Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory
About this product
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Deena Kastor is one of the greatest bodies in distance running, but this book captures what is so groundbreaking about her mind” (Alexi Pappas, Olympian, writer, and filmmaker)—now featuring a workbook to help chart your mind’s journey
“Inspiring, fascinating, and insightful. Practical for anyone trying to overcome the biggest impediments to climbing that next hill of growth.”—Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage and Big Potential
Deena Kastor was a star youth runner with tremendous promise, yet her career almost ended after college, when her competitive method—run as hard as possible, for fear of losing—brought her to the brink of burnout. On the verge of quitting, she took a chance on legendary coach Joe Vigil, who had started the first professional distance-running team in the US. At his Colorado training center, she encountered the notion that shaping her mind to be more encouraging, kind, and resilient could make her faster than she’d ever imagined possible. Building a mind so strong would take years of effort and discipline, but it would propel Kastor to the pinnacle of running—to American records in every distance from the 5K to the marathon—and to the accomplishment of earning America’s first Olympic medal in the marathon in twenty years.
Let Your Mind Run is a fascinating, intimate look inside the mind of an elite athlete, a remarkable story of achievement, and an insightful primer on how the small steps of cultivating possibility can give anyone a competitive edge.
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Editor's Take
Readers generally describe Let Your Mind Run as an inspirational, easy-to-read memoir that is especially appealing to runners and people interested in positive psychology. Reviews on Goodreads and multiple running-focused review blogs praise Deena Kastor’s mental strategies, resilience, and the book’s motivating tone.
Amazon-style feedback is reflected in the broader review consensus: many readers like the blend of athletic memoir and mindset advice, while some say the writing feels straightforward rather than literary. On Reddit, one reader said they highly recommend it and came away with more respect for Kastor’s training process and resilience.
Some mixed opinions note that the book may feel less compelling for non-runners, and a few readers found parts of the positive-thinking message overly simplified. Overall, the strongest recurring theme across sources is that it is a motivating, practical read for endurance athletes and fans of sports psychology.
Price History
Specifications
| Publisher | Crown |
| Publication date | April 9, 2019 |
| Edition | Reprint |
| Language | English |
| Print length | 320 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1524760765 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1524760762 |
| Item Weight | 8.4 ounces |
| Dimensions | 5.2 x 0.67 x 8.03 inches |
| Best Sellers Rank | #42,914 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #24 in Running & Jogging (Books) #99 in Sports Biographies (Books) #124 in Emotional Mental Health |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (2,361) |
