Sometime around mid-November and again in mid-March, I do my “gear swap” -- the unenviable task of putting away all of one season’s sports equipment, and unpacking all of the next. Bin after bin is packed with boots, equipment, tools, clothing, protective gear and more. Bikes are hauled into storage (and back out) and skis are waxed or put away. I love sports. In the winter you can find me cross-country skiing (mostly skate, but also classic with friends), snowboarding, backcountry touring, snowshoeing, and occasionally running. I’ve got a set of skates for the once a year I’m invited out for that. Summer sees me trail and road running, gravel biking, mountain biking, and hiking. Plus, of course, intermittent yoga year round, and, mostly recently, I joined a gym. Sports I previously did, but no longer number just as many (including curling, climbing, soccer, flag football, beach volleyball, sprint kayaking, sailing,  and very briefly martial arts).

With this in mind, I LOVED The Secret to Superhuman Strength, but it is so much more than a memoir of Bechdel’s love of sports, and no matter your relationship with fitness, this book is worth reading. Starting at her birth, Alison traces a memoir through the lens of the various fitness trends of society and her own fitness habits. But opens as a fun, comical novel turns much deeper, touching on aging, parental relationships, and Bechdel’s mental health and relationship challenges.

For the fitness fans (no matter how serious) there is a lot of meditation on sports achievement and our own internal guideposts of success. For those who always like to run farther and push harder (no matter the impact), there will likely be some uncomfortable reflections for you. For the rest of us, perhaps cautionary tales and some valuable food for thought. I’d recommend this book to the most ultra of runners to the local forest walker.