The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports

By Nicholas Thompson

Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Sports & Outdoors

The Running Ground (2025) is a memoir by journalist Nicholas Thompson, chief executive of The Atlantic, about running and his relationship with his father. Thompson describes taking up competitive running again in middle age and setting records in his age group, including in ultramarathons. He interweaves his training with the story of his father, a gifted, troubled man whose double life and illness shaped the family, and reflects on endurance, ageing and forgiveness.

Recommended by 1 person

• Fareed Zakaria: “I read the book in one sitting. It is so good. I cannot recommend it enough to people. And you don't have to be a runner to find it interesting, because there is a lot of family memoir.”