cancer and given months to live. It was an event that would
push Ira to tackle his apathy towards life and take on the challenge of
becoming an ultramarathon runner, pushing himself to go further than he
had ever gone before. Award winning, Fat Man to Green Man: From Unfit to
Ultramarathon is a warm and humorous account of one man's quest to
uncover his true super powers as he journeys from fat to fit, and taking
in everything that came between the two. It is a story of fields and
friendships; mud and maps; but more importantly learning how to push
yourself to achieve what you would never believe you could - and how to
deal with the consequences. Fat Man to Green Man is shortlisted for the
British Sports Book Awards 2014 (Best New Writer) and won the silver
award for running books in The 2014 Running Awards, an award voted for
by runners.
