Racing Alone

The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is one of the most challenging sporting events in the world. Every February, a handful of hardy souls spends over two weeks racing sleds pulled by fourteen dogs over 1,023 miles of frozen rivers, icy mountain passes, and spruce forests as big as entire states, facing temperatures that drop to forty degrees below zero on nights that are seventeen hours long. Why would anyone want to enter this race? John Balzar-who moved to Alaska and lived on the trail-treats us to a vivid account of the grueling race itself, offering an insightful look at the men and women who have moved to this rugged and beautiful place. Readers will also be fascinated by Balzar's account of what goes into the training and care of the majestic dogs who pull the sleds and whose courage, strength, and devotion make them the true heroes of this story.

Few British schoolchildren of the seventies can have been as obsessed with the Tour de France as William Fotheringham, who smuggled copies of Miroir du Cyclisme into lessons to read inside his books. He saw the Tour for the first time in 1984, avidly following that year's race on television in the Normandy village where he lived. Since joining the Guardian in 1989, William Fotheringham has been at the forefront of British cycling journalism. Here he reflects on the events of the last twenty-three years - the triumphs, the tragedies and the scandals that have engulfed the world's most demanding sport. Key articles from his career are annotated with notes and reflections. What would he have said if he'd known then what we all know now about Lance Armstrong? Which cyclists and teams were not all they seemed? And which victories still rank as the greatest of all time? This is the definitive collection of cycling reporting.

In Faster Road Racing: 5K to Half Marathon, renowned running authority Pete Pfitzinger and Running Times senior writer Philip Latter present training plans for the most popular race distances as well as advice on recovery, cross-training, nutrition, tapering, and masters running.

This is Nader Khalili's own story. Racing Alone tells of how an Iranian-born, Western-trained architect armed only with notebooks, a motorcycle, and his own unique vision set off on a five-year odyssey in search of a simple, inexpensive, yet permanent form of dwelling. His ultimate triumph comes with his discovery of the untouched magic of clay. Racing Alone begins as one man's dream and ends with a village of ceramic houses, an exhibition in Paris, and an invitation from NASA. It signals a revolution in modern architecture, set against the tumultuous background of social revolution in Iran.