This Podcast Will Change Your Life and the sincerest form of flattery.

Courtesy of the Ray Charbonneau.

99 Problems is Runner's Book Bundle. And a fine bundle of books it is.

And what is the Runner's Book Bundle one might ask? It is: 

15 Indie Ebooks in 3 Volumes for 2 Charities

Books by runners, books for runners

And all proceeds go to support the Vermont Foodbank and the 100 Mile Club
 
It is also only happening until July 31st, so do hit it, because while it just might change your life, your support will most certainly change the lives of many others.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Idle Feet Do The Devil's Work by the Ray Charbonneau.

We have gladly riffed here before on the Ray Charbonneau and how his compulsions are our compulsions. And you need look no further than our posts on Overthinking the Marathon and Chasing the Runner's High for proof of that. As we read Idle Feet Do The Devil's Work, however, we thought we would give Charbonneau and his obsessive awesomeness a break, or more accurately, we would instead celebrate said awesomeness for the great pleasure it brings us. We run, and outside of writing, there is little we spend more time trying to make time for, while simultaneously recognizing that our mood, even our stability rests on our ability to makes these things real. Take today for example. We wrote and ran by 7:15 am, and sharing this with you is not about bragging, or it's not intended to be anyway. It's about knowing we have to work, and get children up for school, but still having a need, and well-knowing what feeding that need produces: happiness and equilibrium, energy, reduced stress, any and all of it. And yet, stress reduction aside, not to mention watching Game of Thrones, and yes, our children we suppose, there is little that gives us more pleasure than reading, our first great love, compulsion, and escape. Before running, and writing, drugs, and sex, there was book, and there was read, and so to be able to lie on the couch and read about running as written by someone who knows, the known known as it were, is pleasure multiplied, or personified, or something quite like it. And the Charbonneau brings it, and over and over again at that. So we thank him for doing so, and we recognize that if he isn't actually changing our life with his words, he is certainly making it better.

Idle Feet Do the Devil's Work by Ray Charbonneau is special pre-release.

Quite special, or if you prefer, $10.99 for the paperback version, and $3.99 for the ebook. So just do it, now, please, nice.

Please file under Ray Charbonneau, Amby Burfoot, and TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer talking The 27th Mile with Wicked Local.

Yes, that Amby Burfoot. It's a childhood fantasy come to life, or print, or something. Crazy honored we are to even be in the same article with him, much less the collection itself. We are also thinking you might want to take a look, yes, maybe, cool. Excerpt? Awesome. Wicked awesome really. 

“I hope the book makes a little money [for The One Fund],” he [Burfoot] said. “But what is significant is the way that Ray gathered everyone together, the way that everyone acquiesced and enthusiastically agreed to be a part of the project. It’s just sort of a showing of how united runners are in our efforts to celebrate those who have been there for us for so long.”

This. Happening. Massive Coolness.

More here. Much more.

This Book Will Change Will Change Your Life - Overthinking the Marathon by Ray Charbonneau.

One thought we had while thinking about this post was how to not overthink Overthinking the Marathon by Ray Charbonneau, which may or may not be a marathon training guide, though it is, sort of, but is definitely an exploration of the compulsive behavior that both drives runners like Ray Charbonneau, and allows them to be the kind of runners they want to be. Charbonneau needs to run, often, and far, but to accomplish this he needs to understand how that will work, when to run, how far, where, which shoes are best, whether cross-training on a bike supports or inhibits his ability to stay healthy and run fast, or at least fast for a guy his age and weight and skill. Because that is part of the compulsion as well, worrying about everything under the sun that may or may not affect the run. Now whether fun is actually being had is another subtext to this book. Isn't it supposed to be fun? It is. But can you have fun when you're worrying about things like weight and shaving off callouses, asking yourself why you feel slow or your neck hurts, and wondering if acupuncture is real? There are also our compulsions of course, the need to run, and write, a lot, but to read as well, and read about runners. And then there is, was, the compulsion to finish this book, this week. A book that we had otherwise been taking our time with, and allowing the compulsion to wash over us in waves, but now feeling compelled to finish in the wake of the past week's bombings at the Boston Marathon. As if doing so, would somehow allow us to commune with the grandest of all races. A race which just so happens to happen in a place where we just ran last month with the Charbonneau himself, as we recorded an episode of This Podcast Will Change Your Life, while on the run, discussing compulsion, running, and having fun. Because training and worrying may not be fun, but the act of running, talking it, making connections, and experiencing the new, is a wonderful thing, even in the face of bombers who want to instill fear and isolation at all and any costs. Something we very much did not want to overthink as we wrote this. Running is not magic, and it is not an antidote to any of that. But as Charbonneau so ably shows, the act of wanting something, anything, so greatly, can still change your life in ways both healthy and awesome, and these are good things to remember during an otherwise horrific week where Charbonneau and many others finished the Boston Marathon and were allowed to get on with their lives, even as so many others were not.    

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, The AWP 2013 Edition Part II - Overthinking, starring the Ray Charbonneau.

We are podcast. And Charbonneau. We are also run. The Charles River. Compulsion. And Murakami. So please do hit it. It just might change your life. 

R Is For Running.

More Charbonneau. More words. More running. Wonderbar.

A Providence Charleston Cousins Taylor Books You Can Make Him Like You This American Life Nerves of Steel West Virginia podcast photo essay wrap-up.

Barry Graham, Ben Tanzer, Scott McClanahan and Angel Babies

We were Providence for the Cousins Reading Series with the William Walsh and Laura Cherry, as well as, Timothy Gager and Ray Charbonneau. We Were Taylor Books and You Can Make Him Like You. We were Nerves of Steel West Virginia with the Barry Graham, Scott McClanahan, Jay Hill and sublime Harold Ray. And now we are home, photo essay and Nerves of Steel podcast in hand. Rejoice. And enjoy.

Ray Charbonneau, Ben Tanzer and Timothy Gager

Laura Cherry and William Walsh

Taylor Books - Charleston, WV

Harold Ray

Jay Hill and Ben Tanzer

Hi My Name Is: Buck.

There is Artistically Declined antlered bird name and it is Buck. Sweet. Big props to TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Ray Charbonneau for the winning submission and the free, signed copy of You Can Make Him Like You that comes with it.

Writers Read. You Can Make Him Like You. Trifecta.

Wait for it, there you go, and yes, we have a Campaign for the American Reader You Can Make Him Like You trifecta. The Page 69 Test. Check. My Book, The Movie. Check. And now a Writers Read post where we get to celebrate the work of Victor David Giron, Ray Charbonneau and Alex Kudera among others. Big thanks, yet again, to Marshal Zeringue, please enjoy the below excerpt, and please read, and buy, independent books, it does a heart good.

"I've actually been in a really interesting stretch over the last month where I've been reading three debut novels, okay, two novels, and one memoir for those of you counting at home, all three by authors I have become friendly with, and all quite different in tone and texture, but still all debuts, and self-published or from new, small presses, so quite cool, fun to dig into and deserving of a wider audience."

This Book Will Change Your Life - Chasing The Runner's High by Ray Charbonneau

We suppose it was an interesting week to consume Chasing The Runner's High by Ray Charbonneau. We go on a long, snowy, sub-zero run and two days later, maybe coincidentally, maybe not, we are so sick we don't, can't, run for another seven days, unable to escape the shivers, unable to bare the cold and conditions, yet unable to not keep plotting, planning, and wondering when we will run next, what morning or night, before or after work, between stuff with the kids, wife and writing, always wondering when there will be an opportunity, and when we feel good enough to get out, because that's what we do, everyday, wonder when, and how, plotting and planning and not seeking perfection or time, just wanting, and needing, to get out, which we finally did yesterday before coming home and finishing the book. And that's the thing, well one thing anyway, about the book, it is all about plotting and planning, obsession, all of it, and we get that, but its about something else as well, not just wanting more, but having to obtain it, better times, more miles, life out of balance, control, masochism, and we almost get that too, and yet ultimately we don't, we've never quite crossed-over, but we've thought about it, and so as runners, and writers, this book is a gift, a book we might have killed for in high school, certainly begged for, because books like these weren't written then, or at least published, and so there was little to read about our most compulsive of compulsions, much less any way to know whether other people were like this. And yet, its more than that as well, because ultimately this is a book about addiction and craving and all we will do to fill that kind of void, something we can again just almost relate to, but again, not quite, which makes Chasing The Runners High much less and much more than a running book at the same time, because it is a book that is also ultimately about gaining control over your life by being less in control, being in balance by focusing on all elements of who we are at the same time, and finding pleasure in something that once was, but no longer is, allowed to dominate your every thought.

"Running might mean a little too much to Ben. I can relate." 99 Problems gets Y24K'd. And likes it. A lot.

Big thanks to author and new BFF Ray Charbonneau at the Y42K blog for his quite thoughtful review of 99 Problems. Drinks on us for sure whenever and wherever we meet.

"The title of the book comes from a Jay-Z song, where Jay-Z has his problems, but not with women. Running is Ben’s “bitch”. If you agree with Ben that, “I can eat later. I can sleep later. I can drink coffee later. But there’s no guarantee that I will be able to run later. Shit happens. I’m gone,” then this book is for you."

Chasing the Runner's High. Quite geeked we are.

We are quite geeked to have connected with Ray Charbonneau author of the memoir Chasing the Runner's High which is now available in both a soft cover version yes, wait for it, and a pay-what-you-want e-version. Most sweetness, yes, yes, and after we read it, and it will be read, soon, we will report back, post-haste, for real, promise.