Run Walk Crawl: Getting Fit In My Forties by Tim Lebbon is a non-fiction tale about climbing mountains, racing in Ironman triathlons and other events, never having enough bikes, and eating lots, and lots of cake!

In the very first paragraph, with the mention of what your wetsuit burn looks like… I was like, yup there’s the horror writer shining straight through already! While this read definitely isn’t horror, it still has plenty of suspense!

The entire book is organized in a way that pairs tips and tricks with wonderful storytelling! In many of the cases, it feels like you’re right there in the races with him! The build up in part one from the climbs to the first Ironman race… when Tim crossed the finish line, I wanted to jump up and cheer!

I love all the notes about family, like after finishing the Ironman, having a drink with his wife and hanging out with their kids. I also loved the footnotes included every now and then as they always made me laugh! Like this one for example:

My favorite element of this book was just how relatable it is. I mean this in the nicest way possible of course, but Tim is a middle of the pack kind of race participant, which made this a much more interesting read that someone that always placed first. For me, seeing how honest he was, how he didn’t hold any punches, and how he poked fun at himself from time to time, made Tim seem like he was a friend. Like he was about to run right off the edge of the page and say ask you to go for a run with him!

I’m a professional horror writer with over forth novels, hundreds of short stories, half a dozen awards, and a couple of Hollywood movies to my name. You’d think that would prepare me for broken ribs, split nails, wetsuit burn that looks like Pedigree Chum ground down and mixed with tomato sauce, blisters the size of small household pets, spending three miles cycling behind a guy wearing an all-white tri suit on a TT bike, and genital chafing.
You’d think. But nope.

In training for, and undertaking the races and challenges I talk about in this book, I’ve found a determination that frankly, and rather expletively, surprised the fuck out of me.

Eat healthier, and find something you love to make you move more!

There’s no cure for being an arsehole.

So be as careful as you can, never pour fuel on a flammable situation, and always remember that sometimes, people are just arseholes. They’re born arseholes, they spend their lives being arseholes, and I’ll give you two guesses how they die.

While reading this one, I felt so guilty sitting on my couch, so I ended up reading this mainly while using a stationary bike. I cannot wait to listen to the audio book when it’s ready when I’m out on a run!

This is a perfect read for people that are looking to get a bit more in shape without feeling any shame and still eating cake! Go pick this one up today!