The Plant Based Runner: A Personal Guide to Running, Healthy Eating, and Discovering a New You

A few years ago Jonathan Cairns was 46, fat, unfit, and going through a very painful separation. He had never exercised and had zero energy but as a way of dealing with the pain and frustration of his separation, he decided to take up running. Or as he talks about in his book The Plant-Based Runner: A Personal Guide to Running, Healthy Eating, and Discovering a New You, he started to 'put one foot in front of the other'.

This book is raw and real. There is nothing in it that is not tried and tested by Cairns, and it has an authentic ring about it. This is a personal story, about his struggle to see his children in the face of a relentless, anti-father bias in the judicial system. He is running to solve problems, running to find solutions as opposed to running away from trouble. He takes responsibility for everything that is his.

Straight-talking and funny, Jonathan takes you by the hand and chapter by chapter helps you to put your excuses aside and find a new appreciation for your body, your health and for the power of confidence. You feel like if you follow his steps you could do a lot more with your life.

There are books that you will read that tell you how to live, or how to do something that will improve your life, and if you follow the advice, as you might for a time, it may work, for a while. And there are books that will leave you changed, transported to another place in yourself and in the world you inhabit because of the power of the story that you have read.

Even if you are not a runner or a dad deprived of your kids, this is a read that has inspiration and hope.