New Book Review: "The Success Trail"
New book review for The Success Trail: Learn to Win with a Marathon Runner's Mindset, by Jack Perconte, Second Base Publishing, 2021:
Copy provided by author Jack Perconte (former professional baseball player).
As a lifelong runner, I've read many running books over the years, and this one differentiates from all the others due to its probably being one of the most down-to-earth. As a former professional baseball player and runner of 14 marathons and counting, Perconte noticeably maintains his humbleness throughout. He states plainly that his experience should not intimidate the reader, even going so far as to stating in the opening pages that he wasn't a great baseball player, and that he didn't even become a runner until he was middle-aged. That said, becoming a professional baseball player obviously means that someone has already reached elite status relative to the competition, and he writes from experience successfully finishing over a dozen marathons (even though he admittedly still ponders how someone can run a marathon in less than 2.5 hours, considering less than 5 hours a miraculous feat).
The fifteen chapters in this book revolve around mindset: (1) "The Forward Mindset", (2) "The Courageous Mindset", (3) "The Commitment Mindset", (4) "The Planning Mindset", (5) "The Health Mindset", (6) "The Beginner's Mindset", (7) "The Identity Mindset", (8) "The Athlete's Mindset", (9) "The Happy Mindset", (10) "The Winner's Mindset", (11) "The Acclimating Mindset", (12) "The 'In the Zone' Mindset", (13) "The Patient Mindset", (14) "The Hero's Mindset", and (15) "The Analytical Mindset". Each of these chapters follows a relatively consistent pattern that can be summarized as a dream sequence conjured by the author followed by a quote by a well-known individual, the author's experience, how the author's experience might relate to the reader's experience, and short stories about marathon legends and the author, concluding with important takeaways for the reader from each of these stories.