This book follows a married couple in their sixties over a couple of years. The wife had spent her life quietly dedicated to exercise – running, cycling, swimming and doing aerobics on her own working around her career and family. Due to crippling arthritis, she had to stop, and this is when her naturally slim but not particularly active husband decides to take up running – first aiming for a marathon, and then a triathlon MetalMan event. Their previously happy marriage is pushed to its limits as the husband gets more obsessed and consumed by his new passion and the wife comes to terms with losing hers. I found the book funny, but a bit close to the bone and I almost wanted to give up because the acrimonious bickering between the couple was making me feel stressed and unhappy. There’s something compelling about it though, and I persevered, until eventually staying up far too late yesterday night reading the final third of the book in one sitting as the excitement racked up with the drama of the MetalMan event and I actually liked the ending and found it reassuring and uplifting.
Sarah Wray Writer 