Local Runner Writes Book for Young Athletes

Minneapolis runner Jessica Deutsch, a former Carleton College track and cross country team member, recently authored a book for young runners called Running for Fun! The book, published by Mankato's Compass Point Books, is a basic how-to book for young runners, written at their reading skill level. (Full disclosure: I served as the content advisor for the book.) It is one of a series of "for Fun" titles Compass Point sells.

Down the Backstretch asked Deutsch a few questions about the book and her own youthful running.

DtB: How did it come about that you wrote a book on running for youngsters?

Deutsch: During the years following college graduation, I had more jobs than I can remember. But the memorable jobs--assistant distance coach for the Eden Prairie track team, bookseller at the children's bookstore Wild Rumpus Books in Linden Hills, a couple of freelance writing projects, interning at the Loft Literary Center and Coffee House Press, and my current job at Milkweed Editions--indirectly led me to writing the book. I met the editorial director at Compass Point Books, Nick Healy, while I was interning at the Loft, and we kept in touch. He approached me about writing Running for Fun.

DtB: Were there experiences from your own days as a young runner that helped inform what you wrote?

Deutsch: Two reasons why I continue to advocate for running: 1) it's a democratic sport (so little needed to practice!), and 2) the mental determination cultivated by racing.

I grew up six miles outside of Finlayson, a small town about an hour north of the Twin Cities. Growing up, I was more interested in gymnastic -- not running. But living in a remote area, I didn't have regular access to a gym or a coach -- just the occasional community education tumbling class. I realized early on how detrimental it was to my "promising" gymnastics career that I lived so far away from everything. By the time I entered junior high, I was ready to look for a sport that was less dependent on equipment. And I think my mom was too -- I had done a great deal of flipping and jumping around in our living room.

In the fall of seventh grade, my PE teacher announced that we would be doing the mile run. For one week, every day after school, I ran one mile--from the end of my gravel driveway where the bus dropped me off, past the stop sign, to the spot where the gravel and the pavement met. We ran the mile on a Friday, and Mr. Payton, the junior high cross-country coach, ran with us. It was the first time I ran so hard my lungs felt like they were going to burst at the seams -- and in my head, I contemplated whether I would be able to finish. But Mr. Payton joined me at the halfway point, and he became my private cheerleader, reminding me that I was doing a good job and would happy with myself if I finished. I kept saying to him, between gasps for air, "But it hurts. This really [gasp] hurts." And he kept saying, "Just keep running, Jessica. You're almost there." Of course, the euphoria washed over me once I was able to breath again -- and I was hooked. (I stuck to sprinting and jumping for most of junior high and high school.) Every runner discovers at one point or another that there is little more satisfying than accomplishing something new.

For me, running was one of the most concrete ways I learned how to set goals and accomplish them. Its a mentality that transfers into everything I do. And I think that if young people have someone who encourages them and guides them -- even a little, much like Mr. Payton, running can be a wonderful experience.

DtB: If you could offer one piece of advice for young runners -- or their parents -- what would it be?

Deutsch: Running is a tough sport because you train yourself to quiet the alarms going off in your head ("This hurts!"). I don't know many runners who have gone through life without at least one injury. Learning how to read these alarms with proper caution is perhaps the most important -- and hardest -- lessons to be learned by all runners. Having parents and coaches who can garner support and offer guidance is crucial.